Bloggers join fight against terror

Shashwat Chaturvedi






MUMBAI: The news reporter at one of the umpteen channels was singing paeans to
the 'never-say-die spirit' of Mumbai, the camera pans to the right and shows a

bunch of youngsters handing water-filled plastic cups to weary travelers

trudging their way back home.






The scene was similar to the one that had occurred some 13 years ago, when the
serial blasts had happened. Only this time, it was more coordinated and more

vicious, so people could hardly understand what was happening, till it actually

happened.






The few news channels did not refrain from showing grisly scenes of mangled
bodies and limbs strewn on the railway tracks. Meanwhile, the phone lines had

gone dead, supposedly clogged due to the heavy traffic. There was panic

everywhere and no real concrete information available, for instance, one channel

was pegging the number of dead at 189, while the other was talking about 130.

Everything was going according to Murphy's Law. Mumbai was again terror-stricken

and under attack.






Blogging arrives





At that very moment, a few conscientious


bloggers were sitting in front of their computers, uploading posts after

posts on their blogs, talking about personal experiences, real life scenarios,

help line numbers, just about anything.







Blogging
seems to have finally arrived in Mumbai.






It isn't the first time that blogs were being used to disseminate information,
it had happened a year or so ago when the tsunami had hit the eastern coast of

India, or when the rain gods were conspiring to drown Mumbai on 26th July last

year, or at the time of the earthquake in J&K and Pakistan.






But, it was for the first time a concerted effort was being made to provide
relief, one can say that these disaster-relief blogs were finally coming of age.

Take the instance of one such blog, mumbaihelp.blogspot.com, had posts from

worried relatives who were unable to get through to their near and dear ones,

they left the phone numbers of the person in Mumbai, a few voluntary individuals

would try and reach them and pass on the message.






Says, Peter Griffen, the founder of the group, “We were clocking close to 28,000
page views a day, not much compared to the mass media channels, like the print

or electronic media. Yet, these visitors were people that were not getting any

information from any other source and had come to our blog for assistance or for

help.” Indeed in a jumble of information, blogs were providing an individual

approach.






Meanwhile, another blog mumbai.metblogs.com had a battery of contributors
writing on different issues, it also had quite many images on these posts. There

was also a first person account of the bomb blast. Another blog, varnam.org/blog/,

also carried similar information, though it was more skewed towards

individualistic views.






Spirit of collaboration





There was a spirit of collaboration among these blogs; they were linking other
blogs, thus creating a virtual network. In fact, indiauncut.blogspot.com,

displayed a list of whole lot of blogs on the same subject. There were quite a

few interesting posts on the issue on this blog as well.






It might seem like these blogs were a group effort, but there were a lot of
individuals who had set out on their own and were publishing posts after posts

at breakneck speeds. Take the instance of Gaurav Sabnis on

gauravsabnis.blogspot.com, had an update at regular interval, mainly derived

from television channel and other sources.






Coming back to Griffin (Mumbai Help blog), a freelance journalist by vocation
has spent all his waking hours in front of the computer for the past two days.

He and his team have also made a list of all people who perished or were injured

in the attack. The site also has a Wiki, a space where anybody can post their

views and could be edited by others.






Information uncensored





Worldwide, blogs have become a source of uncensored information. Though often
taken with a pinch of salt, these bloggers or citizen journalists as they are

now called, are providing news and views in a way that could never have been

imagined. For instance, the blog of a youngster in Baghdad gave true picture of

the ground situation, when the Americans were conducting air raids to oust

Saddam. Or for that matter innumerable blogs provided valuable assistance to

victims of the tornado Katrina, when it wreaked New Orleans and other U.S.

states.






The next generation





Back home, it was in 1993 (the year of the first serial blasts in Mumbai), when
technology had emerged as savior during the Latur earthquake. Amateur Ham radio

operators had set up a network in these far-flung areas to provide relief. Ham

radios were working during the current crisis as well and Griffin is trying to

figure out a way in which Ham radios and blogs could come together. He hopes to

do it next time round.






So, while the news channel continue to cover the event in a manner that has
raised much debate. All are emphatic in their praise for the work done by these

numerous blogs in times of crisis. And as the reach of the Internet spreads far

and wide in India, so would blogging, be it times of catastrophes or calm.






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