Uniting and informing a world in shock

Images of terror, appeals from those missing loved ones, whole libraries of analysis and information. How the internet handled history as it happened. By CHRIS BARTON.

I've downloaded the videos. They have weird names like crash1.mpeg, first.plane.hits.gp.med.asf, and 2nd.plane.hits.cnn.med.asx.

I don't really know why this surreal horror now lives inside my PC. Perhaps I wanted my own record of this day of suicidal insanity - an object lesson for grandkids of a future time.

Or maybe it was some kind of morbid, voyeuristic compulsion - a need to watch?

God knows I'd seen all this footage on the TV ad nauseam - to the point where I worried I was becoming desensitised to it all. So why have the images stored to watch again?

Partly because of the incomprehension - you see two planes explode into the World Trade Center's iconic twin towers, but you don't believe it's real.

It's also because one can - download, that is.

You know the drill. From sites like www.watership.org/media/movies, Eodoxus.com and www.student.math.uwaterloo.ca/~t3singh/911/videos/index.html, right click on the file name, Save Target As ... and, voila, the video wends its way, bit by bit, across the net to your PC. Further testament to the way in which this medium is transforming the distribution of all forms of content - video, audio, text and pictures.

While the net slowed to a crawl and some sites became unavailable when the tragedy struck, it also played a vital role in providing information - quenching the thirst for detail about the madness.

Despite the saturation TV coverage, net users flocked in unprecedented numbers to news sites such as:

cnn.com,

abcnews.go.com,

news.bbc.co.uk,

www.bostonherald.com,

www.foxnews.com,

www.nytimes.com,

www.washingtonpost.com,

www.msnbc.com,

news.yahoo.com, and

www.nypost.com.

Why? Possibly because the diabolical nature of this act meant people needed time to view images and indeed read for themselves to absorb the enormity of the event.

There were some valiant individual web efforts, too. Like that of Tushar Singh whose 911 - The Day History Changed site provides a unique narrative of news links to other sites, interspersed with personal observations and information gleaned from listening in to the New York Police Department with a scanner.

There's also some chilling background reading. Such as "Suicide terrorism: a global threat" and "Penetrating Al-Qaeda" at Jane's.com.

There's more in this vein at Slate in What Does Osama bin Laden Want?.

For analysis on the likely effects on world markets the Times columnist Anatole Kaletsky has some sobering insights.

His discourse on the symbolism of the skyscraper and jet aircraft is equally arresting:

"Never before had anyone considered that the familiar, friendly Boeing aircraft, which was designed to bring the children home for Thanksgiving, disguised beneath its gleaming aluminium skin a flying bomb of unimaginable malevolence and power."

Then there was the bizarre and wacky fringe.

Like the Philadelphia Daily News story which has the face of Satan appearing in "the smoke billowing from the blasted World Trade Center buildings in New York".

Add to this the prophecies and false prophecies of Nostradamus, plus, for the really nuts, the ravings of Sollog and you'll begin to question your own sanity.

Such mindless pap can crop up without warning. Which makes the web such a frustrating medium when you're looking for non-fiction.

Thank goodness for link sites like Google which provide a solid starting point. Another is safe.millennium.berkeley.edu which shows the communication power of the web in a time of crisis.

Its lists of survivors, victims and loved ones searching for loved ones bring home the human dimension of the tragedy.

The words are heart-wrenching - "I am desperate for news of my brother - Christopher Newton-Carter. He worked for Sandler O'Neill on the 104th floor of the South tower. He was at work when they were hit. If there is anyone who knows where he might be or has news or any tiny detail, I really want to hear from you. He is such a good soul and we all love him so much ... "

More of the personal stories can be found among thousands upon thousands of newsgroup postings at sites like:

groups.yahoo.com/group/sept11info/messages,

slashdot.org/articles/01/09/12/161200.shtml, and

groups.google.com.

For the latter, one can start with the site's search engine. Use the advanced search and limit the parameters by date and key words. "World Trade Center" on September 11, for example, brings up 2010 postings. The number changes when you add search terms such as centre, towers, victim and so on.

The individual witness accounts, thoughts, explanations and emotions - venting rage, grief, anger, distress - are overwhelming. But amid the cacophony of rants for swift and bloody retribution - "I hope we kick the living **** out of those rag-headed mother*******!!!!!" - and pleas for reason and understanding - "When people are disillusioned and desperate, they often do illogical things" - there's a sense that this cyber place is providing a unique forum.

Despite the organised chaos, here is a global discourse where everyone - Americans, Arabs, Muslims, Christians - can contribute. An opportunity for people's dialogue never seen before - a place to test whether the pen, er ... keyboard, is indeed mightier than the sword, er ... hijacked jet aircraft bomb. Whether actions speak louder than words.

* chris_barton@nzherald.co.nz