One year ago today, I was in Daytona, helping set up an online newsroom for the central Florida tornado response for the American Red Cross. I was supposed to be there supporting our Super Bowl-related Health and Safety programs, and got re-deployed because of the tornadoes.
So, a year later, I am in Tallahassee on Red Cross business, and now I’ve established an online newsroom for the Tennessee tornadoes. Yes, I said ‘online newsroom.’ Long before my rant about not being a ‘blogger,’ I bristled at the notion these were ‘disaster blogs.’ These are exclusively one-way communication tools, and there are too many people with expectations about talking back to us through a ‘blog.’ We’ll gladly take input through other sources, but those operating the online newsrooms are too busy to be in the comment moderation game. It’s a newsroom, powered by a blog engine.
There are many benefits for using WordPress for such an endeavor. Breaking the news down by category allows us to take full advantage of separate category feeds through RSS — Memphis area reporters can subscribe to just the Memphis area Red Cross news if they so choose, or Jackson, or Nashville.
Also, we’ve made it easier to subscribe by e-mail. It’s more of a pain to set up on the WordPress.com platform, but we’ve still got a lot to do to get our own hosted installation active. But hey — it’s not about what is convenient for us, it’s about how others want to consume the information.
So, I hereby declare February 6 to be Disaster Blog Online Newsroom Day for the rest of my life. At least I can plan for it next year…
[tags]Occam’s RazR, Ike Pigott, American Red Cross, disaster, tornadoes[/tags]
Ike,
Best of luck to you out there, it’s a sad story but I’m glad there are people like you there to help and tell us what’s going on.
Best,
Larissa
The lord’s work, m’man… Keep it up.
Here we go! Was it really the same day? That seems like eons ago.
Ike, the Red Cross must realize the gem they have in you.
Our company is in Franklin Tennessee, literally in the path of the destruction. Fortunately, the tornadoes skipped our city but did much damage to the West and East of where we are located.
Thanks for all of your efforts no matter where they may lead you to be.
Keep fighting the good fight, my friend.
I was at the FHU lectures near Jackson last week and saw the devastation first-hand. Pretty rough stuff.