Kyle LeBoeuf

Note: this a syndication from my personal blog

The proliferation of mobile technology and the presence of internet in almost every home has changed the face of hurricane reporting as we know it today.

Thanks to the internet and computers, many of the 2 million evacuees crowded around televisions and laptop screens around the country to watch as Hurricane Gustav slammed into the coast.  Also, the availability of web services such as uStream and Twitter gave those weathering the storm the extra edge in getting the word out about different aspects of the hurricane. For example, I caught a Twitter message from Lyndale Holloway, Associate Pastor at East Bayou Baptist Church, pointing followers to a Ustream feed, where (as long as he had power) he broadcasted a life webcam feed from his home, showing off some of the nastiness from the storm. Websites like Weather Underground and Stormpulse gave us constant, up-to-date information on the storm, so we could know what was going on at any given point. Local TV stations KLFY and KATC each had their own live video streams going, so I could check in on what was actually going on in Lafayette live, away from the destruction. My university also got a really good field test with it’s First Call system, where it used the system to distribute notices about school cancellations.

The inclusion of all of these new services really puts power in the hands of regular, everyday people. In a day and age where a lot of information comes from the people and not from mass media, it’s important to us have the ability to hear what’s going on from someone other than the news…

Advance of technology is never a bad thing!!!!

kyle [at] kyleleboeuf.com