Tweets from September 11, 2001

[ for more details, see the SXSW Schedule page for this event ]

[NEW] I’ve posted the slides from the panel here: http://mentalhygiene.com/911tweets.pdf

Audio from the panel is now available to listen and download here: http://audio.sxsw.com/2011/podcasts/TweetsFromSeptember11.mp3

2011 will mark the 10th anniversary of the events of September 11, 2001. Since that day, the world has changed in significant ways socially, politically and technologically.

Consider recent natural and man-made disasters – earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Iceland’s volcanic ash cloud – as well as politically divisive events in Iran, Tunisia, Egypt. Facts, opinions and speculation for each new event spread faster than the last, through online social networks. More and more people are getting news of current events from sources like Twitter, and network and cable news outlets are sourcing material from tweets and Facebook updates.

This panel will explore the emerging and historic role of social networks in disseminating news and information during disasters and other significant events. It will also attempt to assess how differently historical events such as 9/11 would have been reported if Twitter and Facebook had been introduced to the world ten years earlier. With smartphones and handheld video cameras in the hands of thousands of people on the scene, would conspiracy theories and unanswered questions still swirl around Ground Zero? Would the events have changed at all, or their aftermath be different? In the context of these and other questions, we will speculate on how future disasters will be reported.

some links/background: