The web at war: using the Internet to inform

Overwhelmed and overloaded with information, images and pictures, brought to us by newspapers, TV and radio, turning to the Internet for further enlightenment about the terrorist attacks on the US might seem redundant.

Strangely, for someone who is often a reluctant surfer (though a conscript for the day job), I have to admit that without the Internet the visible debate on what has been billed as "the first war of the 21st century" would be far less vigorous. Largely unrestrained by pressures of money and space, advertising and political pressures, the Internet provides a chance for everyone to post their views.

An anarchist's medium, it currently seething with information, background material, opinion and activism, allowing access to versions of the history of Islam and the Middle East; to poignant photo-essays of rescue efforts among the rubble of the twin towers; to sophisticated analysis of US foreign policy; and to bigoted incitement to hatred.

For background, try www.thenation.com, which has put a selection of relevant archival links on its homepage.

"Pakistan today is a complete mess, a sad example of what can happen when a once-favoured 'frontline' state is reduced to the status of coldwar orphan."

Intrigued? This is the first paragraph of an article by Tariq Ali published in the Nation in April 2000.

For definitely dissenting analysis, try www.counterpuch.org. Here Edward Said writes: "there isn't a single Islam: there are many Islams, just as there are many Americas... We need to step back from the imaginary thresholds that separate people from each other and re-examine the labels, reconsider the limited resources available, decide to share our fates with each other as cultures mostly have done, despite the bellicose cries and creeds. 'Islam' and 'the West' are simply inadequate as banners to follow blindly."

On the same website, an interview with Noam Chomsky asks the MIT linguist what he thinks of the oft-heard assertion that "the world will never be the same". Chomsky replies cogently: "It is correct to say that this is a novel event in world history, not because of the scale of the atrocity - regrettably - but because of the target." He finishes on an optimistic note: "An aroused public within the more free and democratic societies can direct policies towards a much more humane and honourable course."

For breaking news, try www.ireland.com. Well, we would say that, wouldn't we? Deirdre Veldon, editor of ireland.com (i.e. The Irish Times on the web) explains how her team coped on September 11th: "Everybody stopped whatever they were doing and we began to follow all of the different news angles - TV, radio, newswires, Irish Times correspondents abroad, Internet sites. We had the first report of the any Irish news service when we reported, at six minutes to two, that the twin towers had been hit by a plane. We sent out an SMS (text) message to people who subscribed to the Irish Times mobile news service on Eircell: 'Plane crashes into world trade centre in New York'.

"From then on, we were rewriting our main story, putting in new angles. TV is a monochannel. It can only convey one piece of information at one time. By logging on to our website, people could get up-to-date with lots of different angles." Traffic on the site tripled over the 24-hour period, after the plane crashes, but using fewer pictures and more text ensured the site didn't crash, explains Veldon - though it was a little slower.

For news junkies who want to follow the story on a variety of websites she suggests trying sites maintained by televisions stations, newspapers and newswires: www.cnn.com, www.bbc.co.uk, www.guardian.co.uk, www.nytimes.com, www.reuters.com, www.washingtonpost.com.

The New York Times website brings us more than news. Its magazine of last Sunday was also home to a stunning piece of prose, "Nine failures of the imagination", by novelist Jonathan Lethem.

He writes of the view across New York's East River: "The promenade yesterday was full of people, more than I've seen since the tall ships were in the harbour, and yet all absolutely still and silent. Each of us came and stood, rooted, to the spot where we first saw the plume in full view. Every third or fourth mouth covered with a surgical mask; those without masks feeling just that tiny bit sorrier for ourselves, but then again not really caring...

"At the promenade, in the gathered silence and stillness of many minds looking through the haze at an altered city, one woman, seated on a bench, elbows on knees, calmly, effortlessly tilted her head and vomited. A splash heard in the silence. The head titled just enough to avoid chin dribble. Eyes never breaking from the task of gazing, gathering new information."

Correction: Last week, I criticised the Bord Altranais website for not having a link to the Nursing Careers Centre. In fact, there is a link from its homepage.