Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Craiglist and Nola.com: Information as News

From Open Source News. The podcast available here.

The best reporting in the world — no hyperbole, the best reporting in the world — this week came from the web division of the New Orleans Times Picayune, nola.com. Information — missing person reports, safe and alive person reports — became news. And it became a source, even, for rescue teams, more accurate than anything else they had to go on.

Craigslist, after Katrina, became a forum for finding the missing and housing the saved, and what you find on Craigslist are stories as compelling as anything on CNN. Maybe what communities want in a time of crisis is good information, and maybe detailed, accurate information makes the best story. Craig and Jeff helped invent two new ways of collecting and distributing information; Jon is perfecting it right now in the Crescent City.

Guests:
-Jon Donley, Editor, nola.com
-Craig Newmark, Founder and Customer Service Representative, Craigslist
Author, Craigblog
-Jeff Jarvis, Author, Buzzmachine