Safdar Tue, 11/03/2009 - 12:15

Getting tweets from the war zone
is so 2008. The latest social media advance combines tools like
Twitter, text messaging, and online mapping to gather up first-hand
reports, straight from Gaza.

The effort, from Al Jazeera Labs,
just got started; the reporting is still spotty, and the technology is
very much in the testing phase. But the idea is for residents of
Israel, Gaza and the West Bank to send quick updates
about the conflict from their computers or mobile phones, through SMS
or Twitter. The results are then verified, and posted to a Microsoft
Virtual Earth map.

Basheer Tue, 11/03/2009 - 12:16

Ian Lamont writes "The war of words over the conflict in Gaza has moved from the real world to the Internet. Besides a furious stream of mini-debates on Twitter between supporters of and critics of Israel's military actions, there have also been demonstrations in Second Life at an Israel-themed sim and a collection of Facebook applications,
including 'QassamCount' and 'Stop Israel's war crimes in Gaza.' Another
project — 'mapping the war in Gaza' — was launched by Al Jazeera and