Hyper-local emergency/crisis blogging – be prepared: In times of local crisis, the importance of having an active blogging community becomes very apparent. There are so many people outside an area who are desperately seeking information — any information — from the ground, so even if power and web-access is out in a city, the information being shared is much needed. (One of the reasons I blog hurricanes is that all of my family (including inlaws) live within one-mile of the Florida or Alabama gulf coasts.) In addition to the standard “meet-ups” that are popular among bloggers here in Nashville and other cities, I suggest that some emergency preparation might be a good thing for bloggers to discuss before the need arises. I’d be happy to point to any examples or list of emergency-blog planning suggestions that exist. Feel free to e-mail me some, or add to the comments below. And I’d be happy to assist in helping Nashville bloggers organize for such an effort.
Update: Josh Hallett makes a good point. It’s time for local public information officers to get to know their hometown bloggers.
Update II: Jeff Jarvis is testing blogging via Treo so he can be ready to blog anytime (I recall he used to blog from church). In Josh’s post linked to above, he notes his Blackberry has continued to work when all else failed.
