Picture by Pan African Newswire

We are sadly in the midst of a series of attacks in Mumbai India. Gun battles, bombings and hostage taking has occurred over the past 24 hours in this capital of Indian financial markets. Clearly a group is targeting westerners in particular but a diversity of victims, both civilian and police, have suffered.

I’ve recently met with certain government officials here in Columbus and a normal question about participation of government in social media is “why would we want to use that?” Certainly there is not a singular answer to that question but one that it seems is clear at this point would be for disaster management.

First reports of the attacks came from victims cell phones, reaching out via Twitter (see #mumbai here), Facebook, and an amazing photostream on Flickr here.

Google has a map of the attacks setup already here and there is a highly active Wiki entry that is helping to maintain information throughout, providing people involved and concerned relatives with an understanding of what has happened and is happening. IBN news is live casting online providing video coverage of the event.

The amount of information being made available is helping the government react but it is also helping to provide the people within the situation to feel more empowered. This is information that is available via handheld device, particularly cell phone. For individuals stuck in the middle of a hostile situation this information could literally be a life saver.

Consider what role your organization could be playing if this emergency (or some other emergency) were taking place in your hometown. While you consider that take a moment to reflect on the unfortunate victims of this current event.

I found a few things fascinating about this article. First is the fact that social media/new media is being used in so many ways in our schools. Podcasting is merely a tool to communicate a message. Language courses such as this German course are often tied to traditional study which would exclude using these alternate mediums. With the reach of the internet however foriegn language studies students now have the ability to immerse themselves into another culture without leaving their home.

When I studied German in high school, prior to the internet opening up, it was difficult to find opportunities to use the German I was learning outside of the classroom. Now, with only basic browser access, students are able to join foriegn language chat rooms and listserves, read foriegn language blogs and articles, and participate in foriegn language broadcast media streamed online as well as audio and video podcasts. Video conferencing via online connectivity could allow students in different countries to collaborate on learning each others language, culture and happiness. This is not only a conduit to education but to understanding.

The other obvious item I took note of after reading the article was the fact that there are no “links” or pointers to where we might view this podcast. Traditional media does a terrible job of this still because many of the writers and editors see the internet as both competition and as a lesser form of information. Looking at the state of affairs on the SNP website you can get a clear idea of how little the paper is embracing its online presence.