War and Mass Media

Recently, I have discovered this astonishing new online technology of a Mash-Up. For a class assignment, we were instructed to investigate two websites that contain thousands of online mash-ups. These two websites are called Programmable Web and Mashable. Incredible websites that connect you with thousands of online news mash-ups from celebrity gossip to the war on terrorism. I would recommend surfing these websites when you have the chance. I found three news mash-ups that really intrigued me and have a direct correlation towards the War in Iraq. Below are a few examples of mash-ups that I found incredibly interesting.

A Global Display of Terrorism and Other Suspicious Events

Global Display of Terrorism is an incredible tool that tracks current terrorist threats and incidents around the world. This mashup displays a map of the entire world and flags down certain states, countries and cities that have current terrorist threats or suspicious activities that relate to terrorism. The mashup is updated every 310 seconds. From the Taliban blowing up a bridge in Afghanistan, to gunmen killing 20 villagers in Darfur, to white powder being found in a package at the United Kingdom, to a bullet found in a seat of a California aircraft causing massive delays in the San Jose airport. This mashup is incredible. It has a constant scroll of terrorist updates from false alarms to causality counts. There is even a search tool where you are able to look up past or current events by providing information like type of event (arson, assassination, food/product tampering, chemical attack), date/time, city and country. The mashup will perform the search and provide all the information and certain weblinks that will provide the user with more information on the event. There is a specific map for the United States Amber Alerts and even an “Illegal Alien Activity Tracking System.” And coming soon there will be a mashup tracking USA School Incidents and World Wide Bird Flu/Outbreak map.

Filed under: JMC 494