Then and Now
Post-Civil War laborers digging the foundations for what would become the worlds longest suspension bridge — the Brooklyn Bridge — were suffering and dying of a new malady. It was known then as caisson disease; later as the bends. It prevailed despite the fact that medial treatment and know-how existed in Europe. Just prior to the project, the Chief Engineers son Washington Roebling had researched how these underwater anchors were being dug in mechanically pressurized environments.
Reading David McCulloughs epic history, The Great Bridge, one is struck by how rudimentary and slow was even the most basic exchange of information. Professional journals were just coming about. So close was Washington Roebling to learning that there were emerging treatment protocols for the bends? Yet, so far was he from knowing about that information!
This evening, CNN anchor Rick Sanchez paused his routinely formulaic flow of information; and observed that CNNs ratings have been bolstered by viewers contributions of video and still photos. They have augmented coverage in three major stories of the week: the student shootings at Va. Tech; the devastating tornadoes in Texas, Nebraska and other Midwestern states, and the tragic loss of Navy Blue Angel Kevin Daviss F/A18 Hornet which crashed at an air show near Savannah, Ga.
New Era for News
All three events attracted visual contributions. The news, Rick says, has become a collective effort, involving eye witness reports that CNN could never have generated on its own.
According to the CNN announcer, we are moving to a new era where news reports are and will be increasingly filled in with citizen/consumer visual and audio captures of the unusual.
I am struck by the contrast. Perhaps on is guilty of stating the obvious: today is faster than yesterday, and todays information flow is far more democratic.
Established media can and do accept and broadcast citizen-generated information. Specialists, like engineers and other technical developers, can search highly current reports, so that, in effect, overseas information about the bends or some other condition could be accessed and taken advantage of.
All this leads me to ask about these independent videographers, audio reporters and simple observer-note takers. We have fresh, raw, democratic source information flowing directly to the media — un-fettered by officials and their firewalls.
Somethings afoot Watson!
