Virtual Gaza
A great civic media initiative by a collective of scholars, media activists, and Palestinian residents of Gaza and others from Harvard the MIT Media Lab.
Virtual Gaza is a 2D website that employs Wikimapia and Google earth images to create an online space where visitors can break the siege, albeit virtually. It is a space where "ordinary Palestinians under siege can describe their experiences in their own words, and where the destruction of the Gaza strip can be documented by those experiencing it directly."
Says one of the creators: "We plan to map all the attacks and create simple digital representations of what is going on using flash animation. However, the more important component of the project will be to locate individuals on the map itself, and be uploading testimonials, video podcasts
(from cell phones etc), text messages, photos, emails and so on."
On the same note, a very useful (and disheartening) "map of bombing intensity and casualties" created by a group of media and mapping activists.
posted by Laila @ Sunday, January 25, 2009
12 Comments:
Thank you Laila. I have recently discovered your blog. The uncivilized commentators are probably from the "army of bloggers" Israel is said to be recruiting to spread its lies now that more and more people are disgusted at Israeli actions.
Keep up your good work and your spirits.
i just wanted to let you know how much i appreciate the work that you have done for Gaza ...Thanks from the heart .Heba
Had been wondering during the IDF assault about the use of Google Earth to view what was happening in real time. Glad to see this effort going forward!
Hopefully this will help. It sounds really useful.
Oh I am glad to see Heba commenting.
There seems to be some sort of intercept on her blog that stops me accessing it.
I do hope she and her husband and children are well.
Laila - you might also want to go to http://kharita.wordpress.com/ where the damage and destruction has been mapped.
And I have to tell you how much I've enjoyed reading your blog - and inside voice on the outside, as so many of us are...
Assalamu'alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh..
I'm so happy to have found your blog this morning. My deepest Heart for Muslims fellows in Palestine, and for you and family.
Warm Wishes from East Borneo, Indonesia.
This is a great idea. Statistics alone are just that, numbers. But when those 'numbers' have a voice and a name it makes it all real again. The breakdown of total killed, women and children killed is relevant. It saddens me that it almost appears as men are a little more dispensable - I know this is definitely not the intention, but many of those men are not soldiers, are not armed.
To the people of Gaza - we DO want to help, we want to be able to do more, we feel almost as disempowered as you to help you. Personally, I jump at any chance to sign petitions that may influence, or to post here, to protest etc. We all pray for a fast, lasting peaceful solution for all of Palestine, and in particular for Gaza. No group of people in 2009, should have to suffer what you have endured and at the hands of the USA by proxy.
USA should be a shining light of example for democracy, it's light is barely glowing. Both USA and Israel have disgraced the rest of the democratic world.
Laila El-Haddad,
I have been following your blog for over a year. I recently wondered if you were on facebook. If you were I could easily tell many friends about your blog. There are three on facebook with your name, but I don't think any of them are you. I would like to invite you to open a page there. It would be good.
Brayton
Brayton- yes I am on facebook. just search my name-should come up?
Laila
I found this website which sells Palestinian Olive Oil
http://www.zatoun.com/us_retail.htm
Laila,
I have been following your blog for a few weeks now. While I disagree strongly with your perspective - and very strongly with many of those who have commented - I empathize with the pain you feel about the tragic loss of life and the continuing suffering in Gaza.
Nevertheless, I think it is disingenuous to lay so much of the blame at Israel's feet. You don't mention the ceaseless rocket attacks on Israel over the past four years nor do you acknowledge Hamas' pledge to destroy the Jews. While you are now living in the U.S., you skip any refernece to the plight of Palestinian women. According to Khaled Al-Qudra, former Palestinian National Authority Attorney General, 70% of all murders in Gaza and the West Bank are honor killings of Palestinian women by their families.
You invoke the arrest of activists in Cairo and express regret that the Moslem Brotherhood is being victimized but express no regret over the Brotherhood's assassinations and attempts to impose sharia on those who are not religious.
Hamas has transformed the Palestinian conflict from a nationalist struggle to create a Palestinian state into an Islamist struggle against the existence of a Jewish state.
Where, Laila, is there any attempt by Gazans to compromise, or any reference in your blog to do the same?
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