Lost in Katrina

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, I've been obsessively reading the latest updates on the tragic situation in New Orleans and wishing there was something I could do to help. Thanks to my usual Internet haunt, Democratic Underground, I found something. I've been volunteering my time and data entry skills:

Join the Katrina PeopleFinder Project. It's easy. All you need is an internet connection and the ability to copy data into a form. After Katrina, many friends and family members have been separated and left with no clear way to find each other. Hundreds of Internet websites are gathering hundreds, and probably thousands, of entries about missing persons or persons who want to let others know they’re okay. The problem is: the data on these sites has no particular form or structure. So it's almost impossible for people to search or match things up. Plus there are dozens of sites - making it hard for a person seeking lost loved ones to search them all. The Katrina PeopleFinder Project NEEDS YOUR HELP to enter data about missing and found people from various online sources. We’re requesting as little as an hour of your time. All you need to do is help read unstructured posts about missing or found persons, and then add the relevant data to a database through a simple online form. To get started please click here. The results of your work will be searchable at the Katrina Data Project page. Questions? Email katrina-people (at) activist-tech.org

If you've spoken to me lately, you probably know my views on this disaster and where culpability lies for the unconscionable lack of response from the federal government and Bush administration in the horror that has followed it. If you have any doubts about my "tinfoil hat" ideas, please view this compendium of posts at Democratic Underground and find out for yourself.