This Facebook post, sent from her phone, was the most recent update I could find online anywhere. The fact that the University sent this message about “conditions deteriorating,” I figured it wasn’t good. Online journalists hadn’t written as of yet about the crowd situation at night. The text peaked my interest, and I stayed by my computer to see who would be next to report.
Of course, I’m sure the newscasters in Pittsburgh were reporting, but I was not in Pittsburgh.
I was not in a classroom at Virginia Tech hearing gunshots.
I was not on the streets of Iran watching an innocent woman die.
As professor Bob Vucic is known to say, “If you have a Blackberry, you are a journalist”. The girl in Pittsburgh was probably saying it to complain that she couldn’t go out on a Friday night, but she was a journalist. She communicated the first information I could find about what was going on in Pittsburgh last night. It came from a student who was warned by her University to stay out of the streets.
That is real time. That is real life, able to be communicated instantly to millions with a simple factual text message.
Soon, I was able to see a YouTube video which was made by simply videotaping the Channel 11 news in Pittsburgh. This video (linked below) showed Pittsburgh at night: protestors on bikes being herded away by police with riot gear. A girl throws her bicycle at a policeman and is taken down to the ground by four policemen. I want to thank the person who thought to film their evening news, to share with the world, and me.
Who knew that Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania would be the choice for the G-20 summit, and that many of the people I know would be able to watch the same type of aftermath that London, England witnessed due to the G-20 summit.
This is a 'thank-you' once again to mobile technology. We are only beginning to see its effects on society as we know it.
Video source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzOG7yghNvQ
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