 April 2006 
Hurricane Digital Memory Bank: Preserving the Stories of Katrina, Rita, and Wilma
Site focused on the historic Gulf Coast storms of 2005.
Grade Level: 3-5, 6-8, 9-12
http://hurricanearchive.org/
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CONTENT:
This project is a joint effort of George Mason University's Center for History and New Media and the University of New Orleans, in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution. It features first-hand accounts, on-scene images, blog postings, and podcasts that create a digital record of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. |
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SITE DESIGN:
This interactive site is very well designed and interesting easily navigated. The top navigation bar offers access to the major areas of the site. Users can also jump right to the map or the forms for adding content from graphic links on the main page. The site is also fully searchable by keyword. |
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REVIEW:
This digital memory bank of first hand accounts and individual responses to the storms of 2005 that hit the Gulf Coast of the United States currently includes 247 stories, 523 images, 50 audio and other files, a collection of photos from the Smithsonian and a video of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. Visitors will want to begin by accessing the interactive map from the main page of the site. Here they can click on locations to view photos and read first hand accounts from individuals who were involved in the storms and the aftermath or scroll across the bottom of the page to view stories and images. The map can be zoomed and dragged to view other locations and it can be viewed as a map or satellite image or a hybrid image (map and satellite image overlay) Users can also jump directly to images or stories by clicking on the appropriate link in the top navigation bar. Additionally, the featured collection is a set of stories from PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer that includes text, video and audio of the events that led up to the hurricanes and the aftermath. Forms are available for anyone to contribute their files to the archive. |
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