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Key concepts: media coverage, Internet, Hurricane Floyd, disaster awareness, children, the elderly, governmental disaster psyops, urban disaster simulations, Nielsen Ratings
Attention Conservation Notice: That particular hurricane is over now. Contains,
of all things, a Nielsen Ratings chart, which is in ascii and probably isn't
legible on your monitor.
Link:
From: mann@cse.unsw.edu.au^* (Graham Mann) Bruce, While looking at some web coverage of Hurricane Floyd, I came across this CNN story, which I think needs an extra Viridian spin.
Websites:
"Web site aims to ease kids' storm fears "Hurricane prompts flood of e-mail "(CNN) == Because children are among those most frightened by natural disasters, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has created a Web site, 'FEMA for Kids.' to help them and their parents cope with the anxiety they feel when events like Hurricane Floyd occur. "The site contains information about any number of natural disasters including thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, tsunamis, winter storms and more, at www.fema.gov/kids/. "Each section fully explains the various disasters and tries to address concerns children might have. For example, the hurricane section includes information on pets and disasters, as many children worry about the family pet when bad weather hits. "Hurricane prompts flood of e-mail
"Since FEMA's Holly Harrington launched the site, it averages 200,000 hits a month, but during disasters like Hurricane Dennis and now Floyd the system has been overwhelmed with e-mails from young people across the country who read the site."'She knew that Floyd was coming and that she was really really really scared. She writes, 'My parents have not spoken a word about the hurricane, I guess we are just going to die,'" Harrington read.
"FEMA's site tries to help children who feel helpless by answering any questions they might have about a natural disaster.Graham Mann further comments: While trying to imagine seven-year-olds huddling in a rain-soaked evacuation camp huddled over emergency Internet-linked laptops in order to ease their fears == their little faces illuminated by the cheery storybook yellow of the FEMA website == it occurred to me that this is only serving part of the vast new weather-disaster demographic.
Where are the corresponding sites for teenagers ("Your Guide to Pickups in Civil Emergency Shelters"), the babyboomers ("5 Insurance Companies Who'll Probably Pay Up After the Storm") and, most significantly for Viridians, the elderly? In March of this year, Nielsen Media Research found that there are now 7.6 million Internet users of 50 or older in North America alone. And according to to a recent Baruch College-Harris poll for Business Week, there are now more Internet users over 50 than under 20. So couldn't storm-affected seniors expect some on-line support too?Actually, FEMA already has a document called "Hurricane-Action Guidelines for Senior Citizens" (Publication #L-212) which I'm trying to get hold of. Copies can be ordered from FEMA Publications, P.O. Box 2012 Jessup, MD 20794 -2012 or phone 1-800-480-2520. This might be a good source of material to get such a site going. The disaster-for-seniors site could include more senior emergency posters after the fashion of Matt Spong's recent award-winning "Summer Health Warning" poster. At the risk of stereotyping the aged, special concerns for seniors in severe -weather scenarios might include: * Staying in touch with loved ones during severe weather disruption * Safety of pets and garden
* Difficulties adapting to disrupted routine, esp. * Worry about cost and difficulty of storm repairs to house * Fears of financial hardships or problems with repair companies, insurance firms, etc. * Increased risk of falls in wet, unfamiliar surroundings. The site should definitely avoid things like CNN's depressing "Hurricane Damage Simulation" which, given a US city and a Staffi-Simpson severity category, dutifully reports the bill in billions of dollars. This wouldn't reassure my granddad == or anybody else, for that matter.
Cheers, Graham Mann
(((bruces remarks: thanks for that enlightening note, Graham. I heartily
concur with most of it, especially the healthful practice of indoctrinating the
next generation to anticipate and dodge weather disasters through the Web.
(((However, I take sharp exception to barring the "depressing" disaster
simulation site from old people.
(((Here's yet more data to show that the Net and the Weather are becoming aspects of one another. Can true, full-scale, environmental awareness for the masses be far behind?)))"The Weather Channel Web Site, weather.com, Receives Record-breaking Traffic Tracking Hurricane Floyd; 23 Million Page Views Reinforce Weather As Most Sought After News on the Net
"As Hurricane Floyd continues stalking the East Coast, The Weather Channel Web site, weather.com, received an all-time high of 23.5 million page views on Tuesday, nearly doubling the site's previous record of 12.6 million set in September 1998 during coverage of Hurricane Georges." [Business Wire](((The Nielsen Ratings now take the Web quite seriously:)))
"SPOTLIGHT
"With each passing major event-from earthquakes in Turkey to the start of the
National Football league season-the Web is flexing its muscles as the go-to
source and medium for immediate news, information and community activity. "Hurricane Floyd's had a powerful impact on Web traffic. According to data from Nielsen//NetRatings, top weather-related sites saw a significant rise in traffic, in particular on Sept. 15 as Floyd hit the U.S. Not only did top weather sites see a rise in such key metrics as audience size, page views and reach, the stickiness factor of time per person also rose dramatically. For Weather.Com, which clearly became the go-to source for Web information on Hurricane Floyd, the time spent per person increased more than two full minutes from Sept. 14 to 15th. Hurricane Floyd and The Web Please view in a fixed-width font such as Courier. +------+---------------+---------+-----------+-------+---------+--------+ | Date | Site | | Page | Reach | Time | Pages | | | |Audience | Views | % | Per | Per | | | | | | | Person | Person | | | | | | | (hrs:mi | | | | | | | | n:sec) | | +------+---------------+---------+------- ----+-------+---------+--------+ | | | | | | | | | 9/13 | weather.com | 409,392 | 3,159,689 | 2.3 | 0:06:12 | 8 | | 9/13 | weather.yahoo | 157,477 | 1,020,707 | 0.9 | 0:05:39 | 6 | | | .com | | | | | | | 9/13 | msnbc.com | 267,070 | 1,726,196 | 1.5 | 0:06:17 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | 9/14 | weather.com | 508,689 | 4,435,573 | 2.9 | 0:08:2 0 | 9 | | 9/14 | weather.yahoo | 156,264 | 1,118,275 | 0.9 | 0:04:34 | 7 | | | .com | | | | | | | 9/14 | msnbc.com | 334,523 | 2,259,065 | 1.9 | 0:07:01 | 7 | | 9/14 | noaa.gov | 279,604 | 1,861,290 | 1.6 | 0:05:59 | 7 | | | | | | | | | | 9/15 | weather.com | 722,174 | 6,852,248 | 3.6 | 0:10:26 | 9 | | 9/15 | weather.yahoo | 227,398 | 1,264,626 | 1.1 | 0:03:55 | 6 | | | .com | | | | | | | 9/15 | msnbc.com | 496,521 | 3, 718,827 | 2.5 | 0:04:09 | 7 | | 9/15 | noaa.gov | 343,223 | 1,677, 412 | 1.7 | 0:05:45 | 5 | | | | | | | | | | 9/16 | weather.com | 517,719 | 3,966,498 | 2.8 | 0:05:52 | 8 | | 9/16 | weather.yahoo | 184,778 | 1,110,770 | 1.0 | 0:02:57 | 6 | | | .com | | | | | | | 9/16 | msnbc.com | 381,151 | 3,951,488 | 2.1 | 0:07:58 | 10 | | 9/16 | noaa.gov | 174,782 | 788,046 | 1.0 | 0:03:51 | 5 | +------+---------------+---------+-----------+-------+------- --+--------+ Source: Nielsen//NetRatings Overnight Analysis, Sept. 1999
O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O THE CITY OF AUSTIN IS BOLTING SOLAR
PANELS ONTO THE VIRIDIAN VATICAN RIGHT NOW!
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