[Nettime-bold] geertogram

["geert lovink" <geert@xs4all.nl>]

1. "Alex Burns" <alex.burns@disinfo.net>
Disinfo Roundtable: US Terrorist Bombings

2. Educause
Net Offer Both News and Comfort

3. Rhizome Net Art News
Attack On New York--'World Views' Residencies Lost

4. Steven Carlson" <steve@noweurope.com>
 ne #355: NYC, DC ... Europe?

5. "Digital Media Wire" <comments@digitalmediawire.com>
Akamai Co-founder and CTO Killed in World Trade Center Crash

6. Andy Carvin <acarvin@benton.org>
quick report from DC, new listserv for discussing attack

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1. From: "Alex Burns" <alex.burns@disinfo.net>
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 10:35 PM
Subject: Disinfo Roundtable: US Terrorist Bombings

Dear Friends,

The tragic bomb attacks on New York City and
Washington DC on September 11 2001 have raised
many disturbing questions, and like Florida 2000,
prompted me to assemble a Disinfo.com "roundtable"
of analyses, comments and responses.

This email is an invitation for you to add your
thoughts to the growing list, which I'll be publishing
when our NYC-based servers come back on-line. I publish
responses "as-is" with a brief by-line and email/web
site link if provided by you. Some possible avenues:

1. What are the ramifications for the US domestic situation?
2. How will this incident affect plans for an NMD?
3. Should US humint (human intelligence-gathering)
resources be strengthened? Was this a failure by US
humint to predict and prepare for "blowback"?
4. What implications are there for US media coverage?
Is the US press relying on "jihad" framing as an explanation?
5. How will this incident affect the geopolitical "balance of
power"?

Please send any responses to <agburns@students.latrobe.edu.au>.
Due to some trans-Pacific difficulties, I've not had access to
<alex@disinfo.com> email since August 16 (which is why you
may not have heard from me). Please use <alex.burns@disinfo.net>
for any regular correspondence until further notice.

Here are some examples of our roundtable format:

Disinformation Roundtable: Votescam in Florida?
http://www.disinfo.com/pages/article/id514/pg1/

Will Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
http://www.disinfo.com/pages/article/id1109/pg1/

Three resources of interest: Susan D. Moeller's excellent book
"Compassion Fatigue: How the Media Sell Disease, Famine, War
and Death" (New York: Routledge, 1998) explains why US press
coverage of international relations is so poor, and also
details the four-stage "reportage cycle" that is now
unfolding on our television screens. Moeller's book is crucial
to understanding what "frames" and metaphors the US media has
utilized over the past 24 hours. Lloyd deMause's Psychohistory.com
site has some interesting papers on symbol analysis and war
reportage. National Values Center cofounders Dr. Don Beck and
Chris Cowan have written an informative "multidimensional"
paper on terrorism and values systems:

http://www.spiraldynamics.com/applications/terroris.htm

Thanks for your time and considering this request.
I hope that you, family, and friends are safe.

Sincerely,

Alex Burns
Editor, Disinfo.com

---

2. WEB OFFERS BOTH NEWS AND COMFORT

The Internet offered both news and a sense of connection to
people during and after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.
Vanderbilt University professor Donna Hoffman said that the
need to connect is intense and noted that the Internet carries
news without blather and allows people to link to one another.
Even some Web sites devoted to other topics began carrying
photos, news, and anecdotes from witnesses as people discussed
the events and shared fears about relations and friends. The
Internet also served as a way to try to contact friends and
family when the telephone systems were too overloaded to work
properly, and a site was set up for people in New York to use
so that their loved ones would know they were safe.
(New York Times, 12 September 2001)

NET CRUCIAL IN SPREADING U.S. MESSAGE

The U.S. State Department stressed the importance of the
Internet as a diplomatic tool at the second annual Net
Diplomacy conference. "We have got to use these technologies
to tell America's story, to promote America's interests, and
perhaps further the ideas of freedom and democracy around the
world," said Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman. The Office
of International Information Programs, which organized the
conference, battles anti-American propaganda through a
multilingual Web site that releases uncensored information.
For example, Chinese people were kept abreast through the
site of the dealings between their government and that of the
United States concerning the crew of a U.S. surveillance plane
that collided with a Chinese fighter and made an emergency
landing in China. (Associated Press, 6 September 2001)

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3. From: "Net Art News" <netartnews@rhizome.org>

Attack On New York--'World Views' Residencies Lost

New York City is in a state of shock today, after Tuesday's disastrous
attacks on the World Trade Center. Concerned emails poured in today, asking
about the status of Rhizome and our community. The Rhizome office, located
in the SoHo neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, was not physically affected by
the attack. All Rhizome staffers have been accounted for and are safe. One
Rhizome consultant, who lives two blocks from the attack site, was
fortunately not in the area at the time of the attack. The Rhizome web
server went down on Tuesday morning, blocking Rhizome Raw and staff email
for approximately four hours. The downtime was an apparent side effect of
the attack, but no concrete connection has been established. Communications
via the Rhizome network are now functioning normally. The World Views artist
residencies, a program of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, were housed
inside the World Trade Center, and have been lost. It has not yet been
reported if any ! World Views artists or administrators have been injured in
the attack.

http://rhizome.org/fresh

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4. "Steven Carlson" <steve@noweurope.com>
 ne #355: NYC, DC ... Europe?

Friends,

We're watching this horrible news here in Budapest, too.

Chris Condon was visiting my home/office, and we watched, live,
as the second WTC tower collapsed. Like everyone else, we were
shocked to the core. This couldn't be happening.

Yesterday evening, the US embassy issued a warning that American
citizens should not visit any expat hangouts. I had scheduled a
First Tuesday event, but at the last minute my sponsors and I
decided to call it off. I spent the evening with a handful of
friends, and First Tuesday members, at a local bar, watching it
all unfold on the television.

We don't feel any immediate danger here, but we're apprehensive
about the consequences. Will this mean a global recession? Will
there be a US retaliation (or an overreaction)? Is the US about
to sacrifice civil liberties in the pursuit of security?

The story has a European angle, too. According to CNN, NATO has
just invoked article five, which states that an armed attack
against one member state is an attack against all 18 member
states. What does that mean? Is Europe (including Hungary) now at
war, and if so, who is the enemy?

I'd be happy to publish your perspectives on the European angle,
as well as personal accounts from those in NYC and DC.

I'm glad to report that my close friends in NYC are okay.
Hope your friends and loved ones are okay, too.

Finally, here's a collection of links you may find useful.

Peace,

Steven Carlson
nowEurope moderator

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5. "Digital Media Wire" <comments@digitalmediawire.com>
Digital Media Wire - Sept. 12

Akamai Co-founder and CTO Killed in World Trade Center Crash

Los Angeles -- Akamai Technologies, a content delivery network, said on
Tuesday that its co-founder and chief technology officer, Daniel C. Lewin,
was killed when his plane crashed into the World Trade Center (WTC) in New
York City. Lewin was aboard American Airlines Flight 11, on his way from
Boston to Los Angeles, when terrorists took control of the plane and
crashed it into the WTC's north tower, the first to be hit. Lewin is
survived by his wife and two sons. "Danny was a wonderful human being,"
said Akamai CEO George H. Conrades. "He will be deeply missed by his many
friends at Akamai. Our thoughts and prayers are with Danny's family,
friends and colleagues during this time of national tragedy and personal
loss."
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010911/112407_1.html
http://www.akamai.com

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6. Andy Carvin <acarvin@benton.org>
quick report from DC, new listserv for discussing attack

I just wanted to give a quick report from downtown DC. Most of us at the
Benton Foundation  evacuated our building, which is at 18th and K street,
three or four blocks from the white house. We received word of the attacks
on the World Trade center building around 9am, having to rely on portable
radios since our Internet connection froze as people tried to find more
information. The majority of Benton staff were out of the building by 10am.

The streets are filled with people briskly walking away from downtown,
trying to get their cell phones to work. It's not a panic situation by any
means - just lots of people determined to get the hell out of there. Some
people are clearly shaken, and are being comforted by friends and strangers
alike. The streets are completely jammed with cars as people try to get out
of the city. Since lots of us at our office usually take the metro to work
(which has been shut down, along with all other commuter trains), those of
us who lived within walking distance offered to bring home other people who
would be stranded downtown.

We're now back at my Dupont Circle apartment, two miles due north of the
Pentagon. We can't see smoke from our balcony, which is surprising
considering the extent of the damage we've seen on TV so far.

I've set up a listserv, sept11info, for people wanting to talk about today's
attack. You can join the list by going to this address:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sept11info

or by sending an email to sept11info-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Please feel free to pass on this information.

I will do my best to report on any news here in DC, but let us all hope and
pray that the worst is over now. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone
who's being affected by this insanity....

Andy Carvin
Benton Foundation
acarvin@benton.org

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