Iraq fatalities databases
A number of sites have put together excellent databases of U.S. fatalities in Iraq. These databases are a fantastic example of how the Web can be used to produce compelling and meaningful civic journalism online in a way not possible in any other medium.
The best one on a news site might be the War Memorial on The Seattle Times' Web site, which includes several excellent elements:
• Profiles of the local soldiers killed
• A searchable database of victims, from The Spokesman Review
• A memorial guestbook for readers to post their thoughts -- a great idea, though it would be even better if people were able to post thoughts linked directly to the biographies of specific victims.
Other sites worth checking out:
• WashingtonPost.com's Faces of the Fallen: A nice Flash package looking at U.S. fatalities in Iraq. The database is searchable in several different ways, but the emphasis is on scrolling over victim's faces, giving the package a more human element than some of the others.
• CNN.com's U.S. & Coalition Casualties: This site note only tracks all of the details about each of the victims, but analyzes the data and offers regularly updated charts that categorize the fatalities by nationality, race, age, gender and hostile versus non-hostile circumstances of death.
• SignOnSanDiego.com's "Not Forgotten": Searchable database that includes profiles of many of the local victims. Not as fancy as CNN.com's or washingtonpost.com's, but much more detailed portraits of the victims.
• Newsday.com's database: A basic searchable database of soldiers killed in Iraq, with information about how they were killed.
• Dallas Morning News' Killed in Action: A listing of all the victims, with photos, but not searchable.
• The Spokesman Review's own database: Doesn't offer the type of compelling portraits that The Seattle Times has on its site.
In a recent article in AJR, CNN.com Executive Producer Mitch Gelman says: "We've received many e-mails from people thanking us for honoring the soldiers, including notes from family members who we know from their letters appreciate the fact that we remember the sacrifices that their loved ones have made."
UPDATE (4/28): Steve Outing discussed these databases Wednesday, saying he's surprised more sites haven't developed such Iraq-casualty databases.
Apr 27, 2004 | E-MAIL | SAVE | PRINT | PERMALINK | DISCUSS(1)
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1 comments about 'Iraq fatalities databases'Great blog! I want to creat my own blog... im doing some research for inspiration and came accross yours!
Posted by Wesley at May 17, 2004 8:27 AM
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