This is a great idea:
Donated money? Please donate a little time. Join the Katrina PeopleFinder Project.
It's easy. All you need is an internet connection and the ability to copy data into a form
After Katrina many friends and family members have been separated and left with no clear way to find each other. Hundreds of internet web sites are gathering hundreds, and probably thousands, of entries about missing persons or persons who want to let others know they're okay.
The problem is: the data on these sites has no particular form or structure. So it's almost impossible for people to search or match things up. Plus there are dozens of sites - making it hard for a person seeking lost loved ones to search them all.
The Katrina PeopleFinder Project NEEDS YOUR HELP to enter data about missing and found people from various online sources. We're requesting as little as an hour of your time. All you need to do is help read unstructured posts about missing or found persons, and then add the relevant data to a database through a simple online form.
To get started please click here
Questions? Email katrina-people (at) activist-tech.org
Thanks!!!
The Katrina PeopleFinder Team
[Tags: katrina]
Posted
by D. Weinberger at September 4, 2005 09:09 PM
Comments
A simpler, better alternative IMHO is Air America's public voicemail box:
http://www.airamericaradio.com/katrina/voicemailinfo.html
866-217-6255
You call in, enter a known telephone # (perhaps yours or another relative) and leave a message. Then someone else can enter this # and retreive the message.
Simple, huh? Most shelters have phone banks.
Why in the heck the govt did not set something like this up Day 1 and publicize it is beyond me. God I wish Clinton or Bush Sr were running this thing.
Posted by: Mike M | September 4, 2005 11:32 PM
David, I found this link that seems to be more detailed if I'm not wrong:
http://192.122.183.218/wiki/index.php/PeopleFinderVolunteer
Posted by: ricir | September 5, 2005 05:46 AM
Similar but faster idea: I'm working on a project called katrinasearch.pl -- a perl CGI which scrapes all known check-in/missing person sites, which anyone can download and run on their own website, thereby distributing the load. It caches to conserve bandwidth.
I need more programmers! This is highly modular work, so we can work in parallel. We could have this done in TWO DAYS with about a dozen coders. Please, if you know perl and can help out, please contact me at katrina+vol@mixolydian.org with "VOL OP No. 3" in the subject line. Please pass this on!
Posted by: Vanessa L | September 5, 2005 12:14 PM
AmSouth Bank is A Racist BANK!!! Placing Blame on Katrina!!
Amsouth Bank www.amsouth.com Harold Rhodes, from Washington State now in Birmingham, Alabama Said, "The responsibility Lies with the mayor, Not the Government. The Federal Government is not responsible for these people."
Time said 9/06/05 Wednesday.
Harold Rhodes, Supervisor AmSouth
1-800-289-6720 ex. 7964
Voice your Opinion to AmSouth Corp at 1-800-Amsouth!!!
Posted by: L Walker | September 6, 2005 07:49 PM
Thank you mentioning KatrinaPeopleFinders. I've been helping entering information for a couple of weeks and I sometimes wonder if we are really helping. Thank you again
Posted by: Frenchee | September 23, 2005 03:04 AM