19.128 recent events in London

               Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 19, No. 128.
       Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
                   www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
                        www.princeton.edu/humanist/
                     Submit to: humanist_at_princeton.edu

         Date: Fri, 08 Jul 2005 13:39:08 +0100
         From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty_at_kcl.ac.uk>
         Subject: recent events in London

Dear colleagues:

I've received many e-mails concerning the recent terrorist attacks on
the people of London. For those who are interested in following
events as they unfold, I can recommend www.bbc.co.uk. But I can
reassure you directly that no one connected with Humanist or
humanities computing in London has as far as I know been injured.

Apart from the obvious, what's remarkable about these events is the
massive role all forms of (computer-mediated) communication are
playing in drawing people together, uniting communities, summoning
help, giving reassurance and contributing intelligence to the current
investigation. Communication has, I suspect, played a very large part
in helping to maintain calm and order amidst all the violence and
chaos. This makes me wonder to what degree terrorism as now practiced
depends on a certain level of public communication -- some, but not
as much as we now have at our command.

In any case, my personal thanks to everyone who has written.

Yours,
WM

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Dr Willard McCarty | Senior Lecturer | Centre for Computing in the
Humanities | King's College London | Kay House, 7 Arundel Street |
London WC2R 3DX | U.K. | +44 (0)20 7848-2784 fax: -2980 ||
willard.mccarty_at_kcl.ac.uk www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/wlm/
Received on Fri Jul 08 2005 - 08:45:44 EDT