Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005. The author, a journalist who lived in New Orleans, researched how people used blogs to reconnect and share their experiences after the storm. She interviewed people about what they read online during that time and analyzed over 300 blogs to tell the story of New Orleans' recovery over two years through citizens' first-hand accounts. The process of gathering and presenting these personal narratives uncovered challenges but also showed how remembering this difficult period through people's own words can be meaningful.

1. Keyword Katrina
A DEEP-DIVE THROUGH HURRICANE KATRINA’S
UNSEARCHABLE PAST
CYNTHIA JOYCE, ASST. PROFESSOR OF JOURNALISM, U.
MISSISSIPPI

2. Overview
Hurricane Katrina/New Orleans
Why this project/Why me?
Methods: Approached it as a journalist/but also as a citizen who
lived in and loved the city
Please Forward: From internet to print and back again

3. New Orleans in 2005
--NOT wired (Pre-Twitter; Facebook was in its infancy; mobile devices still
primitive)
--Digital Divide in high relief: Hi poverty/low literacy – 1 in 6 adults
functionally illiterate
--Access to any online technology severely limited
--80 percent of city flooded/More than 1800 people died/ 70 percent
displaced
--Fewer than half of city’s residents returned in following year
--Man-made disaster in New Orleans -- it was failure of levees and flooding,
not storm impact, that led to death and mass destruction.

4. Searching for a story
Journalist for more than 20 years – always at the in-between “pain
point” of media convergence:
--Salon.com (1995-- Web 0.1)
--Resident of New Orleans from 2001-2007 – editor at Nola.com
post-Katrina
--NBC/MSNBC.com (2007-2011)
I was also conducting research as a citizen who lived through those
events, and lived through them online.
-Katrina was not a single event – I was searching for an emotionally
accurate account of a two-year era

5. Selection methods
REPORTING INSTINCTS: Interviewing people about who/what they remembered
reading, who they relied on for information and updates.
SURFING vs. SEARCHING: Following most frequently cross-listing blogrolls,
occasionally allowing for serendipity to act as guide, seeking interesting juxtapositions.
FAMILIARITY/PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE – Created timeline of “high” and
“low” points (not just breaking news); please send frequently forwarded emails you kept.
SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS AND CALLOUTS: Binders Full of Women Writers
Facebook group; employing “affirmative action” in seeking out sources
Searched more than 300 blogs, used entries from about 70 individuals, including musicians,
chefs, activists, doctors, teachers and writers – to create a narrative cross-section, a collective
diary.

6. Choosing Themes
Original TOC was based on categories that organically emerged
FOREVER DAYS
AN ACCOUNTING
LED ASTRAY (pets)
RE-ENTRY
KINDNESS OF STRANGERS
INDECISION
ELSEWHERE=NOT NEW ORLEANS
SAUTE PANS OF MERCY (food)
GUYVILLE
REBIRTH
BLESSED ASSURANCE (insurance)
ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL
MURDER TOWN
CITIZEN J
MARKING TIME (MARDI GRAS,
KATRINAVERSARIES)
SAINTS MARCH IN
DARK HUMOR
GOODBYES

7. Challenges
IDENTIFYING/FINDING SOURCES -- many used blog handles,
preferring anonymity. Other blogs were password protected. And of course,
a decade later, some bloggers were deceased – made it very delicate to
approach survivors.
IF YOU DIDN’T KNOW WHAT WAS THERE TO BEGIN WITH, YOU WOULDN’T
KNOW WHAT WAS MISSING
PERMISSIONS/BUY-IN – act first, apologize later. Decided on posts
before making the ask, did the digging for them. Appealed to key ‘thought
leaders’ like Karen Gadbois to sign on early.
DOUBT/EMOTIONAL TOLL – What was value in asking people to relive
this period in their lives?

8. Josh Cousin: former resident of St. Bernard projects, rare in his
community for knowing about computers – hence his nerdy nickname
“Bookman.” His first opportunity for online access was not until he
arrived at the Houston Astrodome– 9 days after landfall.

11. More than a month
later, recovery was
not a foregone
conclusion –
something that is
impossible to fathom
now in the “new”
New Orleans

12. ARAB SPRING TWITTER
KATRINA BLOGGING
KEY TIPPING POINTS FOR NEW
PLATFORMS AMONG MSM
Blogs today=primarily news orgs

13. Eye of the storm: Reporters Covering Katrina

15. REACTION/RESPONSE
Hi Cynthia,
Thank you for reaching out to me. I’ll definitely consider your request. Those were
such incredibly raw times that it is tempting to hide it all away and not think of it
again. That being said, I believe Katrina (and everything that happened around it) is
something that needs to be remembered, despite my gut level reaction to not think of
it. - Kelly
Cynthia -
…thanks for putting this work together on New Orleans post K. Taking the time to re-
read those articles I wrote during that time was a gift to me, reminded me of the
many ways I love my city and am so blessed to be living there, blessed that she
survived and that I was a small part in helping her come back from her coma.
– Deb “Big Red” Cotton

18. Conclusions:
There was no template for creating something like this –
and this wouldn’t serve as one, either. Not particularly
‘scalable’ as a research tool
In the age of the algorithm, journalistic/editorial instincts
are still important to acknowledge and apply
 Writers who are working at all levels (from New Yorker,
Gourmet, etc. to citizen journalists) should be made aware
of the issue. Even if you can appreciate the urgency on an
intellectual level, it’s not important to you until it’s personal.
Always let the story drive the decision-making

19. Please Forward:
How Blogging Reconnected New Orleans after Katrina
CYNTHIA JOYCE
U. Mississippi, Meek School of Journalism
Email: cjoyce@olemiss.edu
Twitter: @cynthiajoyce