[Photo : Refugees at the Libya-Tunisia border on March 5, 2011 by
tharawen]
A personal correspondent in Libya? Not quite. For those of us that will accept only first hand news it can get a bit difficult to know where to look when it comes to foreign affairs. A good place to start would be a website that falls under the definition of "live feed" or "real-time". On such websites it is possible to follow the dispute from its conception.
Libya is staging a revolution that began with the cries of a people who felt abandoned by their leader. To witness these cries first hand all one has to do is go to the website
feb17voices. It provides a truly heart wrenching glimpse into the lives of the citizens of Libya. Each individual case will shed new light on the day to day lives of a people in turmoil.
A unique aspect of the Libyan revolution is that it has roots in social media. With neighboring countries discontented as well, it only took some internet buzz and word of mouth for revolt to spread like wildfire. For an intimate glimpse at this part of the uprising see sites such as
NewsInLibya on Twitter. This specific account provides an up to the minute feed on all news relating to Lybia. Twitter, however, is more versatile than it would seem. When paired with Google maps it creates this site:
Mapping Violence Against Pro-Democracy Protests in Libya. An inventive tool by
@Arasmus this Google map tentatively pinpoints violent acts against the Libyan revolutionaries based on tweets.
Another classic media source that most of the world is familiar with, Facebook, is actually another invaluable source of information on Libya. One user doing well with this tool is
the Libyan Youth Movement. A smattering of tweets, links, and comments, this source is an excellent platform for research on Libya.
While its not quite like conferring face to face with someone who’s witnessed the situation, these sources put you on the forefront. Those struggling for their rights in Libya are doing so on the web as well. Consider these websites your window to a more in depth insight in Libya.