Collapsed building in Cologne - a multimedial experience

You may have heard about the collapsed building in Cologne. The historic archive, a 4-storey building collapsed this afternoon, at least 3 people are still missing. More about the story at the CNN-webpage.

I had been right there at the end of December 07, so this is a bit spooky for me… Here is the Google map:

Größere Kartenansicht

But what I really want to write about is, how much getting information or news has changed for me. Normally I would have just read a local webpage while I was at work and then watch the news on TV. But today I first read about it at twitter, and then switched on iTunes to listen to a local radio station, reading the local webpage plus following SamZidat on twitter who lives nearby and provides pictures taken on his balcony. SamZidat has the most recent news, but obviously he can’t provide interviews or further background knowledge the way TV/radio can do. So instead of relaying only on TV or radio in a very passive way I actively collect and select the information I want from the different sources (not to forget Google maps!).

Is this the new age of communication? And how do we learn and teach this much needed “Medienkompetenz” (media competence)??

Let us pray for the rescue of the people who might still be in the building and hope that as many historical documents as possible can be saved after the rescue mission.