Looking glass world, #iranelection

There are many extraordinary and important aspects of what is going on, online and off, in Iran and in coverage of the Iranian election. The most striking thing, though, is how differently things appear–because of the content itself and the way stories are told–when I flip between mainstream media and the interactive online world. My kids are dragging me to the sites they read and watch, and I am seeing the power of the Web in a whole new way, as young (and older) people around the world create a new kind of community. I don’t know what these means in the long-term, but it’s clearly powerful now. And those programmers who can set up proxy servers have a chance to show their skills on the fly! And in case you don’t know, searching Twitter.com for #iranelection will give you the latest flood of thousands of postings. Here’s one: “we honour and thank the people of Iran and especially the hackers. Baseej have guns we have brains. #Iranelection”