Take a hyperlink cruise into heat of battle

By CHRIS BARTON

There is nothing like a war to show both the power and deficiencies of the internet. The net provides unparalleled global access to an unprecedented quantity of news and information, but the same capability also swamps users with too much information and an unforgiving maze.

For news of the Iraq invasion traditional search tools are crude. At Google on Wednesday I got 10.1 million search results on "Iraq". Adding "war" got it down to three million. "Invasion" got 458,000.

Google news is more useful. Compiled by computer algorithms without human intervention and culled from 4500 news sources, the service automatically arranges stories with "the most relevant news first" and apparently "without regard to political viewpoint or ideology".

It's news Jim, but not as we know it. Where else would you get opinion from Noam Chomsky ("The case against US adventurism in Iraq"), George Lakoff ("Metaphor and war, again") and Michael Gartner ("Americans want this war or so they tell pollsters") together?

But by far the best mechanism to get your war news is via the humble hyperlink - a random ride of the blue underlined text within web pages to counteract the randomness of the web.

Take the Actnow blog. In a few deft paragraphs Peter Rothberg outlines developments as they relate to peace and protest efforts with embedded hyperlinks providing the extra detail.

Even better is the way a hyperlink invites you to boldly go to where you have never gone before - and once you're there, to boldly go again. I had just such an experience at antiwar.com where I jumped into an editorial discussing the wrongs of direct action protest, and then shot off to Znet - an excellent news aggregator where you'll find Robert Fisk, John Pilger and friends.

Fly off on similar tangents at Warblogs.cc which includes BBC and New York Times links plus the progress of independent journalist Christopher Allbritton (Back to Iraq) who has raised US$5000 from internet donations in his quest to get to Iraq.

The only problem with this tangential approach to news is that sometimes you forget where you've come from and can't remember how to get back. Which is why I prefer hyperlinks that spawn another browser window, although this, too, gets clunky with lots of windows open.

There are 3D browsers like Browse3D or 2ce which are interesting to try if you like to juggle a lot of sites and links at once.

But what I really want is the sort of interface Tom Cruise had in the movie Minority Report - one where you literally reach into the screen and haul information out from behind - pulling it to the front and pushing other bits aside.

It's not as far-fetched as it sounds. Sharp has developed a liquid crystal display that allows 3D viewing without 3D glasses and local company Deep Video has had multilayer screen technology for some time.

The organised chaos of the net means the hyperlink trail always leads to lots of stuff that's not worth mentioning.

But I will continue to check in on dear_raed.blogspot.com, an Iraqi blog from Baghdad, which some conspiracy theorists reckon is a fake run by the CIA.

I rather like the forums at Guerrilla News because they get so heated. Ditto for whatreallyhappened.com, which is so overheated that you can't help but read on.

If you like satire, take in the Borowitz Report: " ... the Iraqi strongman surprised his country and the world by saying he would in fact accept exile: in France."

Then you must check out francestinks.com - whose raison d'etre is to punish countries labelled part of the "Axis of Weasels". It would be wonderful if it was satire. Unfortunately, I think it's serious.

* Email Chris Barton

Google

Google News

Daily Times Pakistan

AlterNet

USA Today

ActNow

Antiwar.com

Znet

Warblogs

Back To Iraq

Browse3D

2ce

Deep Video

dear_raed.blogspot.com

Guerrilla News

whatreallyhappened.com

Borowitz Report

francestinks.com