Campus massacre: Turning to technology.

Today's post comes from eSchool News. Almost immediately after the deadly shootings at Virginia Tech University on April 16, Virginia Tech students created an "I'm OK" page on Facebook to let one another and their loved ones know that they survived. Other students posted photos and cell phone videos on their own sites, or shared them just hours after the shootings with news organizations.

Thanks to the portability and speed of today's technology, the students' shots are likely to become some of the "defining images" of the tragedy, says Amanda Lenhart, a senior researcher at the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which monitors high-tech culture.

And nowhere, she says, has the impact of the internet been seen more than on social networking sites, most often frequented by young people.

"What better place to mourn someone than a place that they themselves build to express who they are, and a place where the deceased and his or her friends may have spent a great deal of time interacting?" Lenhart asks.

Since April 16, there has been a nonstop flood of postings on the popular Facebook student site, on MySpace and LiveJournal, and on personal blogs--expressing everything from grief to anger to confusion. To read the rest of this article click here.