Most of my posts over the next several days will be audio reports from Rising Tide IV, a conference founded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the leveee failure that followed.  Here’s the short form:

After the flood that followed Hurricane Katrina’s landfall, the internet became a vital connection among dispersed New Orleanians, former New Orleanians, friends of the city and of the Gulf Coast region. A surge of new blogs erupted and, combined with those that were already online, a community of bloggers with a shared interest in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast developed. In the summer of 2006, after the success of the first Geek Dinner, and to mark the anniversary of the flood, the newly formed NOLA Bloggers organized the first Rising Tide Conference, taking their shared interest in technology, the internet and social media and turning advocacy for the city into action.

Over the intervening years we have had guests ranging from the Wall Street Journal’s Chris Cooper and Robert Block, authors of Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security, to this year’s keynote Speaker, Harry Shearer.  I’m particularly happy that Mr. Shearer made the time to join us this year as his bloggin about the disparity between national news and the actual events in the disaster zone have been vitally important over the past four years. (I’m also a huge fan of The Simpsons…)

I’d like to invite anyone with questions about Katrina, New Orleans, or the conference to feel free to drop me a line or leave me a comment. I’ll answer as best I can and if I don’t know the answer I’ll find you someone who does.

Okay. Next stop, New Orleans!

George “Loki” Williams is the owner of SocialGumbo, LLC