On Monday morning, 2 April, shots rang out on the campus of the University of Washington, Seattle, where I teach. Two deaths: a murder/suicide of a UW staff member and her estranged boyfriend.

On Monday morning, 16 April, shots rang out on the campus of Virginia Tech, Blacksburg - my alma mater. To date, 33 deaths: mass murder/suicide of students and faculty (and perhaps staff, we just don't know yet).

I learned of the first murder by e-mail while working from home. I learned of the second when logging on to Google News at Chicago's O'Hare airport en route to Seattle from a quick trip home to Georgia. The one more distant, geographically (2,780 miles away, according to Google maps), has had the greatest emotional impact. Together, they have caused me to rethink my beliefs about humanity and technology, and violence and guns.

Humanity and Technology
What is it about the human animal that causes us to rubberneck at roadside collisions? Whatever it is, that base voyeuristic impulse seems magnified by the always-on technologies of the Internet, specifically instant messaging and blogs.

In my Blogging, Media and Politics class today, we talked about student (blog) journals and Flickr photos as forms of citizen journalism. Some, but not all, provide insight and information about a story that would not survive the filters of editors and news producers - at least not before the 24/7 Internet news cycle.

The ability to put a human face on the tragedy is one of the greatest benefits of these new media technologies. The ease with which people can spew, gossip, wring hands, pontificate, or metaphorically drive back-and-forth rubbernecking is a major drawback.

The 24/7 always-on Internet news cycle has another, insidious, side effect: an apparent belief that any threat should be immediately broadcast, verified or not. I speak here of the insistence by some students and media pundits that Virginia Tech officials did not react quickly enough to contain the shooter. Many people are trotting out an event that occurred in August 2006 as an example of how the University could have communicated quickly if it was so inclined - but they're wrong.

According to the Roanoke Times (Roanoke is the largest metro area near Blacksburg), on Sunday, 20 August 2006 at 2.30 am, a convict escaped in Blacksburg, shooting a security guard and deputy. On Monday, 21 August 2006 at 7.15 am the escaped convict killed a deputy downtown, adjacent to campus. "[The University] sent out a warning Sunday (by e-mail, one assumes) about Morva's escape, but after Monday's shooting most students were still going about their business, going to classes and getting coffee at Squires Student Center until about 10 a.m. Amid reports that someone fitting Morva's description was inside Squires, the building was evacuated. ...students were told to go home and stay inside residence halls if they lived on campus. Classes were canceled and employees sent home."