War is often associated with the technological advances of the era (eg. Vietnam was the first "television war"), and the current conflict in the Middle East, as well as the war in Iraq, are certainly part of the "Web 2.0 Wars."
The New York Times recently published an article about how Israelis and Lebanese are using blogs and vlogs to chronicle their wartime experiences, and to connect with each other across borders. Gayla, a fifteen year old Israeli, uploaded a clip to YouTube last week that she shot as she ran through her home to her family's bomb shelter, while Lebanese bloggers deliver daily reports from damaged neighborhoods throughout their country.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the article was its title: Anne Frank 2006: War Diaries Online. The Diary of Anne Frank was first published in 1947, two years after Germany surrendered and the war ended in Europe. By then, Anne, her mother and her sister had already perished in the concentration camps. What would have happened if Anne, and others like her, had been able to access sites like YouTube or blogspot? Would the rest of the world have responded sooner, or would the Nazis have stumbled upon her blog and discovered the Frank family's hiding place earlier than August 4, 1944?
There is, of course, no answer to these questions. Even as we watch Gayla's escape to the bomb shelter or read Mana's blog from Lebanon, war rages on in the Middle East. But we have a better sense of what it feels like to be in the middle of it.
