"Hmm. This could actually be a nasty storm," Michael Barnett of the Intercosmos Media Group wrote in his LiveJournal under the pseudonym of Interdictor. He was talking about the approaching Hurricane Katrina. He and a group of staff had volunteered to stay behind and keep the data centre running, as the city was evacuated of all of those who had transportation ahead of the storm.

Intercosmos is an Internet hosting company, known online as www.directnic.com and run out of New Orleans. Their mission in staying was to keep sites online including popular sites such as SomethingAwful.com. Barnett set up his blog on LiveJournal, popularly known by users as LJ, in order to keep in touch with friends and family during and in the aftermath of the storm. It seemed like the right thing to do, considering they would all be completely cut off from the outside world.

They were all as prepared as they could be under the circumstances: They had a generator, food, cameras on the top of the building, and connection to the outside world. Little did Barnett realise that his position would make him an eyewitness to the ongoing drama during and after the storm, and that his small journal would become one of the most hit sites on LJ. News would be scarce after the storm, and he was one of the few in a position to get any word out.

All he wanted to do was let those who cared know that he was all right.

During the night of the 28th August 2005 Barnett kept up his blog, letting his friends know what was happening. He recorded the wind picking up, and the presence of armed police who came in to check on them on more than one occasion. While he was doing this word of mouth, or maybe the better expression would be word of keyboard, started happening.

Viral marketing, and viral communication, as its known can travel at a sedate pace or like lightning. New Orleans is a major city, and below sea level. The city was not fully evacuated ahead of the storm. People wanted to know what was happening, and if there would be a city still there after the most powerful category of hurricane hit the city. Barnett was one of the few people with the means to tell the world what was happening. He was totally unaware of how many people had found their way to his little blog during the night until they set up the camera feeds, only to have them fall over again and again as worried visitors tried to connect to see what was happening.

Barnett's blog was live in every sense of the word. He was able to tell the world things that the reporters never would be able to, because he knew the city, and at the same time he had the same isolation as those that had stayed. They could only see what was happening where they were, and not what was going on in the city on the whole.

Two days on they found out that they didn't have enough fuel for their generator, and none of the employees knew how to properly fill it. The traffic to the blog became a godsend as Barnett and company were able to procure more fuel, and then get the instructions on how to properly work the generator.

Through all of this Barnett began to pass on stories as more people became aware of their presence, and connection to the world outside. He talked about the looting, the fires and the flooding; of having to sandbag the entrances to their building, and of gunshots and people taking shelter. It was almost like living the tragedy along with them. And Barnett's blog went from a small concern to one of the most hit on LiveJournal.

It's not only ghoulish curiosity that makes people zero in on disasters. Waiting and watching from a distance is hard. The existence of these journals actually gave not only the users a sense of the outside world, but also allowed people on the outside to help in small and big ways.

We've all heard of cell phones being used to locate people in distress, and the blogs used during Hurricane Katrina worked in a similar manner. Somewhere along the line people emotionally connected with the bloggers and wanted to help anyway they could. As the situation deteriorated in New Orleans blogs such as Barnett's were able to communicate the immediate urgency of the matter, something the news reporters would not be able to do for several days. They were able to get the news out to a world hungry for more information.

Blogging is here to stay, and there's more than enough room for different types of blogs, including ones like Micheal Barnett's. He has since transformed the blog, and is now dedicating it to the rebuilding of New Orleans, which is just as important as its initial role as a diary of a disaster in progress.