background preloader

London Riots

Facebook Twitter

The goal of this pearltree is to see the links between the web and the riots.
Please pearl only English content so that it can be broadcasted widely :)

London riots plus deprivation = interesting. London riots plus deprivation = interesting Posted on Wednesday, August 10th, 2011 at 10:08 am. # Francis Fawcett contacted me with an interesting piece of work – overlaying my riots map (showing London riots from Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights, details here) with the Index of Multiple Deprivation from 2007.

This index, in case you don’t know (and I didn’t) is constructed from different data which is weighted and combined together, and shows income, employment, health and disability, education, skills and training, barriers to housing and services, crime, and environment. If you want to have a play with the map, is where you’ll find it. I’m not a statistician, but it seems that there is an interesting, if not unexpected, correlation between “deprivation” and the unrest we’ve been seeing. This is an archive site, and comments are now closed. UK Riots An Artist's Response. An artist's response to the riots 11/08/11 Editorial by Rebecca Mellor Looters have been described as 'feral rats', but what sort of society harbours, generates and fosters this sort of 'feral' behaviour? Who are these yoofs? Is this simply the revolt of social 'have-nots', or a throwing of the dummy by a young middle class who have never had to tighten their belts?

Is this a generation that has grown up in an ever wanting consumerist society? A strive for its wanton artifice or a reaction against it? Is this reactive criminality in response and in keeping with the proactive criminality and subversions inherent in our banking, governance, education and capitalist systems? Does greed, opportunism and lawlessness in oppressive systems, breed greed, opportunism and lawlessness in its people? People are riled; for various reasons, riled enough to riot, riled enough by the riots, riled by the fatalities, riled by inherent corruption clearly visible for anyone willing to see. How the London riots showed us two sides of social networking. I watched in disbelief, horror, and dismay as news broke of Londoners laying waste to their—and my—city.

My part of South London, Tulse Hill, escaped the riots, probably for want of anything to steal, but businesses were attacked a mile away in Streatham, and widespread looting hit nearby Brixton. For the past four nights, the wail of police and fire sirens has been a continuous feature of the city's soundtrack. These events are a godsend for 24-hour rolling news, but they also show its limitations. Like many others, I watched both BBC News and Sky News to find out what was going on. And like many others, I found the TV news incapable of keeping up with the changing situation. Live text coverage from the BBC, the Guardian, and Sky News fared much better, but it was Twitter—of course—that was the most responsive, most timely source of information about the rioting and looting up and down the country.

Twitter, tool of collective action From the boardroom to the street.

Fueled by Twitter & BBM?

Blocking Communications during riots ? Identifying Rioters. #Riotcleanup. London riots plus deprivation = interesting. Five ways journalists used online tools. Since riots started in London on Saturday, 6 August, journalists – and many non-journalists, who may or may not think of themselves as citizen reporters – have been using a variety of online tools to tell the story of the riots and subsequent cleanup operation. Here are five examples: 1. Maps James Cridland, who is managing director of Media UK, created a Google Map – which has had more than 25,000 views. Writing on his blog (which is well worth a read), Cridland explains how and why he verified the locations of riots before manually adding reports of unrest to his map one by one. I realised that, in order for this map to be useful, every entry needed to be verified, and verifiable for others, too. Speaking to Journalism.co.uk, he explained there was much rumour and many unsubstantiated reports on Twitter, particularly about Manchester where police responded by repeatedly announcing they had not had reports of copycat riots.

A lot of people don’t know how to check and verify. 2. 3. 4. 5. eBay confirms it will remove listings linked to looting in London. With the Metropolitan Police posting photos of suspected looters to Flickr after widespread rioting in the streets of London, online auction and commerce giant eBay has issued a statement saying it will work with authorities to identify and remove any listings linked to raids of various retailers over the past three days. With fashion outlets, sportswear shops and sellers of electronic goods targeted, it is thought that many of the individuals involved in the looting will turn to e-commerce websites including eBay and its subsidiary Gumtree to sell the items obtained by illegal means. An eBay spokesperson emailed the company’s statement, informing us that it would be cooperating fully with the Police and other authorities: “Our thoughts are with the businesses and communities affected by recent events in London and around the UK. eBay will cooperate fully with the investigating authorities to identify and remove any listings which are linked to criminal activity.”

Amazon withdraws truncheons after bumper sales. London MP Stella Creasy has asked people not to go on Amazon buying weapons. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP Amazon has removed several police-style telescopic truncheons from sale on its site as soaring sales of truncheons, baseball bats and other items that could be used as weapons sparked fears of vigilantism in the wake of widespread rioting. Sales of one type of aluminium truncheon rose 50,000% within 24 hours, entering the top-10 bestselling items in the sports category.

Before they were de-listed, two different "police-style" truncheons had seen sales increase more than 400-fold overnight, though from a low base. Amazon.co.uk also stocks, either directly or through third parties, self-defence sprays and Kubotans, short lengths of plastic or steel used as a concealed weapon. Michael Gomulka, a barrister at 25 Bedford Road chambers, said English and Welsh law split offensive weaponry into different categories. Other users agreed, but some supported the sales to encourage self-defence:

More on the riots