Monday, April 18, 2011

Monday Muse: QuakeBook for Japan

I want to compile a book of quake experiences
and publish it like within a week and donate
all profits to Red Cross We have the technology.
~ March 17, 2011 Tweet

Many people saying what's the deadline. Do people ask
quake survivors when they'd like to be rescued?
The answer is now baby, NOW #QuakeBook
~ March 20, 2011, Tweet from @ourmaninabiko


The just-launched e-book 2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake, dubbed #QuakeBook after its Twitter hashtag, is Twitter-sourced, the result of a tweet by Our Man in Abiko (@ourmaninabiko), a British resident of Japan who felt helpless to help those caught up in the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami of March 11. What he did know how to do was edit and, after tweeting what he wanted to do — create a record of what happened and raise relief money for the Japanese Red Cross Society — he had several hundred editors, writers, designers, and translators volunteering their services to make a book of witness and testimony. One hundred percent of sales go to the JRCS. The book is available now for Amazon's Kindle and as a downloadable app for computer (Windows PC, Mac) or mobile device (iPhone, Blackberry).

The contents of 2:46 (the title denotes the exact time of the earthquake), created in less than two weeks, comprise essays, artwork, and photographs submitted by 85 contributors from around the world. There's a piece from Yoko Ono, stories from journalists on location, work specifically created for the book by former Yomiuri Shinbun reporter Jake Adelstein, science fiction writer William Gibson, and novelist Barry Eisler (he wrote the Foreword), plus recollections from people in Japan who experienced first-hand the horrors of the quake and the tsunami that followed. 

This video tells the story of QuakeBook's conception and creation:


The book is being translated into Japanese, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Greek, and Chinese and a second edition is in the works, according to information on the QuakeBook blog. I also learned in an exchange of e-mails with Joseph Tame, who provides tech support to the project, that an online archive of original and subsequent contributions is being considered. (To keep up to date on developments, follow on FaceBook, Twitter, or the blog, all linked below.)


"Help Japan" Digital Print (All proceeds from poster sales are donated for relief aid for Japan. Sales already have reached more than $15,000.)


QuakeBook Blog (There is a lot of interesting background information here.)

QuakeBook on FaceBookTwitter, Flickr, and LinkedIn



Logo Design by @marikuisato

6 comments:

Laura said...

I love that initial tweet where he said, "...We have the technology." Yes, we do. And this is such a great example of the good we can do with it. Amazing example. Thanks for sharing, Maureen.

S. Etole said...

What an amazing endeavor ... thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Hannah Stephenson said...

Wow. I'm so happy to hear of this project.

katdish said...

That's just fantastic, Maureen! Gonna get me a copy today. Thanks.

Maureen said...

I sent in the two poems I wrote. They'll probably appear in the Archive with other submissions. It's a real labor of love that's doing so much good.

Anonymous said...

Kathleen Overby is showing me examples of really good blogs and she suggested I look at yours. It is great!