Liveblogging morning talk by Deborah Cotton, Editor-in-Chief of Louisiana Rebuilds at 08NTC in New Orleans. Please excuse errors from typing quickly.

The site was created to answer the question, "How do you get info about what is going on in New Orleans to displaced people?" Rather than create separate web sites for city, state, local businesses and nonprofits to post information, the stakeholders began talking to each other and decided to create one web property together.

PolicyLink, a nonprofit in Oakland, convened the stakeholders to help build the site. The group reached out to the web site developer who built the web site after 9/11.

The site was built for two audiences:  1. people who are displaced and trying to get information, and 2. people how have moved back who are trying to find info. about how to rebuild their home, find groceries, get utilities, find clinics, hospitals and their doctors, etc.

"It really is like living in a civilization that has been shattered and blasted into the universe," and you are trying to piece things back together. It is hard to imagine all the details that make up your life. Sometimes it takes days to track down a single piece of information. The site pulls all the info together to help you reconstuct your life.

The site went live in March 2006.

The site was the registration site for The Road Home Program, the state program that provides money for people to rebuild their homes. They also have a companion call center with an 800 number for people who aren't online.

They wanted to make the info that is available on site very simplistic and easy to read. They have a huge literacy problem in Louisiana. All writing on the site was written at a 7th grade reading level and needed to be accessible by 2-3 clicks maximum.

They have divided the site's resources into sections about community, housing, education & childcare, and jobs & local businesses. It also has a New and Notable section and a quick link section to resources.

They do traffic reports to see what is most important to folks. They are in an interesting place in recovery. After the 2nd anniversary of the storm, traffic began tapering off. The site had 20,000 visitors a week at its peak. Now they are at about 10,000. More attention is being placed on resources for people who are here, rather than the ones who are displaced. They feel like most people have decided whether or not they are coming back.

They are working with a foundation who has hired an assessor who is interviewing people to find out how the site came to be in order to inform other foundations and government agencies so as other disasters happen, they can duplicate the successes.

Every disaster is going to be different. We had a city that drowned. Water as an element has it's own way of destroying things unlike a fire or an earthquake. Only when you are in it do you know the details of the things that destroyed you, and know what your community needs.

There was sort of a divinity and a synchronicity that brought the people together to build this. You have to have gov't officials who will shelve gov't bureacracy and egos, and fly by the seat of their pants. You have to wear a lot of hats.

Information about each neighborhood, including videos, are available in the Neighborhoods section.

You can find resources for supporting rebuiding New Orleans on the Volunteer/Donate page.