A blog "shrine" and "village LinkedIn": truly great blogging, truly great social-networking

A blog "shrine":

A few--or perhaps most--of us may blog about frivolous stuff. But L.A. Times Reporter Jill Leovy blogs about something very real and very serious.

She's trying to cover every single homicide in Los Angeles county in a blog by the L.A. Times: to date, 700 homicides and counting.

The mother of D'Angello Mizell, one of the victims "enshrined" in the blog, says,

"I just don't want him to be forgotten. I don't want anybody to think he didn't matter. Because he did."

So, for many of the victims' families, the blog has taken on the qualities of a "shrine" to their loved ones gunned down on the streets.

This is a Yahoo News article and a video about Leovy's work and her project.

"The Invisible War"

And this is the blog: The Homicide Report

This is truly great blogging, what blogging should be...

"village LinkedIn":

Sean Blagsvedt from Bangalore, India, who once worked for Microsoft in affluent Redmond, WA, has started a social-networking site --Babajob.com-- to match poor job seekers, the poorest of the poor who are anything but computer literate and who can only dream of having access to such high-tech, with the affluent new techies all around them who need their help as chauffeurs, handymen, cooks, maids, day laborers, etc.

When the idea dawned on him, he blurted out, "We need village LinkedIn!'”

Here's a New York Times article about it:

"In India, Poverty Inspires Technology Workers to Altruism"

This is truly great social-networking, what social networking should be...

These two unsung heroes are taking the "Web 2.0" to a whole new level.

Contrast this altruism and concern for others with this: "Age of Riches: After Succeeding, Young Tycoons Try, Try Again"

Perhaps someone should start a blog to list every single serviceman fallen in Iraq...

Or is there one already?

Perhaps someone should start a "village LinkedIn" for every poor country in the world...

Or is there one already?