For the last few months I have been working on a project to create an online data driven investigative news source. I have been incubating this under the umbrella of “The New Orleans Institute”:http://www.theneworleansinstitute.org/ and we have been making some steady progress to that end.

Last week we were chosen by the “Zeitoun Foundation”:http://www.zeitounfoundation.org/ to be one of the local non profits who will share in the proceeds of the book.

This “TP”:http://www.nola.com/books/index.ssf/2009/07/fantastic_voyage_dave_eggers_c.html article provides some details.

Since the Zeitouns live very close to me and their office and storage building was right down the block next to the Carrollton/Pritchard Place fire I was very interested to read about Zeitouns experience during the flood and his fears as he watched the fire from the roof of his car port where he was camped out. If that fire had jumped Fig St his building would have been torched and the contents would have fueled a fire ball.

In many ways the fire at Pritchard Place and Carrollton inspired me to start cataloging what was left. The intense feelings of loss that I got each time I drove home through the charred remains of what had been a vibrant block was a driving force for me as I tried to remember what had been..

photo by “The Third Battle”:http://www.flickr.com/photos/thethirdbattleofneworleans/

Read more here about the book and Daves plan for a newspaper “LINK”:http://www.salon.com/books/int/2009/07/16/dave_eggers/index.html