Posted on August 19, 2003

Arts and Culture

The Blackout History Project, which is affiliated with the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University and supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, has expanded its scope in light of the recent blackout that affected the northeastern United States and parts of Canada. The project’s Web site invites visitors to tell their stories about the 2003 blackout, and also asks for comparison accounts from those who were present for the 1965 and 1977 blackouts in New York City. The project was originally created to study the social responses to these two large-scale technological failures by using the Internet as a research platform and historical forum. In addition to personal stories about the blackouts, the site features news items about power outages in the late 1990s; technical information from utility industry insiders; a timeline of blackouts and related developments; and a bibliography of books, articles, government reports, and other materials that illustrate the historical experience of the blackouts.