Experience Titanic’s tragic voyage in real time on Twitter
In this April 10, 1912 photo, the Titanic leaves Southampton, England on her maiden voyage to New York City.
On April 15, 1912, the RMS Titanic's maiden voyage took a disastrous turn. Right now, as the 100-year anniversary of the tragic event approaches, preparation for the journey is being recreated on Twitter.
The Next Web's Paul Sawers reports that U.K. publisher History Press set up the @TitanicRealTime Twitter account in order to commemorate the centennial of the fateful night. In the month leading up to it, the @TitanicRealTime account is publishing "real-time" tweets from individuals who were involved in the events.
As it turns out, this is a handy way to teach smallish lessons in history. The nature of the narration means that facts are uncovered — from the design of the ship to the nastiness of the iceberg — as they were originally experienced. One anticipates that the gentle pacing of the pre-launch days will turn into a more frantic, terrifying situation when the hull breach finally occurs.
Each tweet will begin with a hashtag indicating the role of the fictional individual writing the particular missive:
TitanicVoyage @TitanicRealTime
#captain Exactly a month now before Titanic’s journey begins, I cannot wait to see her completed and on the ocean!
10 Mar 12
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#officer With 2 rowing machines, weightlifting machine, back massager and a punch ball, the gymnasium is very well equipped.
11 Mar 12
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#crew The capacity of the lifeboats is somewhat of a concern, only 1,178. If anything were to happen there won’t be enough space…
12 Mar 12
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@TitanicRealTime isn't the first Twitter account of this type, of course. @RealTimeWWII has been "live-tweeting" the Second World War since August 2011, and will continue to do so until 2017, assuming its owner can keep it up.
(Source: digitallife.today.msnbc.msn.com)
