Multimedia Tells Stories Of War Dead

Journalists at the LA Times have used a database to create an obituary for all local soldiers who lost their lives in the Middle East.

The database provides information on all of California’s casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 and is searchable by categories including name, hometown and high school.

Each entry has photographs of the deceased and provides details on the soldier with a link to the original LA Times obituary.

Visitors are also welcome to post their tributes to the war dead via the extensive comments section.

The LA Times explains how and why it made the database using Django software in this accompanying launch story.

One of the key figures behind the creation of the database was computer-assisted reporter Ben Welsh and he writes on his blog that the initiative has been challenging but very worthwhile.

“The most rewarding part of the project for me has been to see how quickly we’re getting great, thoughtful comments submitted by friends and family members of the deceased.

“One of my goals in the design was to give their writing equal footing with our previous reporting.

“It can be heartbreaking to read, but I’m proud to have helped make something that people think is worthy of such sensitive information.”