Today marks the 9th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The events will be commemorated with speeches and memorials across the country. But even if you can’t make it to a formal gathering, you can take a few minutes to honor the victims by browsing through the Explore 9/11 iPhone app.
The app starts with a brief introduction by Alice Greenwald, the director of National September 11 Memorial Museum. It then takes users on a virtual walking tour around the perimeter of the World Trade Center site. At each of the seven virtual stops, there are a couple of audio narrations from office workers and emergency responders who were at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
The final stop on the tour is arguably the most powerful. It includes audio recordings collected at the Memorial Museum from people recounting where they were on 9/11 and how the events impacted them. There are not individuals who were in New York at the time, but watched the events unfold on television. Each clip is only about 90 seconds long, but nine years later they still carry the same raw emotion that gripped the country on that day.
The app also includes a timeline of how the events unfolded on Sept. 11.
Among the apps flaws, however, are the scant references to the attack on the Pentagon, and the passengers on Flight 93 who upon learning about what was happening in New York commandeered the plane and crashed into a field on western Pennsylvania.
