I trust by now you know all about the Virginia Tech Massacre. What you may now know is the impact it’s had on our Campus Crusade group at VT.

Campus Crusade has also responded to this in at least three websites:

• TheLife.com
• GobbleTalk.com: a VT-specific website for students
• Leadership University

There are some fascinating things that I’ve read about concerning how the students turned to technology for communication:

From blogging to cellphone video, technology has forever changed the way we process and communicate about tragedy - in good ways, and perhaps bad.

Almost immediately after Monday’s deadly shootings, Virginia Tech students created an “I’m OK” page on Facebook to let one another and their loved ones know that they survived. Other students posted photos and cellphone video on their own sites, or shared it just hours after the shootings with news organizations.

…Since Monday, there has been a nonstop flood of postings on the popular Facebook student site, on MySpace and LiveJournal, and on personal blogs - expressing everything from grief to anger to confusion.

…Even before names of the victims were officially released, a few students created Facebook memorial pages for some of the dead - though others worried that it was too soon, since family and friends were still being notified.

There are myriad other ways the Internet continues to shape the grieving process.

In addition to using the university’s website to communicate with the world, Virginia Tech officials planned to set up a site where families of the victims could post photos.

TechSideline.com, a site for VT sports fans, also quickly morphed into a meeting place where students, family and friends could communicate - especially when phones were jammed.

And as a show of support, many students, including scores from other colleges, replaced their Facebook profile photos with a VT logo shrouded in a black ribbon.