The dust is still literally settling in Haiti, and the eyes of the world are focused on that small nation, still trying to grasp how many have died and what is to become of the survivors. In the meantime, concerned citizens across the globe want to know what they can do. In the past, that usually meant a charitable donation, and maybe food and blood drives. But with access to tools and technology that are both free and easy to use, people are finding all kinds of ways to contribute their time and energy into aiding Haiti. Thanks to their efforts, it’s entirely possible to bypass the network news, which can actually create a buffer between its viewers and what’s being reported on, and focus directly on the people who need help.

On his blog, Mibazaar, Virender Ajmani has created a Google Map that tracks the origin of Haiti related Tweets in real time. Tweets have been large in volume and building up at a steady rate, and watching the map bounce around from place to place, Tweet to Tweet, helps illustrate how many people are following this story and the progress of attempts to aid Haiti.

While Google Earth is working on updating satellite imagery of Haiti, a download from the Google Earth library provides over a dozen informative overlays that can be used with Google Earth. These overlays show where the earthquake originated, population information, location of aftershocks, potentially affected population areas and more. Although these maps don’t evoke the same emotional response as pictures of refugees or collapsed buildings, they do a good job illustrating the scale of damage created by the earthquake and educate those of us unfamiliar Haiti and its landscape.

At the end of the day, most of us will still only be able to offer our money and our thoughts. But using the internet will keep Haiti in the public eye long after mainstream media has moved onto the next big “thing.” But more importantly, it forces us to remember that this isn’t just a news story, and it won’t be going away any time soon. Public response to this crisis might prove that, given the opportunity, the public might have the stomach for the type of effort this crisis warrants even when our media and government do not.