The New York Times has an interactive map of the swine flu cases (er, H1N1 cases), but I don't think it's been updated to reflect the 10 probable cases in the Seattle area. When you roll your cursor over a circle, a pop-up box indicates the number of confirmed cases and suspected cases. Some of the boxes elaborate on the severity of the cases and how the infected cases may have been exposed to the virus.

The Washington Post has an incredible interactive map (which is part of a special web page dedicated to news and information on the swine flu outbreak) that allows the user to filter for only deaths, confirmed cases or suspect cases. The mashup also has buttons that enable the user to zoom in on a particular geographic region of interest -- Central Mexico, Europe, Asia, U.S., DC Metro, West, Texas, Midwest and East -- and click on the markers to learn more about the cases in each area. And most importantly, the newsroom is keeping it updated.

The Post seems to have put significant effort into creating a searchable mashup of readers' reports about the swine flu. The deck says, "Keep track of the swine flu outbreak in your community and around the country, then tell us about your own experience here." So far there are 7 people who have posted their comments. That's right. Seven. Given the tremendous outpouring of personal experiences on Twitter, Facebook and other social media, this may be a case example of how the news media have to go to the consumer rather than the other way around.

I love the fact that The Post created a blog called Swine Flu Report. There's a real opportunity for news websites to pursue niche topics in this way, thus making their content more accessible to search engine bots and readers. The experience for some users going to news websites now is like that of an explorer entering a dense ravine who's frustrated he can't see the footpath he's looking for. By curating the information for the user, The Post is giving users a reason to come to their website rather than trying to sort through the gazillion Google Search Results for "swine flu."

Of course the proof is in the pudding, and I don't know how much traffic The Post's blog on swine flu is getting. Only a few people have posted comments, but that may not be the right metric here. The posted items are case updates, not the provocative jabs one tends to see on a political blog. But I did notice a banner ad for a life insurance company asking the reader if his dependents are covered in the event of his death!