[Web4lib] Disaster Response, via Wikis

[Norma Hewlett]

This is very cool! I'm also like to mention that Librarian's Internet 
Index included the BBC web site about the bombings in their New This 
Week email on July 7. I hadn't read the paper that day, and the first I 
heard about the bombings was while I was calmly scanning a list of 
their new websites. I followed the link, and found immediate high-
quality information. Great work, LII folks!
Jean Hewlett

Regional Librarian, University of San Francisco North Bay Campus

----- Original Message -----
From: "Drew, Bill" <drewwe at MORRISVILLE.EDU>
Date: Thursday, July 14, 2005 6:26 am
Subject: [Web4lib] Disaster Response, via Wikis
> This is a very positive story about the power of Wikis and Wikipedia.
> It focuses on the entry about the the London bombings.  It shows the
> true power of this media. -- Bill Drew
> 
> The Chronicle: Wired Campus Blog 
> <http://wiredcampus.chronicle.com/> 
> Education-technology news from around the Web, brought to you by The
> Chronicle of Higher Education 	
> 
> Disaster Response, via Wikis
> <http://wiredcampus.chronicle.com/2005/07/disaster_respon.html> 
> 
> By Chronicle of Higher Education 
> 
> How does Wikipedia, the online open-source encyclopedia, actually 
> work?Web surfers got a close look at the process
> <http://www.weblogg-ed.com/2005/07/08#a3746>  when users of the site
> edited an entry about the mass-transit bombs that struck London last
> week.
> 
> The initial entry, posted shortly after 10 on the morning of the
> attacks, attributed the explosions to power surges. Less than 20 
> minuteslater, another poster edited the page to include a panicked 
> note. Only
> 90 minutes after the original post went online, almost 50 people had
> added links or information. Now the Web page
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings>  has been
> edited thousands of times, and includes details on international
> response to the incident and analyses of the attacks' economic impact,
> along with contact information for emergency-response groups.
> 
> The value of all that content -- and the speed with which it made its
> way online -- makes a powerful case for the benefits of wikis, 
> accordingto Will Richardson. (Weblogg-ed)
> 
> 	
> 	
> 
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