[Web4lib] Disaster Response, via Wikis

Norma Hewlett hewlett at usfca.edu
Thu Jul 14 16:18:02 EDT 2005


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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