Where Blogs Do Best
It’s become apparent to many that blogs are most useful during states of emergency. Newspaper headlines become outdated before they are even printed, weeklies can only offer reflection which mostly excludes new, pertinent information, and most TV news shows play over and over the same 5 second video clips and soundbytes. Weblogs, on the other hand, often offer more specialized, first hand knowledge of what is happening from a personal perspective.
Joe is quick to tell that this blog hit its peak in traffic during the San Diego fires last October. That morning, Joe’s post became an instant resource for San Diegans (and others) to find out more about what was going on. The next day’s post was even more valuable as it linked to scores of bloggers throughout the county commenting on what they saw around them.
Rebecca MacKinnon notes that the same is true with the Asian Tsunami. The devastating natural disaster is providing an important test for Wiki News, a beta citizen journalists site which serves as a dry erase international newspaper that anyone can contribute to. Like Rebecca, I too was skeptical of the wiki format for a citizen journalism site, but so far, it’s coverage of the tsunami is incredible. It has links to more information than one person could possibly consume. A mailing list and IRC channel have been set up, the graphs and photos are more useful, interactive, and up to date than anything that could possibly be found in a newspaper.
But my question is this: what should we do to prepare for the next natural disaster that comes to San Diego? Should San Diego Blog be the center for local citizen journalists or should we depend on a site like Wiki News? An IRC channel should definitely be set up, but by whom? Is a mailing list simply redundant or could it be valuable for users who aren’t comfortable with IRC or commenting on the blog? What resources do we know about for linking those who can offer help with those who need it? Does the city of San Diego have any official web resources for natural disasters when they strike? Any other ideas?
Subscribe to San Diego News
You can subscribe by email to receive newsletter updates:
Subscribe through a RSS feed reader
RF said on Tuesday, December 28, 2004, 19:17
First, let me say I wholeheartedly agree as to weblogs’ utilitarian possibilities. The only drawback is the ability to gauge a particular blog’s reliability. I think that once a blog has been deemed reliable or has consistently provided accurate news and information, then an RSS feed would be a great way to distribute information. With the rapid implementation of user-friendly RSS newsreaders (see: freeware/shareware), anyone can get their hands on the technology and navigate it with relative ease. With these programs, a user can subscribe to an array of blogs to get instant information the same way one would get an email. I, personally, used to use a reader that integrated with my email software, allowing for an all-in-one information and correspondence platform. I loved it. Nonetheless, you’ve highlighted an interesting avenue for distributing information; and with RSS technology, one could create a great resource for those seeking out this information…maybe providing links to shareware/freeware readers directly on the site as well as a how-to on subscribing to RSS feeds.
oso said on Tuesday, December 28, 2004, 20:12
RF,
I think you are right. Another useful tool could be a del.icio.us tag that we could all post relevant information to and then aggregate using a web based feed reader. That could be set up within minutes.