Shad

This is an absolutely amazing internet phenomenon. Wikipedia has become an incredible resource for ongoing information about current events. The July 7 London Bombings was one of the first “events” where the Wikipedia community really showed what was possible. You could go there to find current information, phone numbers & lots of other information. It was even covered in a resent edition of On the Media.

Well now there’s a page for Hurricane Katrina and it’s really quite incredible how much information is there. Want to know the history of this storm? Where it came from? All the info is there and updated by the minute.

If it maintains its current central pressure, Katrina will be the most intense named hurricane to impact the United States since the naming of storms began in 1950 (and second overall since the recording of hurricanes began in 1851), being larger in size and slightly stronger than 1969 Hurricane Camille’s central pressure of 909 mb. It is compared with Camille since that hurricane was also a massive Category 5 storm which made landfall in the same general area. As of 10:00 PM CDT, Katrina’s central pressure is 904 mb (26.70 inches). It is also much stronger than the other Category 5 hurricane to hit the United States, Hurricane Andrew. The unnamed Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 that hit the Florida Keys was slightly more powerful, with a minimum central pressure of 892 mb.

To say that Wikipedia is a fundamental shift in how the internet “works” underestimates the importance of this shift. Wikipedia is more than another internet site, it’s a powerful new form of “Media”. Books, Newspapers, Radio, TV, Internet, Podcasts, Wikipedia.

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