If you’ve been involved in Wikipedia’s Hurricane Katrina PeopleFinder data entry project, which is aimed at compiling names of the missing and found from as many online sites as possible, please note that after some 98,000 entries have been posted, data entry has been temporarily suspended while the Wiki team works on a more streamlined process. You can participate in that planning.
Here’s the update:
Volunteers are needed to develop documentation and training materials for data entry (If I see John and Sue Smith, is that one entry or two?). Some of this work has already been started. It needs to be extended and improved. See current work at Tips_on_entering_data
New and better data entry forms will be implemented after this temporary suspension of volunteer data entry ends.
Coordinate among yourselves on the peoplefinder email list: peoplefinder@activist-tech.org.
To join the discussion list, send a blank email to peoplefinder-subscribe@activist-tech.org. After you send the subscribe email, watch for the confirmation email and follow the instructions. Don’t worry, it is easy!
You have entered over 98,000 records! Your feedback and suggestions are essential to this project!
Retrieved from “http://192.122.183.218/wiki/index.php/SUSPENDED”
Wiki has provided a link to Volunteer Match if you are looking for another way to help in the meantime. There are so many other opportunities as well, as we all know.
You can also register for the next round of data entry at Wiki here.
Kudos to all who have been helping out. I’ve enjoyed having the opportunity to potentially match people up and I’ve been heartened reading messages from people who have found their loved ones.
I want to thank Nag once again for posting the diary that brought this project to my attention. I was feeling so powerless and was glad to have the opportunity to do something hands on.
This project begs the question that I asked in the early days following the catastrophe: why wasn’t there ONE, centralized site devoted to linking people up? Didn’t the government learn anything after 9/11? (Yeah – I know the answer to that). Will they learn anything this time? (Yeah – I doubt it too).
Anyway, hugs to all of you who’ve been giving of your time. You have made a difference.
Thanks, Catnip. When I found the Wiki link the first thing I did was fire off that diary because I knew how torn up we all have been. I was so relieved to be able to do something. Today I’m recovering from putting my mare down yesterday, and I’m a tad medicated to keep my bloodpressure controlled. I was just heading over to Wiki to see just how crossed my eyes were. Thanks for posting this. Before I retired teaching I was told that I had a knack for helping adults at computer tasks. So maybe there’s a slower paced task for me at Wicki after all.
Hooo boy, good thing I read through that … about 7 mispelled words. It’s the dope making me dopey. Yikes never mind. Anyway, Catnip, thanks for the heads up. If I notice anything new to report, I’ll post it here.
Later…
I’m so sorry to hear that you lost your mare. You take care, please. huge hugs
I’m not sure, given their track record, that we want to trust something this important to FEMA. However, it seems like something that the Red Cross, with some help from Silicon Valley dot com millionaires, could/should implement pretty easily on a permanent basis.
If I had a government I trusted to do the right thing by the poor and desperate, I might feel differently… 😛
I don’t care who does it, as long as it’s centralized. There are dozens of sites and agencies taking names and it’s very confusing. 🙁
I was personally responsible for some shit going down today in a totally unrelated area… It began with Occam’s Razor…. and shit just fell apart.
At that point – shit, I just cut off power to my desk and walked away.
Catnip, are you OK???? I’m a concerned fellow Canadian.
Thanks for the heads-up, catnip. I registered. I’ve been pondering the same thing you have. . .why no central place before now? One thing this administration is REALLY horrible at is understanding that people need information. Information calms people and comforts them and the lack of it makes us panic. But I guess an administration that is absolutely devoted to secrecy is hardly one that can grasp this concept of sharing and open resources.
Hi Kansas, Boy oh boy… a centralized database …perhaps under FEMA? Data entry volunteers would still be needed. I could think of a few other ways that this process could be streamlined. OK, I’m off to WIKI to check things out. (Hokie Nellie, am I woozy… feels…kinda…….zzzzzzz……..zzzzzzzz);}
Hi, Nag. That’s all, just hi. 🙂
Hi back. I’m going to go rest my eyes for a few. Overload.
They’re so useless: buy ductape and plastic sheeting and please remember to go shopping or the terrorists win. That’s all they have. That’s it.
Hillary was right: it takes a village.
Catnip, dear, you misunderstand.
The duct tape isn’t just for windows, it’s also for building a raft:
You see? They have our best interests at heart. Any ‘Merkan with any ingenuity at all knows how to build a raft to escape a flood! Heck, even if they don’t, they just need to read the Bible where God gave the blueprints to Noah, just like it was Popular Mechanics Magazine or sumpthin’… Now be nice and have a glass of this wonderful, wonderful kool-aid…
Oh. I’d better stock up on duct tape then! Who knew they were so wise??