San Diego broadcaster KPBS, an NPR affiliate and service of the San Diego State University covered the fires in a way that most local stations would -with updates, lists of evacuation sites, safety tips etc.
But it has also embraced social media in a big way. Its stories have links to Delicious and Digg, a Flickr account inviting residents to upload images, and has a Google map embedded with icons to tell residents the status of the fire, and where to locate an evacuation center or animal shelter. For those inclined, there's also a Twitter feed providing regular updates.
If you've ever been temporarily displaced, you'll know that a phone line becomes a lifeline. Hence the value of Twitter, proving to be an incredible on-demand, up to the minute channel for situations such as this. On Saturday for instance, at 10.01 am, a "tweet" went out to announce that:
" The community of Deerhorn Valley has been reopened to residents only. Residents must enter from the west side of Hwy."
The station also began using a free wiki from PBWiki that is a quick and easy way to assemble timely information, and allow the community to contribute or update. PBWiki responded by throwing in two free weeks of its Platinum service to KPBS.
http://hoipolloi.wordpress.com/2007/10/30/san-dieg...http://hoipolloi.wordpress.com/2007/10/30/san-dieg...