This page is for the discussion of ways to make Davis Wiki useful in the event of a local, regional or national disaster.
Local Availability via DSL
Assuming the national TC/IP backbones go dark, a way to place a Wiki server and name resolution at Omsoft so that the local community can continue to access Davis Wiki
Local Availability Wireless
A way to set up a high power or multinode wireless server and name resolution that would allow users with wireless notebooks to access Davis Wiki independent of the physical internet. The use of mesh nodes to cover a larger area could be considered.
Disaster Software Addons
Specifically, an easy way for users to cross-reference and unite victims<>friends and family.
Since we are on the cusp of rolling out a community tool to large segments of the population, I think that consideration of these capabilities is appropriate. —jimstewart
2010-07-14 19:26:02 I think KDRT would be the first line of communication in an emergency. Radio transmission is very disaster-proof.
Assuming there's no internet connectivity between San Francisco (where our servers are hosted) and Davis, it's doubtful that even hosting a server in Davis would allow for connectivity. Routers may still route traffic to, say, Sacramento before routing back to Davis. Though I'm no networking expert, so maybe someone else can chime in.
A semi-static mirror of Davis Wiki hosted by DCN would be good, though. —PhilipNeustrom
- I'm no network guru myself, but I do think it's theoretically possible for Omsoft to resolve Davis Wiki DNS requests and direct them locally and to make the change on short notice. Your comments about KDRT are well taken, but a one-way link can only go so far. This is a chance to rethink the entire community response/aid paradigm and I don't think we should pass it by. —jimstewart
- Good point — linking the person who says "I have blankets" with "I'm cold!", or "My house is full of water" with people offering shelter is a good use of a community-wide discussion. -jw
- I'm happy to figure out a preplanned "oh, hell, NorCal's internet died" backup option with my server cluster in North Carolina (i.e., i the case DCN goes dark as well). I do agree that an internet site is the least ideal form of communication in an emergency situation, with radio being the best (edit: although Jim's point above has me seeing things differently now). That said, people tend to check what they're familiar with first. A server simply displaying the Wiki Spot twitter feed (or a semi-static page) in response to all queries would be better than a community wiki just timing out when things go pear shaped. (A general plan also helps the other communities whose wikis are hosted on the same server). -jw
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