Network Solutions provides Resources for Hurricane Gustav
September 3, 2008 :: cbensenThree years ago Hurricane Katrina personally affected my family. A couple of days after landfall found us sending my husband to support the law enforcement efforts. The photos that he brought back told the story of the devastation & the plight of so many abandoned animals. So on Saturday when I saw the early stages of organizing resources for Hurricane Gustav I joined the discussion.
Wiki needed for Information
Andy Carvin of NPR had set up Gustav Info Center. Someone had set up a pbwiki. But each user would need to be validated in advance which wasn’t practical. A suggestion was made to use the Katrina wiki, My concern was that that should be archived & saved for historical purposes. It was decided that the same software be used for the Gustav Wiki so that the structure & info be ported over. MediaWiki is the same opensource solution that Wikipedia runs on.
Network Solutions offers Hosting
It was easy to connect Shashi Bellamkonda to Andy because they already knew each other! They’re both into the social media scene in the DC area. Shashi set up www.GustavWiki.com with a VPS (virtual private server) hosting package that would be used for businesses.
Growth of a Resource Wiki
Deanna Zandt is the person with the tech capabilities & organized the efforts to rework the information that had been previously created after Hurricane Katrina & update it with current information. She periodically notified us that the wiki was growing so quickly that it was needing more resources. In less than 48 hours the wiki was created & had over 17,000 visitors.
Here is a quick overview of the resources that we provided it with:
- Initial VPS hosting (Pro plan)
- A link on an article on Slashdot spiked traffic
- Resources were multiplied by 10 & fine tuned settings to allow for more connections and visitors to the site.
- On Sunday evening the server resources were increased by 8 times. (Andy asked if the wiki was getting a lot of traffic. I saw people twittering links to it. And many had 3-4000 followers so that probably contributed.)
- More Power! At 1 am Monday morning the wiki was migrated to new hardware. The wiki now has plenty of power to keep it running thru every storm! The team has decided to use it for the impending hurricanes & through the season.
GustavWiki will serve many purposes: As a resource for those affected by the hurricanes; An example of a group of volunteers coming together to help out those in need; And finally to serve as an example to learn from for future disaster relief efforts. *update* The site will continue to grow as the hurricane season progresses. If you would like to volunteer with those efforts there is information here on how to so.
These are the volunteers that have helped build the hurricane resource site. Thank you to all of you for your generous donation of time & energy!
We at Network Solutions are proud to have been able to provide our services & resources on this scale & in a timely fashion. We hope that the wiki will provide people with information & support as they begin to put their lives back together after the storms.
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