The first two things people think of, when following breaking news is Twitter, or Google Alerts. No doubt about it, these are great.

Ever considered ‘following’ a Wiki?

I do it all the time, because I am the kind of person who’s not content with the echo-chamber headline stuff  (you know: “OMG there’s been a plane crash in…”)

Here’s a great Wiki on Haiti relief.  Maintained by the Open Street Map (OSM) Community.

Even if you’re interested not following the relief ops, and are just curious about how social media works in these extreme situations, wikis and maps are great. check it out. As we have begun to see, maps are being used more and more by media orgs and journalists to report on details of a story.