By chance I checked Wikipedia on the Chilean miner rescue operation underway now (9.15 PM Pacific), and was pleasantly surprised to see two things going on:
The first was that Wikipedians are updating the site faster that Google results of news of the rescue operation.
San Jose Mercury News, Yahoo and others come up on search for ‘miner rescue’ with news
that one miner has been rescued.
Wikipedians noted that there have been two miners brought to the surface.
It took about another 10 minutes for the rest of the media reports to show up with this detail.
Meanwhile CBS News is streaming video via Ustream! http://ustre.am/2bWW
The second curious phenomenon will probably be discussed at length in the weeks after this. In what is clearly a sign of the times, where everyone is now a reporter, the video from the mine captures at least two of the trapped miners photographing (or videoing maybe?) the event that they are part of!
Who’s watching what here? Who’s updating whom here? This is breaking news, and the subjects are reporting the story!
Hoipolloireport 
I also noticed that Wikipedia was going neck to neck with events, and in good English.
Incredible, because to be able to do that he had to refrain from getting sentimentally involved as happened to me. Looking at that black hole in the ground waiting for yet another man to emerge from it, wondering whether the capsule could take the wear made me so nervous I had to try and not look which was more difficult still.
LikeLike
Oddly few people consider Wikipedia as a news source. Maybe it’s got too much of what traditional evening news lacks – context. And too little of what we are accustomed to in a news story -the packaging! talking about packaging, I found it funny how quickly the networks branded th story as the ‘Miracle in the Mine’ etc.
LikeLike
Pingback: A working model of ‘Social Capital’ «