Case Summary

While federal, state, and local governments plan for a potential pandemic influenza, a passionate online community of concerned citizens have taken the initiative to utilize Flu Wiki to inform each other about a wide variety of public health and emergency preparnedness issues pertaining to an outbreak.

Business Challenge

The purpose of Flu Wiki is to help local communities prepare for and cope with a possible pandemic influenza.

Approach Taken

Flu Wiki is a collaborative website offering reliable, neutral, and factual information that can help form a viable public health approach to the pandemic influenza.

Results Achieved

Flu Wiki has collected a variety of useful information including materials on how influenza manifests itself, how to prepare for a pandemic, what plans and surveillance tools can be put in place to identify the first signs of an outbreak, and countless other materials on the legal, ethical, economic and political issues associated with an influenza pandemic.

Lessons Learned

The site has successfully used collaborative wiki technology to provide a robust source of critical health information that is automatically updated through the contributions wiki users.