I spoke with DemfromCT, an editor with Fluwikie.com, all about their wiki which covers everything related to the Bird Flu pandemic. Here's a brief transcript for the interview:

02.12 - Fluwiki and the 52 year old lady
02.55 - Who's running Fluwiki?
03.55 - How Fluwiki got started
07.25 - The success & issues of Fluwiki
08.55 - Fluwiki Demographics: Wiki Contributors, Forums Posters, Readers
11.25 - Why did Fluwiki become so popular?
12.25 - The Intentions of Fluwiki
12.55 - The "depth" advantage of Fluwiki over official sources (US Govt)
15.15 - Citizens can be educated, interactive debate for valuable feedback
16.45 - Wiki and the Power Shift from Govt to the People
17.25 - The authority cannot say "I don't know"; they simply have no answer
18.22 - Fluwiki's relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO)
19.08 - Getting Responses: Authorities might not reply, but they do read Fluwiki
20:40 - Fluwiki isn't about getting credit, but about getting the best and most accurate information available when someone needs it.
20:47 - The Synergy of Fluwiki and the Government
21:28 - Proportion of Fluwiki Contributors vs. Readers
22:15 - Vandalism / Spamming = minor annoyance for Fluwiki
23:40 - Technical limitations for Forum and PMwiki (i.e. social affordances)
25.54 - Wikis are good places to start your research, not end it
27.25 - Difference in motivations behind Wikipedia and Fluwiki (content matter reflect different impetus for editing content)
28:00 - Three groups of people interested in Fluwiki: People who were interested in influenza, IT people interested in combining technical platform with encyclopedia-like content, and surprisingly, the library science people who started an argument about authoritative sources.
29.40 - Responsibility of reader to challenge sources
30.15 - The legitimate / honorable reasons for anonymity. The illusions of trust. Even if a doctor were to say something, the content should be justified by itself.
33.05 - Wikis change so fast, we are grappling with the new idea of trust.
33.53 - Will Fluwiki ever become a trustworthy source?
34:20 - The political example of trustworthy sources (e.g. CNN, Fox, Daily Show)
35:25 - Fluwiki brings everyone together, whether you are a liberal or conservative. Cuts across socio-political barriers in daily life. This builds trust!
37:15 - The Transfer of Reputation... across spheres of interests (e.g. political to health)
38:48 - How Fluwiki creates the sense of reputation. By being cited by notable sources. Brings medical professional eyeballs to the site, who then endorse Fluwiki (e.g. ProMed, Science magazine, Nature).
43:14 - Online search accounts for a lot of hits to Fluwiki
43.54 - Editors focus on making content understandable by anyone (less jargon, more accessibility)
44.55 - Future of Fluwiki : Wishing for more relationship with authorities. Wish to build communities within States, Towns, and Hospitals.
46.18 - Thanks & Goodbyes... what's this interview for?

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