From Flu Wiki 2

Forum: Outline Summary

22 September 2006

lugon – at 03:40

At Forum.PandemicFluAwarenessWeekIV (and previous threads) we’re building on the many things that have been written in fluwikie.com and many many other places, to help people:

(In time we may dream about helping people get in touch with each other.)

As part of all this, at this wikipage we’re creating an outline which might be a complement to tour level I. It’s just a fast way to tell what this site is all about.

The “outline summary” is made of keywords. In time, as soon as we’re happy with the structure and completeness, we can convert the keywords into “keyword in capitals” + “short phrase in lowercase” + “hidden link” triplets. I guess we can also use font sizes and colors to convey importance etc. Adding icons would be very optional.

This “outline summary” would be helpful for:

It can be used to:


So, I suggest we first look at the outline itself:

Aim: be helpful. As anon_22 put it: be a resource, not a burden.

Thanks.

lugon – at 03:49

BTW, the outline does NOT want to settle down each and every issue. If things are full of uncertainty we can just write “probability?”. This is just the BIG picture.

It can’t be more than … actually, it’s 3 pages long as it is now. Yuk!

We may join things in one line: “PROBABILITY: unknown, higher than zero, growing …”.

But better focus on what’s missing etc, first.

AnnieBat 04:04

Under ‘Impact”, by domino effect, are you thinking shops, banks, businesses and public transport generally / eventually cease to operate?

Add a Section towards the end called “How can I help?” - educating others, volunteering in own community, pressuring for change (if/where needed), attending seminars and asking the hard questions

Add a section at the end which gives links to the ‘Countries” page for getting info on what their own country has published etc.

Could we start with a quick ‘self-test’ so viewers can quickly move to a ‘level’ that best suits their current awareness level?

For example:
What do you know about avian influenza?

Perhaps (also) within each ‘section’, start with a high level overview or summary and give an option to move to the next section or carry on getting more detail?

Under the segment “Treat”, we need to be very careful about making assumptions about what is available in different countries (we do need all the info to be internationally relevant). This could start with a statement like “check the regulations in your own country for obtaining prescription medications”. Could also have some statements regarding usual treatment for fever and signs of pneumonia etc?

Woops, I think I have already stepped outside the boundaries of what you are asking for ;-)

lugon – at 04:16

The “what’s missing” question leads us to expand first, but we can always trim, AnnieB! :)

The other day I was thinking about it in terms of “accelerated learning”. What are the key concepts? I think one of the very key things is to be able to tell the difference between common, bird and pandemic flues. What would other such 5 questions be? Challenging people’s knowledge with 5 questions may be a way to start out a conversation, at least for some. It turns the untalkable into a game of trivia, sort of. My keywords: “sudden, simultaneous, long lasting, no vaccine, business as usual not enough”. Add the “uncertainties” later. It may take just one picture?

lugon – at 05:19

Looked at Tour Level I. Tis good. Maybe can compact the outline a bit - will print and scrible.

lugon – at 05:24

AnnieB:

Under “Impact”, by domino effect, are you thinking shops, banks, businesses and public transport generally / eventually cease to operate? Yes.

Add a Section towards the end called “How can I help?” - educating others, volunteering in own community, pressuring for change (if/where needed), attending seminars and asking the hard questions Yes. The “difficult issues” is part of the “hard questions”. Hmm.

Add a section at the end which gives links to the “Countries” page for getting info on what their own country has published etc. This could be under a “what the world is doing already” section, together with vaccine developement etc. We want to highlight why this is not enough at all. As computer geeks say “it doesn’t scale” (no surge capacity at all - so it’s better not to think in terms of “business as usual”).

lugon – at 05:26

Under “Impact”, by domino effect, are you thinking shops, banks, businesses and public transport generally / eventually cease to operate? Yes, but we don’t know the degree of disruption. We only know that if every corner of the tent is reinforced, then the whole tent is reinforced.

17 October 2006

lugon – at 06:29

Bump.

I think we could focus on this outline as a resource for collective understanding and action. Small sentences and links, now.

Please look at it and help. Don’t wait for others!

Thanks!

uk bird – at 08:44

I’m gonna be really rude here and stick a spanner in the works. This is merely a suggestion from someone who doesn’t have that much to do with the wiki but here goes…

I know that in most educational circumstance you start with the basics and build – so you start with flu, move on to pandemics and then bring up bird flu/pandemic. However newcomers aren’t necessarily here to start at the beginning. They want to know why they should be worried about a pandemic, how likely it is and what they could do to help themselves. A more interested follower of H5N1 would then want to dig deeper – how does this virus compare with the 1918 flu, etc. It’s turning the learning process on it’s head. Something more like this:-

Idiot’s guide to an avian flu pandemic. Why should I worry amd what can I do?

1) Flu pandemics happen

a) Previous flu pandemics 1918, 1968, etc

b) Where does flu come from?

i) Birds, pigs, other ii) Locations

c) How does flu make the jump to humans?

i) Mutation ii) Reassortment iii) Recombination, etc

2) Flu is bad, pandemic flu is a killer

a) how many people are affected in a pandemic?

i) global figures estimates for a Bird Flu pandemic, 1918, other pandemics, seasonal flu

ii) national figures

b) who is affected in a pandemic?

i) age ranges Bird flu, 1918, other flu

ii) additional complicating factors

AIDS, pneumonia

iii) job/location/habits problems with increased contact/travel, hygiene

c) how ill does pandemic influenza make you?

Bird flu (not pandemic), Bird flu (pandemic), 1918 flu, complications – pneumonia, encephalitis etc

3) There is no magic pill

a) Vaccines

b) Tamiflu

c) other medical – statins, etc

d) home remedies

4) Society isn’t ready

WHO Governments Local government Medical Utilities Business Education Social

5) Are you ready?

Find out what is being done in your area Personal hygiene PPE Medicines Supplies – SIPs etc Pets Encourage others/authorities to get ready etc

6) How might a bird flu pandemic progress?

First signs – rumours, clusters, alert levels etc Panic Symptoms Health measures Dealing with the dead Help Vaccination Social distancing Home schooling Financial impact The aftermath

7) Stats, graphs and other stuff

Sorry, if the formatting doesn’t work but if you assume that on page 1 you only see headings 1–7 with an intrductory blurb then you get the idea. This is only a suggestion, please feel free to ignore me :-)

uk bird – at 08:49

Sigh, I knew the formatting would go wrong. These are the sort of headings I’d have:-

Idiot’s guide to an avian flu pandemic.

Why should I worry amd what can I do?

1) Flu pandemics happen

2) Flu is bad, pandemic flu is a killer

3) There is no magic pill

4) Society isn’t ready

5) Are you ready?

6) How might a bird flu pandemic progress?

7) Stats, graphs and other stuff

lugon – at 10:12

I’ll be rude too … LOL … Not sure I would answer the questions the newcomer poses directly. In fact … the outline I drafted is just one way of having a big picture. So, true to The Wiki Way, we could just have an alternative outline, and many if not all of the items would be links to the very same pages I’m linking to. As in different ways of finding your way inside the very same mess.

I may write your alternative outline to see if you like it.

My feeling is I’d rather give a framework first - a “school-age framework” if you like. Once we have a framework, then of course some things stick out their necks much higher. Then we can start speaking of what to do. Something like this:

  1. Understanding
  2. Priorities
  3. Action

Of course, I guess “understanding” can be done in different ways. We can start with the virus and show that it has to go pandemic every now and then. Or we can start with pandemics and look inside the virus to find out why it has gone pandemic. Both will work, I think. And in fact we’re a bit in the dark on both accounts (inner workings and historic data) so maybe one aproach is not so much better than the other.

My brain hurts, thanks! :)

I’ll try and unfold my outline and I can also help you wikify yours and see which sticks for now.

INFOMASS – at 16:50

This may go beyond the realm of practicality, but could we “test drive” different styles on newbies? If we find new posters who have not been lurking a long time, could we get them to look at various attempts to present a ball of twine with lots of knots in a linear way? Or could long-term Fluwikians try out a few styles on unsuspecting family or neighbors they want to convince? It seems to me that both of you might be right, but different types of people might need different approaches. It would be good to market the right message to the right types of people.

crfullmoon – at 17:02

And the whole “adjustment reaction” varies; some won’t “get it” for months, until after many approaches from different angles, while others can imagine the magnitude and impacts all too well, once they have the info they missed from the mainstream, and may need to come back to absorb more “what to do now” (sort of like why some take someone unaffected along to note down what the doctor says next after a “bad cancer” diagnosis.)

Leo7 – at 17:14

Lugon: I think it’s fine. You spelled cytokine wrong, though. May I suggest you maintain your outline, then if someone else wants to embellish it’s called Outline 2 etc.

lugon – at 18:16

Oops - thanks, Leo7!

crfullmoon - judging from my own experience, it does take time. I can’t say I have adjusted yet. But maybe adjustment works better as a community process, in the same way we seem to be happier believing what others believe.

Anon_22 wrote something about how difficult it is to imagine something so far away from “normal” experiences in life.

There may be more than one “end point” that we’re sort of looking for:

  1. One would be “knowing the stuff” just as you know all the rules in chemistry (but you’ve never actually seen an atom, have you?). This would be “get it” in a more or less superficial level.
  2. Another would be “start talking openly about it”.
  3. Another still, “actually going out and buying stuff” or doing some other kinds of preparedness stuff (cross-training, community action, going off-grid, etc).

If enough people reach #1 and #2, I would expect to see more of #3. Not sure, of course. Gotta try. In my experience frightening people, 30 minutes gets them to “half #1″: they understand and are frightened for a short while, but they don’t talk about it, much less do something about it.

On the other hand, some people may get to #3 faster if they “get things done” through fun or for profit, not because of fear. Just as an example, some people may love building windmills for self-sufficiency. Or sell them for money.

lugon – at 18:44

Anyway, I’ll refine the outline so that it makes sense for me. I’m finding I want to include more and more things - e.g. human reactions and possibilities. A full picture should include, well, a lot!

20 October 2006

lugon – at 06:50

I’ve just refined the “mitigate” section. Feel free to suggest changes!

fredness – at 18:11

Good job. This could be the new site map! The outline helps to give this problem boundaries. Maybe we can create links from the existing site map and index. This might also give structure on which to hang the Mitigation Strategies thread ideas. I’ll work on it but my free time is mainly between 10pm-6am.

There are groups of people that create mind maps professionally. Maybe we can make them aware of the project and ask them to participate. Most ideas of mine like this have gone over like a lead ballon but I make for it through persistence. Keep trying to invite professionals to the FluWiki.

Retrieved from http://www.fluwikie2.com/index.php?n=Forum.OutlineSummary
Page last modified on October 20, 2006, at 06:11 PM