University of North Carolina SILS Student and Library Student Employee Helps Create Ebola Tracking Site
From the UNC Library News and Events Blog
A team of UNC students, including School of Information and Library Science (SILS) student Alison Blaine, has joined in the fight against the Ebola epidemic by helping to create ebolainliberia.org. This site, which launched earlier this month, was commissioned by Liberia’s Ministry of Information and Communication. It seeks to provide a central location for data about the Ebola outbreak.
“The website’s purpose is to allow users to track data on the Ebola epidemic in Liberia,” Blaine said. “It charts cumulative cases and deaths, shows the number of cases on an interactive map, and provides news articles and photos about the epidemic. The primary users are Liberian government decision-makers as well as the general public.”
The project began when the Liberian minister of information contacted Syracuse University professor Ken Harper, who then recruited UNC professor Steven King to serve as the website’s Development Director. Blaine became involved as part of a team of UNC student volunteers.
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About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.