Hat tip for this to Elusive, the chappie who helped me work out the site redesign.

For anyone following my desperate efforts to keep up with the latest developments in Ukraine a couple of weeks back (updates every five minutes, conflicting reports etc.), this may well be of interest.

The folks behind the increasingly superb Wikipedia have just launched Wikinews (in English and German). Basically breaking news stories updated by any old Tom, Dick or Harry who happens to amble by.

This could work very well – if public-minded folk like Victor Katolyk or Veronica Khokhlova start filling these sorts of pages out – like blogging from the scene. It could be a disaster – all it takes is one “amusing” 14-year-old to destroy everyone’s hard work.

But it is an interesting idea nonetheless – especially how the reports will freeze up after a set period of time and become a matter of record, plus the “review” process sounds sensible.

Anyway, the current version of their Ukraine report is up, and even links to a few blogs, though strangely not to Victor’s posts at The Periscope yet, or to Fistful, or even – dare I say it – here; but it does link to Le Sabot Post-Moderne, Orange Ukraine, TulipGirl and a few others to whom it should, so I guess whoever’s updating it knows what they’re on about.

Whether this new service is accurate or not is in the hands of the users. So, news junkies – over to you. This could be like a BBC News run by the people, for the people. It could utterly change how we look at the way news is reported. Or it could die a death. I honestly don’t know.

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