Wired has created a new blog ”online community” in light of the Haiti earthquake. It’s called Haiti Rewired. On the “About” page, Evan Hansen writes:

We believe that better answers to the difficult questions could be created through the collaboration of technologists, researchers, geographers, infrastructure specialists, aid groups and others. Our writers and editors can aggregate information, report new stories, and add to the discussion, but the focus of this effort is squarely on the thoughts, plans, and actions of our contributors.

That’s all in addition to anyone who really wants to add to the conversation. I’m hardly qualified to fix Haiti but I’m free to sign up and join the conversation on Haiti Rewired. Anyone is.

I think this is a great idea. The beauty of the internet is that it gives a voice to really smart people who otherwise would be overlooked. With Haiti Rewired, people who might not normally be heard can be and often such people have really good ideas.

What’s even more promising about this site is that also on the “About” page, Hansen acknowledges that Haiti won’t be out of the woods in a few weeks. The goal of the site is longterm solutions, not short ones. This is key as Haiti experts stress that really fixing Haiti won’t happen overnight, even with a flood of supplies and cash. Actually, this site might be able to do what the millions of dollars being donated now can’t: find innovative longterm solutions to Haiti’s problems.

–Daniel Strauss