Wednesday search challenge (6/5/13): Crowdsourcing discoveries...

[Dan Russell]

I KNEW I forgot to do something this morning...  Here you go... 

-- Dan -- 

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Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Wednesday Search Challenge (6/5/13): Crowdsourcing discoveries...

One of the greatest ideas of the past several years has been the concept of crowdsourcing.  That's when a bunch of people distributed all over the internet work together to take a small piece of a bigger puzzle, and by solving their small piece, they contribute to a larger, deeper, greater piece of work.  

A while back regular reader Rosemary suggested this idea for the Wednesday Search Challenge.  She wrote that she's always thought the the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) would be wonderful to explore, but that she probably wasn't going to hike the whole distance herself.  But wouldn't it be great if all of us readers at SearchResearch could do the same thing as a group? 

While the idea of hiking the PCT with a few thousand other people is kind of wild and overwhelminmg, (imagine! a horde of hikers crowding down the trail) maybe we could crowdsource this.  

Background and Challenge:  

The Pacific Crest Trail runs 2,650 miles (4,265 kilometers) from Mexico to Canada through California, Oregon, and Washington. It crosses deserts, glaciers, the crest of the Sierra, and deep forest. 

Research question for you... 

Can you, using the searchResearch methods you know about, find interesting parts of the trail?   

Can you find use Google Earth or Maps to find unexpected views, beautiful paths, and impressive vistats?   

Can you find out something interesting about the history or geology or biology along the PCT? 

Can you locate specific threatened/protected wildlife (marine or land)?  

When you DO find something you love or enjoy--let us know about it... and how you found it.   

Feel free to use everything you've ever learned about on the web...  News/Books/Blogs/Archives... 

It's an open web kind of problem.  

Let's dive in!  

I'll write up my answer tomorrow morning with MY favorite place along the PCT and why I like it so much.  

Be sure to let us know how you found your favorite places, and give us a little story about why you find it so interesting! 

You can put your comments into our shared Google Doc:  Crowdsourced Favorites from the Pacific Crest Trail.  Click there to open the doc and add your comments.  Please follow the pattern I set up at the top.  (And no, you don't have to add your name if you don't want.) 

Search (and write!) on!