Wikis vs. Blogs

David Piggott /

Most of my colleagues wouldn’t know the difference between a wiki and a blog if I hit them over the head with a computer running one. There’s nothing wrong with that, by the way. I suspect a normal reaction to someone ranting about ‘online collaborative software’ would be to glaze over and start edging away whilst nodding sympathetically. If you’re reading this, however, you must be one of those oddballs who is interested in learning a little more…

Wikis are effectively open websites where the user community create and edit content. They are used extensively by organisations for knowledge sharing and management and by common interest communities (e.g. computer gamers) to share and discuss ideas. Everyone knows about Wikipedia, one of the world’s most popular sites, but it’s worth looking at their sister projects to see the different ways in which wikis have been used.

Blogs (shortened from Web Log), by contrast, are typically online journals or news sites that are updated frequently with “posts”. Like wikis, blogs invite community interaction, but readers can typically only comment on content, or take part in discussion boards related to particular posts. Content is managed by placing posts into categories or by “tagging” posts with popular terms, names or phrases. Most journalists keep blogs and they’re often well integrated with social networks such as Twitter and Facebook so authors can ‘push’ content to increase its circulation.

Here’s a summary of the main differences between wikis and blogs, at least as originally used (…the latest software is increasingly blurring the lines between the two). Check out our pages for more information on each.

Wikis Blogs
Purpose Creating large, community-owned knowledge banks Quick and easy journals and brief articles and updates
Authorship User community Single author or small group
Ease of use May require some basic coding knowledge Very easy (for basic functions)
Presentation of material Grouped by subject Chronological
Advantages Free, flexible and unlimited in size and scope Quick and easy to use, encourages interaction on a given subject
Disadvantages Open to spam; rely on community effort; too technical for some More functional and attractive software can be expensive

 

Extension addiction: Pimp my Wiki

David Piggott /

MediaWiki is the world’s best-known wiki software. Most of us are familiar with it because it runs Wikipedia, the world’s sixth most visited website. What’s more, anyone can download and use MediaWiki for free because it’s open source. Upon downloading the latest version of MediaWiki, however, you may well find yourself a little disappointed. It’s a bit like buying a new car and finding you only got the base model. No air con, no sat nav, no electric windows. All the best things are added extras. This is why, after getting to grips with wiki basics, you’ll want to start installing some exciting new extensions.

Here is my top five list of extensions I’ve added to my website, wikicoach.org.uk…

Number 5: EmbedVideo

EmbedVideo in action

If, like me, you love YouTube, this is the extension for you. It allows you to embed videos into your pages rather than just creating boring old links. It’s very smooth and easy to use and, most impressively, it’s compatible with just about every video streaming service on the web.

Number 4: WikiEditor

New editing toolbar

More form than function this one. The basic software comes with a reasonable editing toolbar that appears at the top of a page when you click into edit mode. This extension is a slight upgrade that looks much better and has a few extra functions (for drawing tables and other things that can be a bit tricky with wiki markup). If your site is likely to be used by wiki novices, this extension is a must.

Number 3: ConfirmEdit/SpamBlacklist

No spam please

This should probably be number one on the list as spam protection is a major necessity of any wiki. The strength of a wiki – its openness – is also its Achilles heel. The ConfirmEdit extension is particularly useful as it allows you to add a CAPTCHA to the login page, preventing pesky spam bots from infiltrating your defences. I hate those spam bots!

Number 2: W4G RatingBar

Rate this page

A great extension if you want your wiki to develop into an ‘economy of ideas’ type thing. This extension allows you to add a small rating bar to the bottom of each page, allowing users to rate one another’s efforts. Even better, it allows you to generate custom lists of top rated pages so you can have a constantly updating list of the wiki’s best pages on your home page (or wherever you like).

Number 1: AddThis

AddThis in the toolbar

Whether we like it or not, we live in an age of social networking where everything on the web has to be compatible with Twitter and Facebook and Google+ etc. This extension automatically adds a toolbar to every page (and your menu) so that people can ‘like’ or tweet or +1 a page with ease. There are also extensions that allow people to login to your wiki using a Facebook login, but they were too complicated for me to figure out I’m afraid. Hopefully you’ll have better luck.

Now go on… pimp that wiki!

Workshop: Blogs for beginners

David Piggott /

Work your way through the following questions to start a series of short discussions. Please summarise your responses in the reply box below, making reference to the question number in the response.

(see the blog page for assistance if you get stuck)

  1. What is the difference between a blog and a normal website?
  2. In what situation might you use blogs for an assessment?
  3. If you decided to use a blog for an assessment, how would your institution be able to help?
  4. What problems can you foresee in using blogs for assessment?

Workshop: Wikis for beginners

David Piggott /

Work your way through the following questions to start a series of short discussions. Please summarise your responses in the reply box below, making reference to the question number in the response.

(see the wiki page for assistance if you get stuck)

  1. What is the difference between a wiki and a normal website?
  2. In what situation might you use wikis for an assessment?
  3. If you decided to use a wiki for an assessment, how would your institution be able to help?
  4. What problems can you foresee in using wikis for assessment?

Workshop: Blogs for users

David Piggott /

Your task here is to consider the following scenario and discuss how you would deal with one or more of the issues arising (numbered below). After your discussion, please summarise your response in the reply box below (remember to cite the number of the issue in your reply).

Scenario:

Your  assessment requires a class of 20 students to each create and maintain a journal of a placement experience using blogging software. The assessment is based around the demonstration of reflective practice.

Issues:

  1. The students start to complain about the assessment, claiming they don’t understand why their journals have to be written via a blog (i.e. what is the value added by the blog versus word processing?)
  2. Where would you set the privacy levels of the blogs (open to the world; open to the group only; open to the author and staff member only; allow or block comments etc.)?
  3. Some students complain they are at a disadvantage due to a lack of technical skill and experience. A small number of students are regular bloggers and well versed in embedding multimedia and graphics, making their blogs much more attractive and engaging.
  4. What criteria do you use for grading the blogs? Is quality or quantity of posts more important? What are the relative weightings for content and style?

Workshop: Wikis for users

David Piggott /

Your task here is to consider the following scenario and discuss how you would deal with one or more of the issues arising (numbered below). After your discussion, please summarise your response in the reply box below (remember to cite the number of the issue in your reply).

Scenario:

Your assessment requires a class of 30 students to create pages in a wiki. The aim is to develop a helpful resource that others could use in the future.

Issues:

  1. Would you have the students create pages alone, or working in small groups?
  2. (assuming groups) How would you organise the groups? (topic interest, self-selection, skills balance, randomly?) How would you allocate the marks between the members of each group?
  3. (assuming students working alone) In addition to creating their own articles, some students have enhanced others’ pages with helpful edits. Do you award extra credit to these students, or penalise those who had their pages enhanced?
  4. As a super-administrator of the wiki, would you comment on or edit pages during the assessment period?
  5. What privacy settings would you use? Would wikis be visible to other students (or a wider audience) during their creation or after their completion?