How does a blog differ from a wiki?

The difference between weblogs and wikis is rather simple. A wiki is a type of website that allows users to easily add, remove, or otherwise edit and change most available content, sometimes without the need for registration. (Wikipedia) Weblogs, also known as blogs, are frequently updated websites consisting of dated entries arranged in reverse chronological order so the most recent post appears first. (Walker)

Purpose of a Blog

Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. Most blogs are primarily textual although many focus on photographs, videos or audio. The word blog can also be used as a verb, meaning adding an entry to a blog. (Wikipedia)

Purpose of a Wiki

This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for collaborative writing. The term wiki can also refer to the collaborative software itself (wiki engine) that facilitates the operation of such a website (see wiki software), or to certain specific wiki sites, including the computer science site (and original wiki), WikiWikiWeb, and the online encyclopedias such as Wikipedia. (Wikipedia)

Key Characteristics of Wikis

A wiki enables documents to be written collectively in a extremely simple markup language using a web browser. A single page in a wiki is referred to as a "wiki page", while the entire body of pages, which are usually highly interconnected via hyperlinks, is "the wiki"; in effect, a wiki is actually a very simple, easy-to-use user-maintained database for searching or even creating information. (Wikipedia)

A defining characteristic of wiki technology is the ease with which pages can be created and updated. Generally, there is no review before modifications are accepted. Most wikis are open to the general public without the need to register any user account. Sometimes session log-in is requested to acquire a "wiki-signature" cookie for autosigning edits. More private wiki servers require user authentication. Many edits, however, can be made in real-time, and appear almost instantaneously online. This can often lead to abuse of the system. (Wikipedia)

Recipe of a blog entry

A blog entry typically consists of the following:

• Title, the main title, or headline, of the post.
• Body, main content of the post.
• Permalink, the URL of the full, individual article.
• Post Date, date and time the post was published.

A blog entry optionally includes the following:

• Comments
• Categories (or tags) - subjects that the entry discusses
• Trackback and or pingback - links to other sites that refer to the entry

(Wikipedia)

Works Cited

"Blog." Wikipedia. 2006. Wikipedia. 20 Jul 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog>.

"Types of Blogs." Wikipedia. 2006. Wikipedia.com. 23 Jul 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Types_of_blogs

"Wiki" Wikipedia. 2006. Wikipedia.com 23 Jul 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki