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How does a blog differ from a wiki?: Difference between revisions

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The difference between a weblog and a wiki 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. A weblog is a type of website where entries are made (such as in a journal or diary), displayed in a reverse chronological order. (Wiki Site) (Blog Site)
Blogging is a personal, light-weight, web publishing tool, allowing web content management with minimal technical knowledge and fuss, empowerment to personal publishers. Blogging is about time-ordered commentary, frequency, brevity, & personality. The significance is around the format - content chunks arranged chronologically and not the content. The defining characteristics are commentary and a sequential chronology. In an open space, blogs offer control and a shield against spamming that mar contributions to usenet and slashdot (Denham).


== Purpose of a Blog ==
Wiki is more than just social writing, easy and intuitive web publishing and the ability to do hypertext. There is the potential to anneal joint meaning, synthesize something greater than the direct combination of individual parts, there is the potential for building a community ethos around direct collaboration at the (text) or artifact level. Michael Schrage says The best shared spaces are an invitation to innovation..the prototype or models are driving our processes and learning.. if you do not have a shared space you are not collaborating, ...it's creating opportunity for others to add value (Denham)!
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.  
(Blog Site)


== Purpose of a Wiki ==
=History=
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. (Wiki Site)


== The History of Blogs ==
Interestingly, since both types of website have been in existence approximately the same length of time, the term "blog" is in the online Merriam-Webster dictionary; whereas "wiki" is not.
The modern blog evolved from the online diary where people would keep a running account of their personal lives. Most such writers called themselves diarists, journalists, or journalers. A few called themselves escribitionists. The Open Pages webring included members of the online-journal community. Justin Hall, who began eleven years of personal blogging in 1994 while a student at Swarthmore College, is generally recognized as one of the earliest bloggers. (Blog Site)


Other forms of journals kept online also existed. A notable example was game programmer John Carmack's widely read journal, published via the finger protocol. Websites, including both corporate sites and personal homepages, had and still often have "What's New" or "News" sections, often on the index page and sorted by date. One noteworthy early precursor to a blog was the tongue-in-cheek personal website that was frequently updated by Usenet legend Kibo. (Blog Site)
===Blog===
Some of the earliest bloggers were Justin Hall and Brad Fitzpatrick who began posting in online journals in 1994. In 1997, Jorn Barger came up with the term "weblog", which was shortened to blog in 1999 by Peter Merhoz. Also, in 1997, there were only around one hundred blogs; by 2005, there were over fifty million. The blog of today grew from the online diary where people kept an play-by-play account of their lives.


== The History of Wikis ==
===Wiki===
The first wiki, WikiWikiWeb (http://c2.com/cgi/wiki), is named after the "Wiki Wiki" line of "Chance RT-52 shuttle buses" in Honolulu International Airport, Hawaii by Ward Cunningham. Cunningham named WikiWikiWeb that way because he remembered a Honolulu International Airport counter employee telling him to take the so-called "Wiki Wiki" Chance RT-52 shuttle bus line that runs between the airport's terminals. According to Cunningham, "I chose wiki-wiki as an alliterative substitute for 'quick' and thereby avoided naming this stuff quick-web." "Wiki Wiki" is a reduplication of "wiki", a Hawaiian-language word for fast. The word wiki is a shorter form of wiki wiki (weekie, weekie). The word is sometimes interpreted as the backronym for "What I know is", which describes the knowledge contribution, storage and exchange function. (Wiki Site)
Wiki came about when Ward Cunningham was trying to come up with a way to have public-knowledge bases readily available. WikiWikiWeb, the first wiki, is named after the Chance RT-52 line of shuttle buses called Wiki Wiki in Honolulu International Airport, Hawaii. The first major technology site was <i>Wikipedia</i> which began in January of 2001. <i>Wiki</i> and <i>Kwiki</i>, a couple of open source wikis, had over a million downloads by 2004.


== Key Characteristics of Wikis ==
=Similarities=
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. (Wiki Site)
Both blogs and wikis:
*Can be trace back to 1994.
*Are types of content authoring, knowledge sharing, and media-publishing websites.
*Have many tools to enable blogging and the development of wiki.
*Have had separate languages spring up around their uses.


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. (Wiki Site)
=Differences=
Blogs and wikis, because they are different spaces, manifest/take advantage of/engage different epistemic and rhetorical possibilities and serve different rhetorical and epistemic ends. They engage different rhetorics: one topical, carved from the inside out; the other chronological, staying on top of things (Morgan).


== How blogs are made ==
Simply put, blogs are about writing for a community and wiki is about writing within or in a community.
A variety of different systems are used to create and maintain blogs. Dedicated web applications can eliminate the need for bloggers to manage this software. With web interfaces, these systems allow travelers to blog from anywhere on the Internet, and allow users to create blogs without having to maintain their own server. Such systems allow users to work with tools such as Ecto, Elicit and w.bloggar which allow users to maintain their Web-hosted blog without the need to be online while composing or editing posts. Blog creation tools and blog hosting are also provided by some Web hosting companies (Tripod), Internet service providers (America Online), online publications (Salon.com) and internet portals (Yahoo! 360° or Google). Some advanced users have developed custom blogging systems from scratch using server-side software, and often implement membership management and password protected areas. Others have created a mix of a blog and wiki, called a bliki. (Blog Site)


== Recipe of a blog entry ==
The main differences are as follows:
A blog entry typically consists of the following:
*Use of time vs. topic-linking to organize the material
*Ability to directly edit content else created - collaborative vs. individual
*Use of linking to organize within the context of an ongoing discussion
*Nature of content publishing (public or private)


===Blog===
A [[What is a blog?|blog]] is a publicly posted diary or journal that reflects the personality and point of view of the author. In general, blogs are frequently updated, usually have a way of making comments, and are often hyperlinked. Blogs are structured in reverse chronological order and are a commentary about any and all topics by an individual. Blogs sometimes allow commentary, but not revision. Blogs present a uniform point of view and remain in control of the author.


* Title, the main title, or headline, of the post.
A blog entry normally has the following:
* Body, main content of the post.
* Title of the post
* Permalink, the URL of the full, individual article.  
* Body  
* Post Date, date and time the post was published.
* Permalink - the URL of the full, specific entry.  
A blog entry optionally includes the following:
* Post Date  


* Comments  
A blog entry sometimes has the following:
* Categories (or tags) - subjects that the entry discusses
* Comments
* Trackback and or pingback - links to other sites that refer to the entry  
* Categories/tags - topics the entry covers
(Blog Site)
* Pingback and/or trackback - links to alternative sites that mention the entry


== Linking and Creating pages of Wiki ==  
===Wiki===
Wikis are a true hypertext medium, with non-linear navigational structures. Each page typically contains a large number of links to other pages. Hierarchical navigation pages often exist in larger wikis, often a consequence of the original page creation process, but they do not have to be used. Links are created using a specific syntax, the so-called "link pattern". (Wiki Site)
A [[What is a wiki?|wiki]] enables documents to be written collectively in an 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 is "the wiki"; in effect, a wiki is actually a very simple, easy-to-use user-maintained database for searching for or even creating information. Title, full-text, and recent changes searches are generally provided.


Originally, most wikis used CamelCase when naming program identifiers, produced by capitalizing words in a phrase and removing the spaces between them (the word "CamelCase" is itself an example of CamelCase). While CamelCase makes linking very easy, it also leads to links which are written in a form that deviates from the standard spelling. CamelCase-based wikis are instantly recognizable because they have many links with names such as "TableOfContents" and "BeginnerQuestions". Note that it is possible for a wiki to render the visible anchor for such links "pretty" by reinserting spaces, and possibly also reverting to lower case. However, this reprocessing of the link to improve the readability of the anchor is limited by the loss of capitalization information caused by CamelCase. For example, "RichardWagner" should be rendered as "Richard Wagner", whereas "PopularMusic" should be rendered as "popular music". There is no easy way to determine which capital letters should remain capitalized. (Wiki Site)
A wiki consists of an original article written by one person, then other people make edits or contribute new content to the flow of information. A defining aspect of wiki technology is how easy it is for pages to be constructed and revised. Another wiki characteristic is hyperlinks, which are references in hypertext documents to other documents or resources. Anyone within the community may revise already-existing content and most edits can be made in real-time and show up almost immediately online.  
 
Wikis present multiple points of view and can sometimes suffer from vandalism or damage to the site; the wiki philosophy is to undo damage versus the rigor of preventing damage and is called "soft security".
 
 
Over time, the differences between blogs and wikis seem to be lessening as more and more bloggers invite input into their blogs and add hyperlinks. Recently a combination of blog and wiki has resulted in a new communication form entitled bliki.


== Links ==
== Links ==
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikis. Wiki Site]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki Wikipedia Wiki Entry]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog. Blog Site]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog Wikipedia Blog Entry]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bliki Wikipedia Bliki Entry]
* [http://www.cogdogblog.com/alan/archives/2004/08/21/time.php A Time to Blog, A Time to Wiki, A Time to ...]
* [http://199.17.178.148/~morgan/cgi-bin/blogsAndWiki.pl?WhenBlogMeetsWiki WhenBlogMeetsWiki]
* [http://frassle.net/blogsVsWikis frassle: Blogs vs. Wikis]
* [http://netapps.muohio.edu/blogs/darcusb/darcusb/archives/2004/11/07/blogs-and-wikis-and-content-publishing Blogs and Wikis and Content Publishing]
* [http://www.iawiki.net/IAwikiBlog/Discussion IAwikiBlog]
* [http://www.ottergroup.com/blog/_archives/2005/6/23/968266.html The Otter Group: Blogs vs. Wikis]


== Works Cited ==
== Works Cited ==
* Cunningham, Ward and Leuf, Bo (2001): The Wiki Way. Quick Collaboration on the Web. Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-71499-X
* Denham, Grey. "Blogs or Wiki." <u>Knowledge-at-work</u>. 3 March 2003. <http://www.webassistant.com/site/Denham/blog_15.html>
* Perrone, Jane, "What is a weblog?", Guardian Unlimted, 2004-05-20. Retrieved on 2006-06-25.
* Morgan, M.C. "WikiAndBlog." <u>Blogs And Wiki</u>. 13 July 2006. Bemidji State University. <http://199.17.178.148/~morgan/cgi-bin/blogsAndWiki.pl?WikiAndBlog>

Latest revision as of 11:41, 27 July 2006

Blogging is a personal, light-weight, web publishing tool, allowing web content management with minimal technical knowledge and fuss, empowerment to personal publishers. Blogging is about time-ordered commentary, frequency, brevity, & personality. The significance is around the format - content chunks arranged chronologically and not the content. The defining characteristics are commentary and a sequential chronology. In an open space, blogs offer control and a shield against spamming that mar contributions to usenet and slashdot (Denham).

Wiki is more than just social writing, easy and intuitive web publishing and the ability to do hypertext. There is the potential to anneal joint meaning, synthesize something greater than the direct combination of individual parts, there is the potential for building a community ethos around direct collaboration at the (text) or artifact level. Michael Schrage says The best shared spaces are an invitation to innovation..the prototype or models are driving our processes and learning.. if you do not have a shared space you are not collaborating, ...it's creating opportunity for others to add value (Denham)!

History

Interestingly, since both types of website have been in existence approximately the same length of time, the term "blog" is in the online Merriam-Webster dictionary; whereas "wiki" is not.

Blog

Some of the earliest bloggers were Justin Hall and Brad Fitzpatrick who began posting in online journals in 1994. In 1997, Jorn Barger came up with the term "weblog", which was shortened to blog in 1999 by Peter Merhoz. Also, in 1997, there were only around one hundred blogs; by 2005, there were over fifty million. The blog of today grew from the online diary where people kept an play-by-play account of their lives.

Wiki

Wiki came about when Ward Cunningham was trying to come up with a way to have public-knowledge bases readily available. WikiWikiWeb, the first wiki, is named after the Chance RT-52 line of shuttle buses called Wiki Wiki in Honolulu International Airport, Hawaii. The first major technology site was Wikipedia which began in January of 2001. Wiki and Kwiki, a couple of open source wikis, had over a million downloads by 2004.

Similarities

Both blogs and wikis:

  • Can be trace back to 1994.
  • Are types of content authoring, knowledge sharing, and media-publishing websites.
  • Have many tools to enable blogging and the development of wiki.
  • Have had separate languages spring up around their uses.

Differences

Blogs and wikis, because they are different spaces, manifest/take advantage of/engage different epistemic and rhetorical possibilities and serve different rhetorical and epistemic ends. They engage different rhetorics: one topical, carved from the inside out; the other chronological, staying on top of things (Morgan).

Simply put, blogs are about writing for a community and wiki is about writing within or in a community.

The main differences are as follows:

  • Use of time vs. topic-linking to organize the material
  • Ability to directly edit content else created - collaborative vs. individual
  • Use of linking to organize within the context of an ongoing discussion
  • Nature of content publishing (public or private)

Blog

A blog is a publicly posted diary or journal that reflects the personality and point of view of the author. In general, blogs are frequently updated, usually have a way of making comments, and are often hyperlinked. Blogs are structured in reverse chronological order and are a commentary about any and all topics by an individual. Blogs sometimes allow commentary, but not revision. Blogs present a uniform point of view and remain in control of the author.

A blog entry normally has the following:

  • Title of the post
  • Body
  • Permalink - the URL of the full, specific entry.
  • Post Date

A blog entry sometimes has the following:

  • Comments
  • Categories/tags - topics the entry covers
  • Pingback and/or trackback - links to alternative sites that mention the entry

Wiki

A wiki enables documents to be written collectively in an 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 is "the wiki"; in effect, a wiki is actually a very simple, easy-to-use user-maintained database for searching for or even creating information. Title, full-text, and recent changes searches are generally provided.

A wiki consists of an original article written by one person, then other people make edits or contribute new content to the flow of information. A defining aspect of wiki technology is how easy it is for pages to be constructed and revised. Another wiki characteristic is hyperlinks, which are references in hypertext documents to other documents or resources. Anyone within the community may revise already-existing content and most edits can be made in real-time and show up almost immediately online.

Wikis present multiple points of view and can sometimes suffer from vandalism or damage to the site; the wiki philosophy is to undo damage versus the rigor of preventing damage and is called "soft security".


Over time, the differences between blogs and wikis seem to be lessening as more and more bloggers invite input into their blogs and add hyperlinks. Recently a combination of blog and wiki has resulted in a new communication form entitled bliki.

Links

Works Cited

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