Wikis vs. Blogs

Q: What is the difference between a blog and a wiki? What sort of things might be better suited for a blog and better suited for a wiki?

A: There are a number of differences between a wiki and a blog. The biggest difference to me is the general nature of the two. A blog contains individual posts that are (usually) listed according to date that become static and archived. Although you can have more than one contributor to a blog, collaboration is difficult because you cannot easily change a post. Rather, individual posts are displayed by the individual contributors. And forget about collaboration-unless your the blogger the most you can do is post a comment-if that. With a wiki, you can allow anyone to jump in and add and/or delete content and pages!

Another important difference is the fact that when using a wiki, users can create a number of pages linked together by the home page. Although a blog allows you to link to external pages and embed widgets, it does not let you create numerous pages.

Based on these differences there are uses more suitable for a blog and wiki. Blogs are most likely best suited for individual authoring, announcements, news, etc. Perfect example-this and my classmates blogs! A wiki on the other hand, is probably best suited for collaborative projects and information that is changing and robust.

RSS for Library and Patron Use

Q: How do you think you could use RSS feeds at your library? How do you think patrons could use RSS feeds?

A: Realy Simple Syndication, a.k.a. is found on many webpages for a number of a good reason. My #1 reason is that it always you to stay up-t0-date! I think my library could take advantage of RSS feeds in a number of ways. By adding RSS to the “what’s new” section, subscribers will always be in loop on what’s going on in the library. Not to mention adding RSS to your catalog, which is a terrific way of keeping patrons interested in new resources based on their own likes-i.e., creating an RSS feed for new music CDs or new Children’s books….you get the idea.

Similarly, patrons can take advantage of RSS. I use Bloglines and subscribe to news feeds, podcast, and I even have an RSS feed for Blockbuster’s New Releases. And rather than having to check my 1k emails, I have control over when to check my news, all with the convenience of it being all in one place. The same with PubMed, rather than using My NCBI account to get emails on updates to my searches, I can create an RSS feed on the search.

I’m not entirely convinced however, that this would meet the needs of all patrons, as finding and adding RSS feeds to RSS readers can be challenging.