Blogs, Wikis & other four Blogs, Wikis & other four letter wordsletter words

A workshop for the OK ICT ClusterA workshop for the OK ICT Cluster

For the experienced

users• You can go straight to my wikispace and

follow the notes there - or jump to the point you want to start from

• http://dragonsinger.wikispaces.com/ and click on workshops

BLOGS

Past … • In the past - html code• Websites still often have html as part of their

address• Code was hand written using a text editor

Visual Editors• WYSIWYG• wizzywig• What You See Is What You Get• Frontpage - Microsoft - free - now discontinued• Dreamweaver - still marketed - expensive• N|vu - mac osx free editor• And many others including sophisticated text editors• These are all programs that have to be downloaded and

installed on your own computer (or multiple computers if you work in different places - home/work)

Today …

• Blogs - Online Journal/Diary• Wikis - Online Collaborative document• Both are browser based tools• Collaborate from all over the world• Don’t need most up-to-date computers• http://dragonsinger.wikispaces.com/

Blogs• The term blog is a shortened version of weblog or web log

• The most basic are simply journals that people write it - sometimes for public consumption, sometimes for a small group of friends, and sometimes just for themselves.

• People journal all sorts of things - daily lives, things happening in their communities or in their country, political commentaries, etc

• Social networking …

• Most blogs are a combination of text, pictures and links to other places

Why?

• Why blog?

• Why read blogs?

• Click the links …

• Share your knowledge …

• Global community …

Which blog to use?

• Blogger• Live Journal• Edublogs (professional)• Learnerblogs• My Space• Bebo• Facebook• …

Blogger• First blogging tool I used• Started out as independent website• Now owned by Google• Need a google account to operate (Free)• http://www.blogger.com

Live Journal• Currently using this on a regular basis• Voice posts• Paid account US$40• http://www.livejournal.com

Edublogs• For educators

• For professional discussions

• Sharing the knowledge and experience

• Global community

• Powered by wordpress for educators

• www.edublogs.org

General comments1. It's permanent, so think about it before clicking

"submit."2. If you can't say something nice...say something

funny instead.3. Don't reveal too much about yourself--important

if all you're doing is journaling.4. Know how to discern what a legitimate source of

information is and what isn't.5. Do your homework--research your topics

(COVER YER BUTT!)

Wikis

• Most often used for collaborative purposes

• Web application - no real hardware limitations - Win98 +

• Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, is one of the best-known wikis.

• Easy to edit

• Great place to put online notes

• Most use rich-text editing (like MSWord)

More recent innovations

• Wikibooks– http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page– Collection of open-content textbooks that anyone can

edit– Has a whole section called wikijunior

• Wikiversity– http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page– Creation and use of free learning materials and

activities– http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/

Technology_in_the_classroom

•CLICK THE LINKS!

•EXPAND YOUR WORLD

•BE PROACTIVE NOT REACTIVE

•BE PART OF THE INNOVATION NOT PART OF THE RENOVATION!