Web2.0 Technologies:Blogs, Wikis, Social Networking Sites

How can they help the Children’s Roundtable

members share information?

Blogs

What’s a blog? A blog (short for web log) is a website

where entries are written in chronological order and displayed in reverse chronological order.

Wikis

What’s a wiki? A collaborative website which can be

directly edited by anyone with access to it.

The Power of Blogs & Wikis

Easy online content creation (no html required) Free hosting – costs nothing to setup a blog or

wiki in many cases Usually very easy initial setup RSS feed output (so others can easily

subscribe to the latest additions to the blog or wiki; can subscribe via email; can subscribe via RSS feed aggregator)

Why Use a Blog vs. Wiki? Blogs are designed to be regularly updated Entries are chronologically ordered (most recent post

appears at the top of the blog) Blogs may be authored by a single person or a group of

authors; commenting may be open to everyone, if desired Wikis are designed to be subject-based; topical Wikis are collaborative – they may have many authors,

may even be open for all people to contribute to them; they may have “discussion options”

Example: Wikipedia

Other options: Social Networking Ning.com

Resources & Examples Blogs:

• Wordpress.com• Blogger.com• Locally hosted options (e.g., open source software like Wordpress run

on your own web server Wikis:

• PBWiki• Wikispaces• Stikipad• Jotspot (Watch this one – has been acquired by Google; had some

high-level functionality already)• Locally hosted options (e.g., open source software like MediaWiki run

on your own web server) Wiki Matrix comparison tool (http://www.wikimatrix.org/)

Examples

Blogs:• CSL Blog Workshop, Library WebHead (Blogger)

• New@CSL (Wordpress)

Wikis:• CSL Blogshop (Wikispaces)

• CLTech (PBWiki)

• Love Your Library (Stikipad)

Ning (Library2.0 group)