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What are they? How can I use them?
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Blogs and Wikis at Wesleyan
What are they?
How can I use them?
Outline
What is a blog? What is a wiki? Wesleyan specific blogs and wikis How to get a blog or wiki What can I do with a blog or wiki?
What is a blog?
“Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries…. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog
March 2, 2008
What is a wiki?
Think Wikipedia
“A wiki is software that allows users to create, edit, and link web pages easily. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiMarch 2, 2008
Technology or Genre?
Both blogs and wikis are web-based applications that allow users to create, edit, and organize content in a database.
There is a tendency to think of “blogs” in particular as a genre, not entirely without reason. Blogs as a technology are underexploited because of that association.
Advantages of being web-based
Minimal software requirements You can edit your content from anywhere Centralization facilitates collaboration Browser-based tools work well across
platforms
Advantages of databases
Content can be reorganized for different purposes
Separation of content and presentation
Content versus Presentation
Blogs, wikis, what’s the difference?
Information architecture!
Blogs typically foreground longitudinal development
Wikis lend themselves to cross-sectional view of relationships at a given point in time
Complications
Both blogs and wikis have various means to allow alternatives to the primary organization.
Some blogs have “pages” as well as “posts”
Wikis often include “versioning” and links to whatever content has most recently been added.
Presentation
Wikis often (not always, but often!) look like documentation. They tend to be rather utilitarian.
Blogs often allow users to customize many features of the style and layout
Wesleyan Blogs and Wikis
Confluence (wiki) WordPress (blogs) Blackboard blogs and wikis [Of course there are also a number of free
blog hosting services one might use (e.g. blogger.com). ITS does not officially support any of these, but neither do we contest their existence or utility. ]
BlackBoard Wiki
How do I get a Blackboard blog/wiki?Every Blackboard includes a blog tool and a wiki tool. You can
ask your (an) ACM for help setting one up.
How do I get an independent blog or wiki?
There is a button to initiate a request in your employee portfolio.
What can I do with a blog/wiki?
Administration Enhanced pedagogy Promotion Scholarly communication…
Administrative uses
Sign up sheets Meeting agendas/minutes Bulletin board “Mailing” list Documentation (policies, etc.)
Enhance your pedagogy
Collaboration Group projects Rich media Process as well as product Beyond the classroom, beyond the semester
Case 1: Sarah Wiliarty’s “Country Pages”
Why a country pages wiki? Balance the theoretical with the empirical Balance group depth with class breadth Solve many logistics of group collaboration Emphasize process as well as product
Results It was a smash! Transformed class discussions: Put students
in role of expert Students learned from each other Helped students prepare for exams Helped students write their papers Students value the mobility of web projects Garnered many positive evaluations
The instructor says…“The theoretical material for the course was
very challenging. Students were able to grasp it more easily because they could constantly evaluate it against their own empirical knowledge. The course was more successful because of the group projects, and the group projects would not have been feasible without the wiki structure.”
Case 2: Eyal Rabinovitch’s “Topics in Gentrification”
Promotional uses
Individual professional pages Announce events, publications, etc.
A customized WordPress theme
Scholarly CommunicationBlogs in particular allow for a new kind of
critical (hyper-)textual analysis
Text and comments (potentially from multiple readers) can be interwoven so that the multiple strands of a discourse are brought into a coherent unity
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