Blogs and Wikis: What's the Difference?

Yesterday, Samantha and I conducted a workshop for librarians in Suffolk County on blogs and wikis. We discussed the differences between blogs and wikis as well as the differences they can make for both staff and patrons. It was a true collaborative effort, first between Samantha and me, and then between the audience and the presenters. We created the slides on Google documents so that we could share and edit simultaneously. We then uploaded the presentation in both Google Documents and SlideShare, so that it is readily available. The presentation was videotaped and should be available shortly via streaming video or DVD from SCLS.

Promoting Play Through Online Discovery

Five Weeks to a Social Library and Learning 2.0 are two different online learning programs that were developed to help library staff provide new services. The focus was to developed staff members’ knowledge of web.2.0 tools through utilizing and discussing the social networking tools and thus becoming knowledge players.

What are some ways that one can become a knowledge player?
Helen Blowers The Public Services Technology Director for the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County and the developer of Learning 2.0 suggests:

First, Take 15 minutes (at least), a day to review the information that is out there.

She suggests you view these 5 blogs if you don’t know where to start,

• Librarian in Black – Great for a review of emerging technology and how that technology relates directly to libraries.
• Tech Crunch – This is tech heavy and she suggests that you just glance through it and do selective reading.
• What I learned Today – Great reflections on learning.
• Wired – The tech featured in Wired may not be as cutting edge as the tech featured in Tech Crunch, but it will still give the reader a better heads up on the technology out there vs. main stream media
• Learning 2.1 – is the progression from Learning 2.0 and focuses on 3 new items a month allowing you to become extremely familiar with the items.

Second, have a knowledge playbox. When you come across something that is of interest but you can’t look at it in-depth because of your current work flow, tag it using a social network site and look at it later.

Thirdly, Give yourself and others permission to play.