We had a great mix of public, academic and school library staff. People who are blogging and not blogging. Below are some highlights of the session -
What's the difference between a blog and a wiki?
- A wiki is a collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites. For example, the collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia is one of the best-known wikis. Wikis are used in businesses to provide affordable and effective intranets and for Knowledge Management. (from Wikipedia. Pages can be easily linked together
- A blog (web log) is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. - from Wikipedia
WYSIWYG - don't need to know code
Don't have to download software
hosted on someone else's server who take care of problems
Works like snazzy Word
Free Wiki sources that participants are using -
pbwiki.com
wetpaint.com - cool thing- free site tracking
One of the exercises that was interesting was to brainstorm all the things that are currently on your website (or that you would like to have on your website) and then determine could you put them on a blog or a wiki (or perhaps both). One of the things I've learned is that a lot of libraries that don't have control of their website, or easy access to it, or someone who knows how to write html code, are using wiki's for websites. LOTS of places are also using wikis for intranets because it's so easy to update and multiple people can have access to make changes. St. Johns County Public Library children and teens department has an internal wiki where they post meeting minutes, inventories, etc. Access is limited to staff in those departments. It's an interesting concept with lots of possibilities.
Questions -
Can you chat? Not sure, might be extra cost, might be widget?
Setting up your wiki - Merrie's instructions http://blogsandwikisforlibraries.wetpaint.com/page/Setting+Up+Your+Wiki
Encouraging Comment on blogs?
comments can immediately post shows up and you could go in and delete if needed
comments can be moderated, they are reviewed by someone before it posts
no comments
Stuff about NEFLIN's Blogs & Wikis -
NEFLIN is using pbwiki, a free wiki service that was recommended by Jae Bass at St. Johns County Public Library, to host our wikis. She actually created NEFLIN's first wiki for the Technology Interest Group. I've used version 1.0 and 2.0 of pbwiki and they both have their pros and cons.
You have to use/play with the software to get comfortable with it. I would definitely encourage anyone thinking about using a wiki to really consider what you want as you begin to create to help decide which software you want to use. Sort of like planning a website in many ways.
We're using blogger.com for our blog. It's free and was pretty easy to figure out.
Before starting the NEFLIN blog we spent a lot of time talking to folks who are blogging about what they like about the software they are using, the pros and cons, etc. I also think you have to decide why you're blogging, what's the purpose of it, who's the audience, blah, blah, blah...
I would definitely encourage you to talk to libraries who are doing what you want to do. This lets you learn from them so that you don't have to recreate the wheel. You'll also learn from their mistakes. If you've got questions, give us a call here at NEFLIN and we'll do our best to connect you with colleagues who can help.
Watch for more Library 2.0/social software workshops coming in the fall. We'll be inundating you with opportunities to learn how to use the tools, how to implement into your library, and how to use the tools to connect with your community.
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