Thursday, November 12, 2015
Friday, June 24, 2011
How to use online social collaboration tools - Wikis and Blogs
Online collaboration tools and technologies are increasingly shaping and modeling the communication, learning, working and social experiences in the information society.
New modes of learning, sharing and hooking up with partners, team-mates and colleagues will completely replace the time-consuming, long and boring practices we use today in our real, physical world.
What is a wiki
The word “wiki” is a Hawaiian word which means "quick", in simple terms a wiki is a quick and simple website. It was invented in 1995 by Ward Cunningham to facilitate on-line collaboration about programming and design best practices. By the year 2000 it evolved into a way to facilitate all kinds of on-line collaboration.
In other words a wiki is a collaborative web based workspace where the pages can be created, changed and instantly published using a web browser and no programming is required. It is called “a collaborative web space” because it allows several concurrent users to create and manage information in a website.
It is also a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyper-links and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and cross-links between internal pages on the fly. The unique thing about wikis is that they allow users to edit all the pages in the website with no need for knowing how to use HTML (though having a background in HTML always helps). A defining characteristic of wiki technology is the ease with which pages can be created and updated.
A single page in a wiki is referred to as a "wiki page", while the entire body of pages, which are usually highly interconnected via links is "the wiki". In effect, a wiki is actually a very simple, easy-to-use and user-maintained database for searching or even creating information.
Working with Wikis
Wikis are built using frameworks known as wiki platforms. There are several wiki platforms, some of which are free while others have to be paid for. The paid for platforms usually offer a wider range of options or services to its subscribers than the free ones.
Popular free wiki platforms include:
l PBWiki
l SeedWiki
l Wikia
l Wetpaint
How to create a wiki
v You must have Internet connection
v You must have an e-mail address
v Decide on a name for your wiki
v Audience
v Content
v Is it public or private?
BLOGGING
A blog is information that is instantly published on the web with content arranged in a chronological order with the most recent "blog post" (or entry) at the top of the main page and the older posts towards the bottom.
Posting content to blog is called "blogging". And an individual who posts the content or maintains a blog is called a "blogger".
A blog is a personal diary, a journal where you can publish your own thoughts.
Your blog is whatever you want it to be and there are several of them, in all shapes and sizes.
A blog gives you your own voice on the web. It's a place to collect and share things that you find interesting whether it's your political commentary, a personal diary, or links to web sites you want to remember.
There are also organizations, groups, and associations that would love to share information such as their newsletter, day-to-day activities, etc with other people but also can't afford to maintain a webmaster and pay the costs of managing a website.
But with blogs, anyone can make their voices heard all over the world via the Internet without spending a dime to own or host a website.
Blogs have so many advantages that millions of people are reported to be blogging. With the ease and convenience of blogging, millions of people all over the world now own and manage their own blogs. According to Wikipedia, as of November 2006, blog search engine Technorati was tracking nearly 60 million blogs!
There are many blogging software that allow people to create and manage their blogs and they are completely free and very easy to use.
http://www.Blogger.com -owned by Google.com.
These blogging software have made the entire process of blogging very easy and the fact that they are completely free makes more and more people to own their blogs daily.
Posting content to your blog is as simple as typing an email or using any word processing document. You don't need to know HTML or any web designing programme. Just type the information you want to appear on your blog and Blogger.com will handle all the HTML and other web designing jargons.
A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual although some focus on photographs (photoblog), videos (vlog), or audio (podcasting)
Conclusion
With the invention of online collaborative tools, almost anyone can now benefit from the wonders of the Internet by not only having access to information but can also join in creation and sharing of information with other people all over the world.
The only most important requirement for taking full advantage of these tools is to get a basic knowledge of how to use such tools and then you can have your own your voice heard all over the world.
For more information you can check on the links below.
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