OK - This is fun. The American Cancer Society is hosting a Relay for Life in Second Life (SL). I found this information at the discussion boards of the SL Healthy Wiki. It's a wetpaint wiki designed to gather "information about consumer health locations and groups in Second Life, with general health education resources as well."
When I look to see who is behind this wonderful and well-organized resource, I am pleased - and not surprised to see that Namro Orman (one of the masterminds of Healthinfo Island on Second Life) is involved. Namro aka Guus van den Brekel designed the excellent search widget on this page.
As of today SL Healthy has 77 members and it looks like a great place to jump in and add your expertise if you are in Second Life and interested in health information. Other SL and health resources include:
Health and Medicine in Second Life Blog
Healthinfo Island Blog
Healthinfo Island BlogHUD
Showing posts with label wikis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wikis. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Blogs vs. Wiki's
What is the difference between a blog and a wiki? What sort of things might be better suited for a blog and better suited for a wiki?
From my experience so far, a blog is very useful for providing information and having a discussion. It's a little bit like a public e-mail conversation. Once the information is posted, it pretty much stays the way it is and you can see a record of the conversation over time.
When I think about blogs, I usually think of someone (or a small group of people) either reporting or commenting on current events; or acting as an expert on a topic. An article is written and then comments are posted. I think a library might have a staff blog to let people know about new books, recommended books, give background information about events happening at the library, and highlight search tools or web pages.
A wiki, however, is more like a collaboration tool. It can be used for very large projects especially when there is alot of data. As new information is collected or agreed upon, the change is made and all you see is the new information. If someone makes an error (in syntax, a typo or maybe they post something that was a misunderstanding), another person can easily change or correct the entry.
At our library, we are using a wiki to capture answers to questions that are a little tricky. For example, the students have an assignment to find out about phlebotomy and malpractice. We keep notes on which databases have the best articles on this topic. It's great because if we find out new information, we just change the entry.
Both applications have the ability to remain private and restrict the ability of people to comment or edit.
From my experience so far, a blog is very useful for providing information and having a discussion. It's a little bit like a public e-mail conversation. Once the information is posted, it pretty much stays the way it is and you can see a record of the conversation over time.
When I think about blogs, I usually think of someone (or a small group of people) either reporting or commenting on current events; or acting as an expert on a topic. An article is written and then comments are posted. I think a library might have a staff blog to let people know about new books, recommended books, give background information about events happening at the library, and highlight search tools or web pages.
A wiki, however, is more like a collaboration tool. It can be used for very large projects especially when there is alot of data. As new information is collected or agreed upon, the change is made and all you see is the new information. If someone makes an error (in syntax, a typo or maybe they post something that was a misunderstanding), another person can easily change or correct the entry.
At our library, we are using a wiki to capture answers to questions that are a little tricky. For example, the students have an assignment to find out about phlebotomy and malpractice. We keep notes on which databases have the best articles on this topic. It's great because if we find out new information, we just change the entry.
Both applications have the ability to remain private and restrict the ability of people to comment or edit.
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