I'm getting so lazy. The barrier for entry on editing is like... Way too high. I wish I had Front Page, so I could update my research page. But... I don't. So there. And instead of me hitting Ctrl+D every time I find something cool, here's my attempt to actually summarize my research, via relevant links, on what I've found on the union between blogs and wikis. My main point now? It seems to be stale. Discussion hasn't happened in 2005, but 1998 and 2002 and the like.
Bill Seitz's Wiki Weblog, and Web Log
Information Architect's Wiki Blog Discussion
On the aside, something I tried doing. Originally, I wanted to make a 5K wiki for the 5K contest, and I did. But I didn't submit it. Very, very basic Javascript... But here seems to be a full implementation, TiddlyWiki. Sounds like that game you play with jacks and a ball, tiddlywinks?
Jeebus, another aside. I have it in my bookmarks, but I don't have it here. One Google vote! Widgetopia.
Well, I stole those last two links from this guy... Just like every other site, it's a great site. There just seems to be a handful of people who like talking about blogs, and wikis, and social software... I want to be That Guy. Hmm...
This one is the motherload. Wiki Weblog PIM. See that last one? I didn't even think of making it a PIM... Awesome page. I contacted him, but he never got back to me. Maybe he avoids his e-mail in the same way I do. Haha.
The Wiki Log page at Meatball Wiki.
Hmm... Another thing I've gathered... Since we also have to mention barriers of entry... Is that it is indeed unacceptable to write in two tools. We're trying to synthesize information that comes out of our heads and fingers Once and comes out onto the computer screen Twice, somehow... Write Once, Read Everywhere, or something like that.
From IAwiki signed Victor Lombardi:
# One is a post, the other is a note # One is actively engaging the reader, the other is passive # One is speech, the other is text # One is monologue, the other is reference source
It's stuff like that, this weird dichotomy, that makes it really weird to be uniting two platforms where their philosophies might actually be mutually exclusive. Which goes back to my sentiment about having exclusive features and exclusive content... That kinda sucks, but what if it's the only way in fulfilling the vision? I mean, admitting to oneself more categories certainly takes away the mental burden of making everything under the sun fit one umbrella.
Users at the original wiki also like discussing Thread Mode versus Document Mode. And hallelujah to whoever mentioned Mixed Mode.
Ooo, features I like mentioned on IAWiki. Access by date: wikilog/yyyy-mm-dd, access by range: wikilog/yyyy-mm-dd:yyyy-mm-dd, access by post id: wikilog/id12345, access by wiki namespace: wikilog/hotjuice, access with anchors: wikilog/etcetc#12345
Actually, slashes may be better than dashes, since they emulate the true hierarchical nature of dates... But then again, for date range, dashes would definitely work.
Leslie Orchard's shot at Weblog With Wiki with accompanying discussion.
There's Snip Snap. I see it... But I don't get it. It looks like the wiki and weblog posts are completely seperate from one another. Teh suck?
There's Tao of Mac. It's another paradigm where blog posts and wiki posts are seperate... There's like a name space and a data space. I'm still unsatisfied with that... And one interesting thing to note: he doesn't allow public edits. Hmmf. And there I thought public edits were the end all be all of everything. But seriously, would you want someone touching your stuff? I mean, it still is my information at stake here... Hmm...
I've been thinking of having one authorized super user, me... Where all of my posts would be... Protected? Like... Anyone could edit them, but once they do, they'll have this bright flag on them notifying everyone that its contents may or may not reflect my own, since I don't know how much it has changed. Then I can reapprove the edit and take away the badge. No?
Hmm... This final push to page was inspired by When Blog Meets Wiki.
I'm already at the "So" section of the page and it states something that I knew blogs had one advantage over wikis... Blogs are top posting. You post in the middle of space and time, but it's top posting. It will appear current, new, and extremely important. The only slowness to wikis is their nature to... Be on a topic. To choose a topic. Make an edit. Stuff like that...
So if we had to expand that to lowest common denominator or lowest barrier of entry, I'd say category-less top posting requires much less energy than topical editing.
Here's another helpful listing of the features of blogs and wikis.
Juggling some comparisons... Blogs are personal, and wikis can be, but don't have to. Lowest common? Wiki. So our target is an open platform that has a dominant slant to the primary author.
Blogs can have static pages, but they can be edited. Again... Edits.
Interlinks are painful. Wiki links are painless. Solution?
Wikis aim to create documents. Aim, but don't have to?
Thread Mode becomes Document Mode becomes topics...
Blogs capture the process of thought, while wikis capture the process of writing.
Temporal versus structural.
Blogs, written in the moment. Wikis, written in the topic. So a post, or whatever fundamental unit of writing, must either be created in one of the two fashions. I can write whenever I want, and have a topic automatically given to me (No Topic counts as a topic) or write about a topic, where The Present is the only physical time available to me.
And to emphasize the terrible, addictive, Everything2-esque recursive nature of the web, all of the above was taken from Blogs and Wikis. And he makes an important point, probably one that I've been stressing all along. Blogs represent a new wave of ease of use. I'm sure one Slashdotter has said it, that blogs are just... This mask over using timestamps and FTP. There, I said it. That's just what blogs are. A couple of hyperlinks, timestamps, and good, automated use of the FTP protocol. But it's so easy and fluid, it just looks like another platform. On the flip side, wikis represent another side of ease of use. A low energy entry into the world of contribution. Do you have something to say? Does something stick out as wrong? Just go ahead and say something. It's the Ultimate Democracy, by far, where everyone is truly equal. I somehow don't like that, feeling vulnerable all of a sudden. But that's what it is.
Here's the Wikipedia article on what we're after...
Another person's thoughts on the holy union at Blogging Roller...
Ugh, I can't stand the name bliki. It seems so... Juvenile. And then watch me get caught years later accusing the world's number one social revolution of seeming juvenile... Wikilog. Much, much better.
Still actively looking up more wiki resources... This is probably the longest entry, both physically and time-wise, I've ever written... But one thing keeps coming in my mind as this analysis for barrier of entry. "You can, but you don't have to." A lot of software is assisted by user intervention. Just give me a little more data. Please. But! You don't have to. If you don't want to.
In the forum space, Rod Waldhoff presents a very simple equation: Wiki + Blog = PIM (identical post here).
On Blog Wiki Integration, users talk about the difficulty of the task.
Wim's thoughts on the Wiki Blog.
Wiki Blog Integration at Andrew SW.
Engel Wiki is someone's thesis, attempting to do the same.
A very Chinese-heavy page on Wiki, Blog and RSS.
And for good measure, an article on What's a Wiki? I mean, since we all know what blogs are, compare Wikis to them, right?
Posted by Mark Canlas at February 16, 2005 08:48 AM