Blogs, Wikis, and Internet Research
Goals
- Learn the characteristics of blogs and wikis
- Create a blog and a wiki
- Complete some basic tasks using your blogs and wiki
- Learn the basics of effective web searches
- Learn the basics of evaulating websites for authority and quality
Evaluating websites
When using information from the free web, you are the final "editor". It is up to you decide if the information you use is accurate, current, and authoritative. The following webpage will help walk you through the steps of evaluating online information:
Blogs
"A blog is a type of 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." - Wikipedia
Common Characteristics
- Websites made up of relatively concise "posts" (kind of like journal or diary entries)
- Updated regularly
- Clearly defined and focused scope or purpose (personal, news, topic-based)
- Often a single author or a group of authors with aligned purpose
- Posts are usually categorized
- Links to other blogs and "subscribable"
Examples
- Technology: Lifehacker
- Personal: Iraqi War
- Politics: Huffington Post
- Sports: Second City Hockey, Olympics
- Academic: C.O.D. Library Blog
Creating a Blog
Set-up
- Visit http://wordpress.com/
- Click the orange "Sign up now" button
- Make sure "Gimme a blog!" is checked
- Choose a name for your blog
- Check your e-mail to activate your blog (make sure you use an e-mail address that you can access)
Blog tasks
- Log-in to blog
- Set blog title and tagline ( Settings > General )
- Change theme ( Dashboard > Change Theme )
- Update your About page ( Dashboard > Pages > Edit > About )
- Create a post ( Dashboard > Posts > New Post )
- Visit your site and comment on your post
Advanced
- Upload images
- Create categories and categorize your posts
Wikis
"A wiki is a website that allows the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor." - Wikipedia
Common charactersitics
- Made up of wiki entries (think of Wikipedia)
- Entries can be very detailed
- Entries are built up over time
- Multiple authors for entries
- Usually a clearly defined scope or purpose
Wiki Examples
Create a Wiki
Set-Up
- Visit http://pbworks.com/
- Click on "Login" > "Sign-up"
- Fill out the information using an e-mail address you can access
- Check your e-mail and click on the activation link
- Click "Home" > "Create a workspace" on the activation page
- Select "Free"
- Choose a URL for your wiki; accept terms of use
- Choose who can view and edit your wiki
Wiki tasks
- Edit the front page
- "Create a new page" and edit the new page
- Link from one page to another page
- Invite editors
Advanced tasks
- Insert images or videos
- Edit your sidebar
Finding Websites
There are many different tools that can be used to search for websites. While many people start their searches with Google, you can use some of the tools listed below to do special searches and search for images, videos, and more.
Search Engines
Find web pages that contain your search terms
Special Search Tools
Tools for searching the Wikipedia, news sites, blogs, scholarly publications, and books
Image Search Engines
Find photos, graphics and other images
Audio Search Engines
Find music and sound clips
Video Search Engines
Find video and multimedia clips
Directories
Subject directories are created by groups of experts or volunteers. Although these search tools generally include fewer sites than search engines, these sites can sometimes be of higher quality and search results are concise.
Reference Sites
Reference sites selected by the C.O.D. Library staff
Resources
Learn more about search engines and other internet search tools
