To the innocent Web 2.0 bystander the differences between wikis and blogs might not be that apparent.  Part of the problem is that people who are already unfamiliar with these applications cannot infer what the application does simply from its name. 

Wiki?  Blog? 

To some these words might sound like an alien language.  A better understanding of what these words mean is the first step to knowing their similarities and differences.

• Blog is a truncation of the word weblog.  As this might imply, it is an online application that allows a person (or people) to log information. 

• Wiki, according to Webopedia, comes from the Hawaiian for quickly.  As this name certainly does not imply, a wiki is an online application which allows many people to quickly and collaboratively compile information.

A blog is best used when one or a few people want to express their thoughts and ideas, and publish these to the web.  The author(s) usually have a lot of presence, and it is very clear who is doing the authoring.  This type of application does allow interaction in the form of comments, but other than the author(s) no one else can edit the content.

A wiki, on the other hand, allows for many people to edit the content that is viewable to the public, but the public is not able to see who authored a particular section.  In other words, the main purpose of a wiki is to create a knowledge base on a particular subject (or subjects), with the help of as many people as necessary (the more the better), without having a particular voice or identity present in the content.

So, when should a librarian or information professional use a wiki?  There is no definitive answer to this, but an example might help to explain.  For an assignment in the reference class that I took last semester I had to create a pathfinder for a specific area of research.  I chose to do it on 17th Century Dutch painting, and after compiling all the information I published it to the web as a series of blog postings.  Though this was all and well because I was the only person creating the content for it, it did nothing to allow other people who might know more or different things to add to the resource.  In hindsight, a wiki would have been a better way to compile this information because it allows many other people to add to this content and enables it to grow more robust.

With that in mind, I transferred the content I had generated for last semester and applied it to a wiki at Wetpaint.  Please check out my wiki on 17th Century Dutch Painting and let me know what you think.

So, to sum it all up, a wiki, especially in a library or information center, is more useful than a blog when it is something that requires collaboration from many people.  Wikis in this setting can be utilized as staff intranets, subject guides, pathfinders, or any other type of resource that benefits from the input of many people.  However, if you’re just looking for a place to publish your personal ideas to the web, you’re better off with a blog.

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