Comments on: What are blogs and wikis? http://www.mardahl.dk/2008/01/05/what-are-blogs-and-wikis/ Thoughts about communication - technical, accessible, usable, and otherwise... Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:41:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Karen http://www.mardahl.dk/2008/01/05/what-are-blogs-and-wikis/comment-page-1/#comment-14871 Karen Wed, 09 Jan 2008 07:05:29 +0000 http://www.mardahl.dk/2008/01/05/what-are-blogs-and-wikis/#comment-14871 Using these tools as a personal organizer is a great tip, Tom! Thanks for sharing the idea, and for sharing the how-to. I'll admit that the more I work with web-based tools for storing information, the more I want to move away from what you could call regular documents that read like a book. The gazillion ideas, tips, snippets, and whathaveyou are easier to store in some database-like arrangement. You can search more easily, and as you say, access them more easily when they are web-based. This is also influencing the way I think about the documentation I write at work. What might be best to have in a PDF that can be printed and carried to planning meetings or read on a train, and what really belongs in some online application. How do users approach the search for that particular bit of information and therefore, where should it be? Playing with this type of thing in your spare time has a positive influence on work, and vice versa. It's a positive learning cycle! Using these tools as a personal organizer is a great tip, Tom! Thanks for sharing the idea, and for sharing the how-to. I’ll admit that the more I work with web-based tools for storing information, the more I want to move away from what you could call regular documents that read like a book. The gazillion ideas, tips, snippets, and whathaveyou are easier to store in some database-like arrangement. You can search more easily, and as you say, access them more easily when they are web-based.

This is also influencing the way I think about the documentation I write at work. What might be best to have in a PDF that can be printed and carried to planning meetings or read on a train, and what really belongs in some online application. How do users approach the search for that particular bit of information and therefore, where should it be?

Playing with this type of thing in your spare time has a positive influence on work, and vice versa. It’s a positive learning cycle!

]]> By: Tom Johnson http://www.mardahl.dk/2008/01/05/what-are-blogs-and-wikis/comment-page-1/#comment-14869 Tom Johnson Tue, 08 Jan 2008 13:51:50 +0000 http://www.mardahl.dk/2008/01/05/what-are-blogs-and-wikis/#comment-14869 Karen, thanks for mentioning me in your post. I agree with your point about how blogging technology makes it easy so people can focus on their writing rather than the technology. I have tried to focus less on tweaking my site and design and more on writing. I also have a wiki (Mediawiki), but I only use it for myself, and it's password protected. Still, I've found it incredibly useful for things like book notes, to-do lists, goals, philosophies, schedules, and the like. I can access it anywhere, and it doesn't get so cluttered as Word docs. I have an <a href="http://www.idratherbewriting.com/2007/06/14/installing-mediawiki-is-much-easier-than-the-instructions-suggest-my-quick-10-step-tutorial-for-installing-mediawiki/" rel="nofollow">installation tutorial for Mediawiki here.</a> Karen, thanks for mentioning me in your post. I agree with your point about how blogging technology makes it easy so people can focus on their writing rather than the technology. I have tried to focus less on tweaking my site and design and more on writing.

I also have a wiki (Mediawiki), but I only use it for myself, and it’s password protected. Still, I’ve found it incredibly useful for things like book notes, to-do lists, goals, philosophies, schedules, and the like. I can access it anywhere, and it doesn’t get so cluttered as Word docs.

I have an installation tutorial for Mediawiki here.

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