Blogs vs. Wikis (round 1)

So I was recently asked, "What's the difference between a blog and a wiki? What are they, anyway?"

Here's the answer that I usually give; it may be basic, but I think it's a good start for someone unfamiliar with blogs and wikis.

A blog (like this one) is generally maintained by just one person (sometimes one organization or department). S/he may post links, write about items of interest, discuss current events, etc. People may post responses, but it's up to the blogger to maintain the site.

A wiki is a collaboration among multiple people. It's a place to share information with others, whether it be a small group of friends in a private wiki or a global collaboration in a public wiki like Wikipedia®. A wiki can only be maintained if multiple people contribute and edit its pages. Administrators, moderators, members, and contributors can have differing amounts of control, and wikis themselves can have different levels of accessibility. Some may have one administrator who invites select members to join and edit their private wiki (accessible only to those people), while on the other extreme some wikis allow anyone to contribute and edit pages.

Right now my new wiki Northeast Ohio Gardening allows anyone to contribute, edit and even add pages, although as administrator I can delete anything. I could change the settings in the future so that only members of my wiki may contribute and edit, but we'll see what happens...

PubMed RSS feeds

I've heard some complaints from patrons trying to use Google Reader™ to set up a PubMed® RSS feed, particularly those using Mozilla Firefox®.

I’d like to suggest that you switch to the free web-based service called Bloglines® instead. I’ve used Bloglines for over a year, and I can set up PubMed RSS feeds in Firefox with no problem at all.

I much prefer Bloglines to Google Reader (which I tried for a short time). I particularly like the "Sub with Bloglines" browser toolbar link, so when you’re at a site with a feed all you have to do is click on the bookmarklet to subscribe.

For instance, if I go to MedlinePlus News® and click on my "Sub with Bloglines" bookmarklet, I’m immediately directed to my Bloglines account, with a list of available feeds for "MedlinePlus Health News" that I can subscribe to. (I never log out of Bloglines since my PC is password-protected and no one else uses it, otherwise I suppose you’d have to log in before getting to that subscription page.)

You can also do a LOT more with Bloglines, although I’ve only used it as an RSS reader so far. I'll share more with you as I experiment with its other features.

RSS Feeds at Kiwano HSL

Welcome to the Kiwano Librarian blog!

The Kiwano Health Sciences Library website links to many useful RSS feeds (including one for this blog). We emphasize RSS feeds for the major medical journals, but we welcome your suggestions for adding to the virtual collection.

Our librarians have embraced RSS feeds as a replacement for clunky table-of-contents services and email alerts. My favorite reader is Bloglines, but there are lots of alternatives. I'll leave that for another post. Try subscribing to NEJM or The Lancet, just two among the very many journals with RSS feeds.

For faculty & staff: Our librarians can customize PubMed searches and easily create an RSS feed for articles relevant to your research interests.

Didn't know this was an option? It's a great alternative to those email alerts clogging up your inbox.


For students: Stop by in person, email the library, or use our IM service to ask a reference librarian for help in setting up your own PubMed feed.