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Blogs and Wikis

Why they're Databases

Blogs (online journals) and wikis (online collaborative work spaces) allow users to post short articles online without knowing HTML. Most blogs and wikis allow users to navigate to entries by date, while more sophisticated programs like that used for the Friday Report Blog allow authors to categorize posts by category.

These are different sorting options which require a database backend is required to track. In addition, the database must track the current date in order to sort items chronologically. For wikis, a database is also required to track who has logged in and made edits.

Why this is important

1. If you wish to create blog and wikis which are easier for readers to search, you may wish to consider which categories (or keywords) are useful for readers. For blogs, categories should be specific enough to lead readers to relevant posts, but not so specific that a list may become too long.
2. Blogs are an example of a common web-based application which uses databases to track elements like topic, date and user name.
3. Many databases storing text articles (e.g. newspaper sites or full-text archives) have design elements similar to a blog.
4. Because many blogs also generate RSS newsfeeds files, users can begin to understand how the same data can be restructured for different purposes or environments.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Like EndNote, blogs and wikis are designed for a specific purpose - to allow authors to post articles quickly and easily. However, it is a stepping stone for understanding other text-archive databases (as well as being effective journaling tools).

Teaching Ideas

• Planning a blog or wiki site can help students conceptualize how data can be organized into categories.
• Additional ideas for using blogs and wikis are available on TLT Sorting Blogs, Wikis and Newsfeeds.

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Last Update: September 6, 2005