The primary purpose of a blog is for one way communication, announcements and marketing.
Blogs are web sites with time-sensitive content. A few users create and manage the content, organized as blog posts. Visitors may be allowed to leave comments on specific posts. The most recent posts show first. Older post fall below eventually becoming archived. OIT can restrict blog viewing access upon request. Blogs offer an RSS feed that allows anyone to subscribe and receive email alerts when new content is posted.
Note that a blog does not allow user-initiated content like a forum.
The primary purpose of a wiki is for highly collaborative information gathering and storage for data that is mainly text based.
A wiki allows collaborative content management. The wiki system is organized into spaces, each of which has specific authoring and viewing permissions.Wiki technology allows richly linked and searchable content. Version control and auditing features keep a record of all changes. They also allow reverting to an older version. Although some basic formatting is available, complex data needs may be best handled in other applications such as Excel or Access.
The primary purpose of locker is file storage and sharing where the file is highly structured, formatted or complex.
Locker is an online storage and file sharing application. Locker can be accessed through any web browser from anywhere in the world. Permissions can be assigned on both a file level and a folder level allowing authorized individuals to access that file. Some version control is available although it is not designed for a high volume of changes and edits.
Locker is ideal for storing personal and departmental information in the appropriate location and controlling the access and permissions to those files. It’s a great location for a cross team document repository or storing and sharing sensitive data.
Inside.SMU was introduced in October 2010 for faculty and staff. It is a powerful collaboration tool designed to help teams work on projects, documents and other initiatives.
Collaboration Grid
To help identify which collaborative tool may best suit your needs, please review the collaboration features grid. (click here) If you have any questions or need further assistance, contact the IT Help Desk.