Chronologically ordered information
The posts in a weblog are ordered chronologically. The newest post is always displayed at the top. which makes weblogs particularly suitable to document developing processes (projects, team work).
Timeliness of information
Generally, weblogs are updated on a regular basis. They are therefore particularly suitable for issues which are currently in the air and which are discussed rather controversially.
Awareness of subjectivity
Weblogs create a sensibility for the fact that information is socially constructed and that not all sources are equally trustworthy. Moreover, a weblog is the place to publish controversial opinion, which can enrich the usual teaching materials.
Crosslinking information on the internet
Quoting and linking to other sources of information is a part of the specific weblog writing culture. Information related to a subject is not only collected, but normally also commented. In this way, weblogs promote a creative, but correct handling of foreign sources.
Blog or wiki?
In a wiki, information is thematically ordered. Everything that belongs together is also found in the same place. In a weblog however, information is ordered chronologically. In addition, every post can be assigned to different thematic categories.
In a wiki, old and new information are continuosly merged and redundant parts can be deleted. In a weblog, however, all posts are normally kept the way they are, nothing is deleted. The time stamp indicates whether the information is still up-to-date.
Edit privileges in a wiki are administrated via a group password (i.e. one password for a whole group of students). In a weblog, every student has to be registered to obtain his or her individual writing privilege.
Blog or discussion board?
In a discussion board, the discussion is conducted by more or less equal participants: A post is followed by replies which are themselves new posts. In a weblog however there is a difference between posts (visible at first sight) and comments (visible only when clicked on). This makes the discussion somewhat asymmetrical: Posts and their authors are given more weight than comments and their authors. Therefore, a weblog is the application of choice if mainly comments to a given text/image/hypothesis shall be posted, but not if a common development or modification of the text/hypothesis is wished for.
Comments in a weblog are always posted in chronological order. In a discussion board however, replies can be placed directly under any post they thematically refer to.
In some discussion boards (i.e. most ELBA-boards) writing of posts and replies is possible without logging in. In weblogs, this is only possible for comments.
