Diffen

What is Diffen and How Does It Work?

Diffen is a website that was inspired by Wikipedia. This is a great collaborative website that allows you to compare and contrast anything. You can compare cameras, cell types, words, people and more. Diffen tries to provide unbiased information and separate it from opinion by constantly reviewing the quality of the information that people contribute to their site as well as giving users the ability to rate their experience and satisfaction with the information that is given. Like Wikipedia, Diffen is open for people to publish and contribute to. Information is constantly being added to by people from around the world.

Strengths: Diffen is a great site that is full of information. If you know what you are looking for or simply need that quick reminder of how two things compare, Diffen makes it simple and easy to find. Even if you are not looking for something specific, Diffen offers great suggestions in their Comparison List section as well as providing a Top 10 Comparison list that appears on every page. Here is a dample image of these two items.

One of the greatest strengths of this website is how information is presented. Information is presented in two column tables so that it can be compared quickly and easily for similarities and differences. The best part is what comes after the table...tons of supplemental information as well as links to videos, audio files, images, charts, graphs and other forms of explanation. This allows the reader to get the information in multiple formats. There are also links within the information for definitions or other resources.

Information can be shared with others through social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and even emailed. This would allow students to do research and send themselves the information via these avenues.

Weaknesses: Although Diffen has a ton of information to make comparisons for, finding specific information can be difficult unless you know exactly what you are looking for in advance or if you find it on their common comparison lists. organization of information would be easier to manage if it were done in categories that were less broad. For example, you can click on "Compare Cameras" and you get a long list of camera types that appear in no order whatsoever.

Like Wikipedia, Diffen is a wiki that anyone can contribute to, change, add, edit or remove information. In the disclaimer section of the website, Diffen states in several locations quite clearly that "Diffen is not uniformly peer reviewed." ([]) This means that people who use the information on the site really should have prior knowledge about the information that they are comparing in order to ensure that the camparison they receive is accurate.

Since this is a work in progress, not everything can be found on Diffen. There is also inequity in the formating of the information. Some topics have tons of information, links, videos, pictures, references, and other supplemental information; while others have only minimal information. That being said, many of the links for terms and definitions go directly to Wikipedia. I would like to have seen more sources for information rather than another wiki-based site.

I thought it would be great if you could get a Diffen plugin for Google Chrome so that you could give students the opportunity to make comparisons quickly and easily from their browser. However, I could not find a Diffen plugin. Dissappointing.

How can this tool be used in the classroom?

Inquiry-- Diffen's mission, according to their website, is one "of documenting **all** human knowledge about differences between entities." (See their Content Disclaimer page). Students can use Diffen to compare and contrast similar items or even use it to find out how their favorite sports team matches up against the team they are playing this week. Their site is extremely inquiry-based. The layout is simple and designed for informational purposes, so it might not be that visually appealing for lower grade levels.

Students are also given links to related articles, see also suggestions and references. This allows students the opportunity to explore more content as well as see what topics may relate to their content search. This broadens the students experience and helps them determine what types of information may also apply to the topics they are referencing/reseraching.

Construction-- Diffen definitely encourages construction. Anyone can contribute to building the site's knowledge base. Students could contribute what they have learned and make their findings available to the entire world. It is also a great way to encourage students to look for errors in information and have them correct misgivings or misinformation as they use the tool. Also, Diffen presents students with a great learning opportunity: distinguishing between valid sources of information and determining if what they are learning is true. Entire lessons could be built on using sites like Diffen to help students determine if the information they are getting is valid and ways to fact check or cross reference information for truth.

Students can use Diffen to construct understanding for themselves about comparisons. What makes a valid comparison? Students could also use Diffen to self-search for information that they cannot remember or need to verify before using it. For example, the difference between "affect" and "effect" is often not easily remembered. Students could simply go to Diffen and get clarification before continuing with their work.

Communication-- Diffen is a wiki, so it allows contributions from anyone. Students can also comment on the information they receive from the site. This allows all users to rate the information for its helpfulness, completeness and quality. Used seriously, this is a powerful advantage to other forms of information searches on the Internet. Comments and ratings allow students to quickly assess the quality of the information based on the opinions of others. Student comments can be shared with others, not only on this site, but using other social media like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and through email.

Expression-- Diffen encourages people to find creative ways to use their site. Here is what they say: "While the initial aim of Diffen was to provide information that aids decision-making, we have since realized that the potential of Diffen goes far beyond. We encourage our users to find ways in which they can make the best use of this website. This means there is no restriction on topics - public or personal. Compare any X to any Y!"

They also encourage people to use Diffen for recreational comparisons. They specifically list comparing teachers, classes, topics and ex-girl/boy friends as possible uses for recreation. I am not sure that comparing personal interactions on a website is a valid use of their tool. This seems like it cheapens their purpose and diminishes their lofty goal of cateloging human knowledge as well as contradicting their claims that their site is factual and unbiased.

Final Word: Diffen could be a powerful tool as long as it is tempered with some clear instruction. I would recommend that you take a few minutes to give it a try for yourself.

Click on the image to give it a try:


 * Link to this website at: [|www.diffen.com]**