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Blog v Wiki

We have so much information at the tip of our fingers. With the tap of a few buttons we could search up anything and find multiple sources of information on it. We could share our thoughts and opinions with others and have immediate feedback from people all over the world. Wikis and Blogs are just some of the platforms that make such things possible. Whether or not the information provided to us is reliable is a completely different story. 

One important similarity between wikis and blogs is that they both inspire others to share their thoughts and opinions. It brings people together to work collaboratively. In the article Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid by Michael Wilson (2008) a group of people combined their information in a blog to bust a Drug Raid. One of the contributors to the blog, Mr.Miller stated "a core group of seven people who met through the blog brought the case to the attention of the community board and met with authorities."A group of people who did not know each other came together and traded information," he said."Without these random seven strangers coming together to combine their information and fill in the missing gaps of others in the group, the drug raid may have never been brought to the attention of the authorities. 

In the case of Wikis, "one of the group of Web-based applications designed to improve information sharing and collaboration known collectively as Web 2.0" (Locher, 2008, p. 2), people use them in order to collaborate in many situations, businesses being one of them. According to the article How to Use Wikis For Business (2005), "wikis are designed to facilitate the exchange of information within and between teams." Businesses are able to provide their employees with constant up-to-date information by allowing their employees to input information into a wiki and allowing their employees to edit information to match current data. They work together as a team to make sure that the business is running as a whole instead of running in separate parts.  

Convergence is a very important part of society today. Wikis and blogs allow their users to combine ideas and expand upon each other's thoughts. By converging all of our thoughts and creative ideas together we are able to learn more from one another and help each other in a series of different ways. In the case of the blog that helped bring attention to a drug raid, the users provided all the information that they had whether or not the information was true. They shared information in order to see a bigger picture. In the wiki example talked about above, businesses were able to share a convergence of information in order to make sure that everyone had all the information they needed. 

Wikis and blogs differ from each other when it comes to how they are used and who can edit the information on them. In the case of the Los Angeles Times when they decided to create a wiki that was focused on the war in Iraq and invited "anyone who cared to rewrite the editorial to take their best shot," (Anonymous, 2005, p. 2) the wiki that they created wasn't the best option for their intent. A blog would have been a better suit due to the fact that a blog is more controlled and while others can comment on each other's work, they cannot edit one another's work like they would be able to with a wiki. There are less restrictions with a wiki than there is with a blog. 

Another way that Wikis can be used is to possibly organize a family's daily schedule or finances. If the whole family were to use a wiki they would all be able to see who is where throughout the day so that they could better communicate with one another during times when they know that they most likely would be free. Also it would help to make sure that bills are paid on time. 


Sources: 

Wilson, M. (2008, June 26). Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/nyregion/26bayridge.html

Locher, M. (2008, April 17). More on How to Build Your Own Wikipedia. CIO. https://www.cio.com/article/2436789/more-on-how-to-build-your-own-wikipedia.html

Anonymous (2005, August 4). How to Use Wikis for Business. Information Week. https://www.informationweek.com/how-to-use-wikis-for-business/d/d-id/1034971

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