Blogs vs. Wiki's

Good evening readers,
Today I will be analyzing two major new media oriented applications - blogs and wikis! Both these web 2.0 applications have grown over the past years and are now widely used for both business and pleasure by a large variety of people. Blogging is basically what I’m doing right now. A blog is a personal page that allows users to state and express their opinions, beliefs, concerns and ideas. You can find blogs on pretty much any activity from cooking to travel to entertainment and many more. A wiki is somewhat different in that it is also a web page but allows all users to access it and modify and edit the information. Wikipedia, the largest wiki and also online encyclopedia was created by millions of public users. Because of such a large amount of modifying and editing that wiki’s undergo, this makes wiki’s a lot more factual than opinion oriented like blogs. Some famous blog sites include blogspot.com and blogger.com. Some famous wiki’s include Wikipedia and urbandictionary.com. Because anyone is allowed to edit wiki’s, moderators work hard to block spammers, hackers, and just people who fool around with the sites. Although both applications are free to access and contributors do not get paid, it can be determined that in the future this will change as these applications hold great prospective profits.
Convergence is a term used to define when technology and different types of new media are used together to provide simplicity and convenience to individuals. For example, convergence would be an online newspaper that allows users to comment and create their own blogs in response to the news stories. When two forms of new media are combined in this manner, it can also be called a mash-up. Convergence is important in today’s networked world because it gives the employees of large corporations the chance to be more accurate and efficient, as well as keeping them on the same page. For example, employers are now using facebook to analyze and gain information on prospective employees. Large corporations are also using wiki’s to keep the company on the same page and complete projects in a timely manner. Collaboration is the idea of working and producing in a team with everyone having the same amount of knowledge as their peers. Blogs can be used for collaboration by giving employees the chance to express their ideas and opinions to their peers and having the chance to receive valuable feedback. A good idea for a wiki that hasn’t been done yet that users could edit and modify would be how to build different items such as birdhouses, desks, and kid sized “go cars”. Another good wiki that hasn’t been done yet would be how to clear up minor ailments such as a morning pimple or a hangover. As always, feel free to comment or email me.
Sanjay R