Compare and contrast blogs and wikis. Comment on the importance of convergence in today's networked world. How can blogs be used for collaboration? Can you think of a new use for a wiki that has not been done yet?
Although both wiki and
blog provide some type of information, both they can be different in the way
the information is provided. A wiki can
be characterized as a collaborative website where different people who had
access to it can add and edit the information being provided. Wikis have
multiple authors and writers and as a result there can be different point of
views given, and different personalities can be found in the writings. Wikis
are constantly changing throughout the day because people upload information
and edit information constantly. On the
other hand, a blog can be a personal website or corporate website where people
can add entries. It is more of an online journal with different entries on
different topics and this time it is usually written by one person, one point
of view.
Convergence is
extremely important in today’s world because we have become corporate America
where people have to work together, gather information together and express the
information using technology. In the article ‘More on How to Build Your Own
Wikipedia’ by Margaret Locher, she discusses how Tony Pagliarulo began working
on a project through wiki. He was able to use wiki to manage IT assignments at
EMC. His team had current information, so they were able to make better and
faster decisions because they project was available for all the members to see.
Each member was able to contribute information at any time they wanted, and this
information was for all the members to access. It worked out so well that EMC
now uses wikis for many other business functions and purposes. This article
shows how important it is for today’s society to converge.
In today’s world, we
tend to create blogs and express our opinions and personalities through these entries;
we tend to discuss topics that are very controversial through
these blogs. These blogs help us come together and share similar opinions we
may have on a specific topic. They help us collaborate and bring together a set
of voices that can lead to changes in our communities. For example, in the
article ‘Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid talks about Brooklyn residents
creating blogs that express their opinions on drug issues in their community. By
creating these blogs people were able to share their opinion with other
residents of the neighborhood who also felt the same way they did. As a result
of this blog action, neighbors began filing complaints again the 68th
precinct in Brooklyn. Soon after, narcotics investigations began and people were
arrested, all due to blogging. This is an example of how blogs helped a
community collaborate or come together for a specific purpose. These blogs lead
to the arrest of drug dealers which in return bettered the neighborhood.
A new use for wiki I can think of can be a wiki page
where companies can post what important dates are coming up, or what projects
are coming up, or what new ideas employees can contribute. For instance, I work
for JP Morgan Chase, and a wiki page for Chase would benefit us because we
would know what activities we have coming up, or what we can organize on different
occasions. It would work as an informative page for employees only to access,
and this way we can all interact and share ideas.
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