Blog v Wiki

In this class, Principles of New Media, we utilize both wikis and blogs. It is essential to understand the similarities and differences between both outlets of new media. A wiki is a website that allows multiple users to create, modify, and organize web page content in a collaborative manner. On the other hand, a blog is an abbreviated version of a weblog, and is a frequently updated personal website that is similar to a diary or a journal. On a wiki, there are multiple authors that help to contribute to the content as opposed to a blog in which one person typically maintains control of the content. For this reason, a wiki is used to share knowledge to a wide reach of people as opposed to blogs where opinions are shared. Noam Cohen says, "the decision to embrace wikis is part of a changing ethic at the department, from a "need to know" culture to a "need to share" culture." (Cohen 1). This highlights how wikis are transforming how people use the information they have acquired and share it with the rest of the world. It is important to note that in some cases, blogs can be collaborative as well. A wiki usually consists of pages that are edited, changed, and added. In a blog, content, which includes posts, entries, comments on posts, and responses are all chronological. "They foster a community and conversation by allowing readers to comment on postings, thus becoming an author in turn, or by providing an e-mail address to dialog directly with the blogger." (Gill 3). The same cannot be said for Wiki. The structure in which these two forms of new media also differ. In a wiki, a group or team edits the page while in a blog, the author posts and users comment or respond.

While there are numerous differences between a wiki and a blog, there are also many similarities between the two. Both are accessible to anyone in the world and allow students to express their own ideas. As Kathy E. Gill says, "Bloggers write about topics that matter to them; their audience may be large or small." (Gill 3) Adding on, both forms of new media are easy to edit in your web browser and can link to other websites, media, and photos. They are a good way to stay connected to current events or fields and read about what others are doing. It is so essential for different streams of new media to be able to converge and operate in synergy due to information being critical to our everyday lives nowadays. Media convergence allows us to be able to absorb and react to information a lot more efficiently and effectively.

Citations:
1. How Can We Measure the Influence of the Blogosphere? by Kathy E. Gill. Workshop on the Weblogging Ecosystem, May 2004. available from:http://faculty.washington.edu/kegill/pub/www2004_blogosphere_gill.pdf www2004_blogosphere_gill.pdf
An Internal Wiki That’s Not Classified by Noam Cohen. The New York Times, August 4, 2008 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/04/business/media/04link.html  An Internal Wiki That’s Not Classified - The New York Times.pdf