Blog vs Wiki

A Blog is more like a personal journal usually written up by one person where the content can be anything  The content of a blog may not necessarily have to be true, like for example when a blog expresses opinions about certain matter like product reviews. Their experiences with products would most likely be an opinion rather than actual facts. Blogs are usually personal, thus managed by one person but there are exceptions. For example in the article "Wal­Mart Tastemakers Write Unfiltered Blog," By Michael Barbaro, it specifically mentions how companies like Walmart opened blogs where buyers can post about "gadget reviews and news on the Web, with a sprinkling of posts on the environment, toys and furniture," (Barbaro, 3). 

A Wiki on the other-hand, is more like a textbook containing facts about a certain subject that is edited and written up by multiple individuals. According to wikipedia on wiki, "A wiki is essentially a database for creating, browsing, and searching through information." A wiki does not only pertain to certain subjects or topics but can also be used for many other things, like our class assignments or businesses. According to an article published by InformationWeek, titled "How to use Wikis for businesses," many companies are using wikis. Wikis are best used for  projects "that require heavy doses of content management, such as project management and spec control," (Information Week, 4). So the main difference between blogs and wikis is that blogs can be facts or opinions while wiki are just facts and can be used in more versatile ways than a blog.

Blogs and wikis are important because of the importance of convergence in today's networked world. We have so much information readily available to us that we do not even know where to start to look for the exact information that we need. This is where blogs and wikis come in because what they both essentially are, are consolidated information on specific subjects, which would make it a lot easier for users to use when looking for information pertaining to a certain subject. Like mentioned before, blogs can be used to collaborate on reviews for certain products, the more bloggers that collaborate together and express their opinions, the more information a person can gather. I think a new use for a wiki that has not been done yet would be a wiki that focuses on maybe specifically sports team training. Players in a sports team can all put down their information and stats down which the coach can see in one place to analyze their information and create plans from there.

Works Cited:

1. Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write a Blunt and Unfiltered Blog, NY Times, march 3, 2008, p. C1, at:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/business/03walmart.html Wal-Mart Tastemakers.pdf
2. "How to Use Wikis for Business," by Ezra Goodnoe, Information Week, August 8, 2005,http://www.informationweek.com/news/management/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=167600331  InformationWeek - How To Use Wikis For Business.pdf
3. Wikipedia on Wikis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki