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?
Blogs are useful for forming a community and getting feedback about a certain topic. They allow the blogger to express whatever it is they want to in terms of daily occurrences, opinions, current events, and countless other subjects that are of interest. Blogs can also be a relevant tool for all kinds of businesses. The article "Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write a Blunt and Unfiltered Blog," from the New York Times, focuses on the company's blog that permits merchants to review products. Another use of blogs is to bring a group of people together who live in the same neighborhood or area who have similar goals to collaborate on how to improve their community ("Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid" by Michael Wilson).
A wiki is usually a webpage or a set of webpages that inform people of factual information on a topic. Most wikis are open-source and can be edited by anybody. The ones that restrict access may belong to governmental agencies and other organizations that wish to share information in a closed environment, as in the example of Diplopedia, which is available to State Department employees.
Convergence is important in today's network world because all sorts of information is available and is dynamic. All the content on the Internet is susceptible to development and change. People from all around the world can communicate with each other, collaborate on the same blogs and wikis, and in turn, the Internet becomes a significant realm, or even universe, of knowledge. The Internet is its own global culture; everyone who has access to it can also make a difference by contributing to it.
It's challenging to think of a use for a wiki that doesn't already exist. Wikipedia by itself covers such a broad (understatement) range of topics but I will update this post if I do think of an example.
The idea that a wiki is very useful is one that needs to be overstated. I myself have used wikis so much. It just makes for collaboration so easy. Even when you dont use a wiki as wikipedia uses them, Using it as a online bulletin board is great!
ReplyDelete