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 and Wiki's are quite similar. Both Blogs and Wiki's are both websites used by people to share information. In blogs, the blogger will usually write information which only he/she can write and edit under their username. No other user can edit that work done by the blogger. Wiki's, on the other hand, is a collaborative website in which more than one user can write,share, and edit information. Wiki's are usually a great source to go to, to get multiple viewpoints on a topic whereas on a blog, you will get only the viewpoint of the blogger. Furthermore, Blogs tend to have more personal writing rather than factual information you might get from the encyclopedia. Whereas, on wiki's it is more than likely that authors tend to write more about informational/factual topics that might come to use while writing a paper.
Technological convergence is very important in today's corporate world. Think about it! The way we run our businesses nowadays would have been unheard of even seven or eight years ago. Now employers are even looking up Facebook and Twitter to see a possible candidate for a job before they even meet the person. Furthermore, technology has allowed us to do so many things on one website and connect with so many people from so many parts of the world at one time. All these advances in technology has made our lives more efficient and in some cases we even know people more closely through technology than by face to face interaction.
According to an interesting article from New York Times article by "Michael Wilson, Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid", we learn that because several people were blogging about the incidents in their neighborhood, police were able to crack down on some drug deals and other crimes that were occurring in that neighborhood. Sometimes, just writing your feelings and feelings on a blog online, even if anonymous, can help others and you might not even expect it to. I believe this is a way that blogs were used for collaboration because even though they were different people blogging, they were blogging about the same thing so it came out to be useful altogether. Another way that blogs can be used for collaboration is when a blogger writes their post, different users can com and comment on that post and that can be the start of a collaboration.
Something new for wikis could be limiting the amount of people that can edit or put write information on wikis. Wikis are open to pretty much the public and it can always change because so many people can edit and add new information. Furthermore, sometimes wiki's are not a credible source to go to for your information because the references itself are not all that credible. According to the New York Times Article,
"Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People", Wikipedia now has experienced volunteer editors that will have to sign off any changes that are made on articles about people before the changes are posted online. I think this is an excellent idea because if people change and add information everyday, then that information is no longer credible.
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