BLOG: Blog v Wiki

Blogs and Wikis both utilize the internet in communicating information that is continually updated. Both Blogs and Wikis communicate their respective information to many people. Although, both Wiki and Blogs perform similar functions when describing it's basic function of communicating information, they differ in the way their content is utilized and how the sharing of information is performed. Wiki is generally a collaborative web page, where multiple users are able to edit and update information, whereas a Blog is typically possessed by one individual who is most probably the main author who posts information and comments back to the users that may view his/her blog. In Margaret Locher's article, "More on How to Build Your Own Wikipedia," she mentions how the VP of application development with information technology vendor EMC, selects wiki when organizing their information. Wiki is defined as being "a software application that allows groups of users to create, edit, and comment on online documents. VP, Tony Pagliarulo uses wiki so that each of his team members could contribute and access up-to-date information on the project that they are working on. The use of Wiki demonstrates how a team like Tony's can use Wiki to possess the most current information and be able to use the info to make better decisions which help in completing their project. At EMC , Wiki is used heavily for project management, as it's quite beneficial when working with a team, as every member has a role and can be able to comment and read other team members' information and comments on the respective Team Wiki page. Blogs on the other hand are more similar to journalism, as there is typically one writer who has control of his/her blog, but are also able to effectively reach a large audience. Bloggers are able to "influence the world," as stated in Kathy Gill's article, "How can we measure the influence of the blogosphere." But blogging is questionable in terms of authenticity, because journalists are professionals, whereas as bloggers don't necessarily need to have much merit in creating their own personal blogs and can still communicate with a large scale audience. This is what differs largely with Wiki, because Wiki can be used more professionally, whereas Blogs can be created by anyone. Blogs are more opinion sharing, whereas Wiki is more knowledgeable information sharing.

The importance of convergence in today's networked world, is that it's very prevalent in the real world especially when applied to business. As mentioned in Locher's article, Wiki is quite influential at EMC, as the company uses Wiki for proper team development and completing big business projects. This completely changes the way businesses work, as it allows for teams in companies to excel at completing important projects.

Blogs can be used for collaboration as you can still share with the world as you are providing insight and new perspective which helps in getting an idea across others. A blog can help educate you, and as mentioned in Gill's article, "blogs can influence the world."

A new use of Wiki that has not been performed yet, can be potentially conducting a full college course through Wiki. Wiki might have been used this way, but not in a large scale. Although when a class should be conducted on wiki, it should be performed in a more private fashion, so that the intimacy of the class and sensitive information of respective students can be protected. But maybe using wiki for a course can develop a bigger community for education, as you can possibly connect with respective students from other educational backgrounds, and be able to collaborate and learn throughout the course universally.