Blogs Vs Wikis

Wikis and blogs may be alike in some ways but they are mostly different. They both share the same purpose of providing information about a topic to readers. However, they are different in terms of their authors. A Wiki page is normally written by a collaboration of people. Therefore, there are multiple authors and anyone can edit the contents of the page. A blog, on the other hand, is usually written by a single author, which is also known as the blogger.

Moreover, these types of websites are very influential in today’s networked world. Companies and organizations get the most work done using Wiki. In the article “How To Use Wikis For Business” published by InformationWeek, “Wikis are designed to facilitate the exchange of information within and between teams.” Wikis’ design aims to make communication faster and easier. In addition, Margaret Locher wrote in her article “More on How to Build Your Own Wikipedia” that one team was able to make better decisions and complete the project faster due to having the most updated information. Instead of having to gather everyone in the same place and work on a project together, Wiki allows people to work from anywhere and anytime. They may post information up at their convenience. Wiki has proved to be a convenient and effective resource for big companies and organizations.

Another way people can use Wikis is in the classroom. Every class should have its own Wiki so that classmates can post and share information on what was discussed in class. This will be helpful to the students who were absent and allow them to catch up on anything they missed in class. This will also allow students a chance to elaborate on class material with their classmates.

Although there is usually one author for a blog, groups can also be used for collaboration as well. For example, the arrests of drug dealers were made due to the help of a group of Brooklyn bloggers who kept posting about the drug activities happening near their neighborhood. Michael Wilson wrote about this contribution in the New York Times, stating "a core group of seven people who met through the blog brought the case to the attention of the community board and met with the authorities”. This started with one person posting concerns about drug activity in the neighborhood and as more people commented on it, the post received enough attention that led them to meet with the authorities. The comment function on the blog allowed a group of people who shared similar concerns to collaborate together to solve a problem.

Both Wikis and blogs are excellent and effective resources to post and share information quickly and easily.