Blog vs. Wiki

    Blogs and wikis are markedly distinct. Blogs are authorial: While a company can have a blog, the goal of any individual blog post is to be a commentary by one or more authors. Wikis, on the other hand, are collaborative and are means-oriented. The goal isn't to have an author speak, but to get the best and most neutral depiction of the information. However, wikis may have blog-like posts and blogs may be well-organized enough to come close to wikis in terms of information, indicating how convergence changes the technologies to be more related. In today's networked world, the convergence toward the Internet and toward technologies being more seamlessly integrated makes it easier and more intuitive for people to operate with a full toolbox instead of having to change gears so often.

            Blogs can be used collaboratively by being journals of processes. In a creative project, for example, everyone can blog about what they contributed during the day and where they're thinking about taking the project. Even more importantly, they can say why. At Wal-Mart, blogs by employees are used to improve the credibility that Wal-Mart has with customers by letting customers hear what employees think (Barbado, 2008).

            Wikis have been used for everything from collaborative storytelling to documenting fictional worlds to maintaining source control. However, I have never heard of someone using a wiki to allow people to participate in law enforcement. A law wiki could be used to keep track of individuals with public records and allow comment-type participation so that suspicious activities could be monitored in particular areas without needing to call the police.

            

Work Cited:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/business/03walmart.html?_r=0
http://www.cio.com/article/2436789/time-management-productivity/more-on-how-to-build-your-own-wikipedia.html

The Wiki Model

Topic Overview

                The wiki model is a complex tool. Thus far, it has tended to be used merely as a repository for information, mostly in the context of encyclopedic information, whether it be Wikipedia or Wikia pages on specialized topics. Businesses have used wikis in this fashion to maintain information about the company. However, there’s no reason the wiki model couldn’t be used for collaborative, creative and informational work of all kinds. This paper will examine the development of the wiki model thus far, focusing on innovative uses. It will then examine potential future trends for the wiki model.