Blogs vs. Wikis

Blogs are basically like online journals or personal websites open to the public that shares views about certain topics. Blogs are run only by one person which is the owner of that blog. Blogs can contain important information, tips, links to videos or documents that relate to certain things that others may find useful on the internet. In a paper called "How can we measure the influence of the blogosphere?" by Kathy E. Gill, she states that since blogging has been introduced to the internet it has changed the way we use the internet. This form of web 2.0 is even being used by professionals in professional ways such as presidential elections and one that we most famously recall where blogs were being used was in the Obama vs. McCain election.

Wikis however are more public compared to wikis. Wikis can be edited and have material contributed to that wiki by more than one person since its access to changes are by the public. Wikis are most noticeable for the en.wikipedia.org website which is a worldwide website that can be edited from anyone anywhere in the world at any time. The most common negative thing that this feature brings is that anyone can post false information to a wiki so there is no guarantee that the information provided on a wiki is accurate. However in an article called "More on How to Build Your Own Wikipedia" by Margaret Locher, there are many positives than negatives when it comes to using wiki and there are many reasons to this fact.

Blogs and wikis are very similar because they can both share information and they are both post friendly. Convergence is important in today's world because it helps connect people to ideas that others have and contribute other views to those ideas. Convergence is part of what creates a community and blogs and wikis fit perfectly in that category. Blogs can be used for collaboration in a various amount of ways. People can share posts and their views and that idea of a community will lead to more viewers and readers. Wikis are constantly changing throughout the day and there is always new information and ideas being used in wikis. Therefore, I am not able to think of anyways that wikis can be used that has not been thought of yet.