Blog v Wiki

Blogs and Wikis are New Media inventions that are very similar, but have differences that make them unique. A Wiki is usually used for knowledge sharing purposes and has multiple authors. Blogs are usually used for opinion sharing or even personal experience sharing by a single author. Blogs grow at a much slower rate than wikis due to the difference in uses. Although both include discussions and are a form of social media, in a blog discussion happens in the comments, while in the wiki a discussion can happen by editing the page.

Blogs are a form of social media that are focused primarily on personal opinions. These opinions can sometimes be harmful. In the article by Maureen Dowd called “Stung by a Perfect Sting”, a famous model was involved in a lawsuit with Google against a blogger who kept slandering her on their blog; the model ended up winning. The article shows the potential for harassment and the problems with opinion sharing aspects of blogs.

Wikis are used primarily for knowledge sharing. An article that has to do with wikis is “An Internal Wiki That’s Not Classified” by Noam Cohen. This article focuses on Diplopedia, a US government run wiki that is focused on sharing information about foreign affairs. It helps to be efficient and save paper. The wiki includes loads of reference materials on politicians and is safe from vandalism because it requires people to create accounts on the website if they want to edit. These accounts can then be monitored and their changes quality controlled.