WIKI VS. BLOG

     Today, we are witness to the decentralization of the way information is decimated. It used to be that information was delivered to the masses by a select few, the media. They observed and reported the news as they saw fit, the draw back...the news was reported from a small faction's point of view. Then, along came the age of the Internet and our vast universe of was reduced to the size of  a planet and by becoming more and more reliant on the globalization of the Internet we were faced with the problem that our information was expiring before it reached its intended target audience.

     Individuals became the reporters on the ground. Their voice became louder, not through some media publication, but through blogs. As stated in Kathy E. Gill's How can we measure the influence of a blogosphere,  "...we have new expectations about both the right to express an opinion and access to information upon which to base that opinion. Blogs have played a role in raising those expectations..." Blogs gave people a unedited voice that came without restrictions and it also allowed others to respond (instantly) which gave a more accurate pulse of the masses.

     Soon after wiki's caught on as a form of collaboration. It allowed users to create there very own web page how they wanted to do it. The business application was very useful since it allowed groups of people, departments or even interdepartmental groups, to work together on a project without the need to send a hundred different emails. The content was as up to minute as possible because the members were updating/uploading their work directly onto the wiki, which made the wiki as up to date as possible. In a article by Margaret Locher, for CIO.com, Margaret points out in speaking about Tony Pagliarulo, VP of application development with information technology vendor EMC, "Because [Tony's] team had the most current information, they were able to make better decisions and get the project done faster."

    Wikis are a great collaborative tool that allows groups of any size to work coherently on a multitude of projects. In comparison, blogs give you the power to express yourself without restrictions. You can post and anyone who sees it can respond and an open dialogue can begin, as others chime in, it becomes an opinion consortium of sorts. The draw back with blogs in comparison to wikis is that blogs are controlled by the blog owner. He/She (alone) has the power to control the posted information because while anyone can post to an initial post by the owner, the owner alone can alter the content by deleting comments and blocking viewers. On the other hand, wikis are controlled by everyone, or at least those who have access to the web page, such that they all have the capabilities to edit or add new content. This distinction between the two makes blogs (generally) more opinion based while wikis are more factual. But this doesn't mean that blogs cannot be used in a collaborative effort. It can be used in the development of an idea, by sharing with your audience and asking them for feedback which you later use to refine your initial idea.

     Both of these medias are possible due to the convergence of networks. This technology is open sourced in the sense that it is, for the most part, free to the public. There are several sites that offer free blog creation and the development of wiki pages. These sites allow you to be your own editor, publisher and distributor. Where before these tasks were done individually, now anyone with access to the web and a decent understanding of computer lingo can open, sustain and manage their very own site without the need of anyone or anything else. This has lead to the drastic way we dissimulate and receive information.