Blog v Wiki

A “blog” is defined as “a regularly updated website or web page, typically run by one individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style.” A “wiki” is defined as “a website that allows collaborative editing of its content and structure by its users.” 

Given just the definitions of a blog and a wiki, one can see that there is a clear difference between the two. A blog can be used to record any information dependent on the users’ needs. It can be used to collect the thoughts of a single individual or a small group of people. People can use blogs to jot down daily events in their lives, use it to write journal entries, or use it to collect things of interest (like music, or links, or stories). The main difference between a blog and a wiki is that a blog is less formal and the contents of a blog can really be about anything. A wiki on the other hand, is seen as a website where information on a single topic is collected so that all of it is in one place. A wiki is a place where users can input links, write descriptions, add photos about one topic, and all users can go in and edit the page wherever and whenever they see fit. Because a wiki contains information and facts about a certain topic, it often times takes on a more formal writing style, like writing a paper or a report. 

According to the article by Margaret Locher on “How to Build Your Own Wikipedia,” a wiki was proven to be very helpful for Tony Pagliarulo, a VP of app development who needed a place to organize all the schedules, code and details of their team's project. While the team needed a place capable of housing all of the information, they also need a place where members could contribute and access up-to-date information on the project. “Because his team had the most current information, they were able to make better decisions and get the project done faster.” This was all thanks to wiki!

Similarly, just as people are able to collaborate on a wiki, the same can be done on a blog. For example, in the “Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid” article by Michael Wilson of the NYT, there was a small group of individuals who collaborated on a single blog to report on the daily activities or concerns they had about their neighbors who were participating in drug activity. Each blogger who wrote about the fighting, drug deals, and deaths that happened over time made a contribution to helping the police have enough concrete evidence to raid the drug house. The blog provided a way for people to not only anonymously report what was going on, but it was a way for people to just jot down what was going on in their neighborhoods. All of the bloggers collaborated to achieve the same goal. 

Especially today where so many websites are capable of doing what a blog/wiki can do and the emergence of new media forms is growing at a fast pace, it becomes harder for individual platforms to thrive (like what happened to Tumblr who lost out to Buzzfeed and UpWorthy). In today’s networked world, its important for a single platform to have as many capabilities as would be needed by a user, this way providing convenience and increased usage. A new use for a wiki could be for teachers to edit student’s work real time as it is being written. Students could upload their drafts, divide into sections and include the bibliography all for the professor to see actively.