Blog vs Wiki

   Both blogs and wikis enable communication of information and provide a place where feedback can be given. Through this collaboration, people can work together and come up with new ideas. Blogs allow anyone to be a reporter and a publisher. They reflect the blogger's unique perspective which makes it a more personal version of the news. Blogs provide everyday people with the power of the media since it is a place where people can share their version of events, thoughts, and ideas. A blog can be thought of as a personal diary since it is usually only one person who is creating the written content. Through the use of comments, the blogger can communicate with his/her readers. Thus, it is a form of new media since it provides a platform where news can be shared, readers can respond, and the blogger can interact with his/her audience. This two-way communication leads to collaboration. Bloggers can build relationships with their readers and other bloggers with similar interests. Additionally, bloggers can read each other's posts, comment on them, quote each other, and link blogs together. This convergence and formation of communities lead to increased creativity, motivation, and inspiration.
     The unique personal characteristic of blogs is supported by Michael Barbaro's "Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write Unfiltered Blog" article. At first, Wal-Mart created two blogs, but they were a failure because people sensed that they were not sincere. However, Wal-Mart's Check Out blog was a success, since people used their individual voices and were not being controlled or limited to what they could write.
     In James Dao's "Pentagon Keeps Wary Watch as Troops Blog" article, a military member nicknamed Mud Puppy had to go underground with his blog because his superiors want to monitor what is written. They are worried about security. However, Mud Puppy made a good argument that soldiers pay the cost of war since they are the ones actually fighting and experiencing these situations. Mud Puppy most likely has an audience who would like to know what it is like to be in this situation.
     On the other hand, wikis allow many people to contribute information. In addition to being scalable, it can adapt to change. It is a knowledge base created by many people that has decentralized control. Wikis can be used to share information among people everywhere as well as within a company or industry.
    In Noam Cohen's "An Internal Wiki That's Not Classified" article, it places an importance on collectively sharing information which is a defining characteristic of wikis. In the article, there is a State Department wiki called Diplopedia which allows people who work in the State Department to contribute to it to keep the information up-to-date and help find information faster. In another article by Noam Cohen titled "Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People," it focuses on trying to make Wikipedia more dependable since many articles have already been made the information is already there. Wikipedia needs to ensure that the information is correct so it is revising the information and is now requiring that changes be approved.
    A possible new use for a Wiki could be a page where people with different skin types (oily, dry, neutral) share the products they use on their skin to maintain it acne-free. It may also include the makeup products they use which would be helpful for those new to those products and are feeling overwhelmed.