BLOG: Blog vs. Wiki

Back in 2016, Statista Research Department correctly projected that the number of bloggers in the United States would increasingly rise to 31.7 million in 2020. I wanted to include this small but meaningful statistic to start off this post to really show the effect of blogs, and similarly wikis, in how they connect people and communicate messages from all different styles of culture and perspective.

Blogs and wikis are powerful tools that are used to share information and create discussion with others. Although they both have these common goals in mind, they accomplish them in different ways.

Blogs consist of one author whose content is seen by anyone around the world who has a stable web browser. Blogs form a sense of self assuredness on the author as it creates "a more authentic writing experience where they become the content expert and are writing to a targeted audience" (St. Scholastica). Blogs are considered to be opinionated journals ranging from topics of politics and science to health and personal development advice.

Similar to blogs, the content on wikis can also be accessed by anyone who has a stable web browser. Wikis are also a great space for individuals to express their own ideas and opinions. However, the main difference in wikis that sets it apart from blogs is that it consists of multiple authors. Furthermore, those multiple authors are responsible for creating, editing, and removing all of the content that is shown on the wiki pages. "In contrast to blogs, Wikis typically consist of more static content agreed upon by a group over time and updated when needed" (Carleton). 

The combination of these communication technologies with media really highlights the approach of convergence. Convergence is a unique approach to problem solving that's become more and more popular within the evolving internet world we're in. I personally believe convergence should be more advocated for, as it combines necessary tools (like blogs and wikis) along with different ways of human thinking to discuss, understand, and solve ongoing societal issues and complex problems.

Blogs can be used for collaboration by keying in on the 'Comments' aspect of the platform. In doing so, the targeted audience not only can respond to the blog posts' of the author, but they can also interact amongst themselves in discussing their opinions. On the other hand, with wikis, I believe one new and possible use of it that can make it much more collaborative is by implementing one in a company's computer network specifically for employees to share their opinions, ideas, and progress regarding company projects. This will crucially improve project management, while also having employees' voices being heard throughout the firm.

Citations

The College of St. Scholastica. "Blogs and Wikis" http://www.css.edu/administration/information-technologies/center-for-instructional-design/teaching-guide/blogs-and-wikis.html 

Carleton Education Development Centre "Wikis and Blogs" Education Technology. https://carleton.ca/edc/educational-technology__trashed/wikis-and-blogs/#:~:text=Wikis%20are%20powerful%20(but%20easy,required%20%E2%80%93%20just%20a%20web%20browser.