Blogs vs.Wikis

New technologies have dramatically changed the landscape of many things, in particular the manner in which we communicate and exchange information.  Two such methods are blogs and wikis and despite easing communication amongst people, there are inherent differences between them.  Simply put, according to Rob Edmonds blogs are “most often simple online diaries” whereas “wikis typically provide a repository of useful knowledge and information.”  This is not to say that blogs do not posses the capacity of providing resourceful information, it is just that blogs are stylized more like forums.  In blogs, such as the corporate blogs people and even corporations have, individuals can chronicle everyday activities in a series of new posts with as much detail as they want.  In “Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write Unfiltered Blogs” Wal-Mart encourages its merchants to speak as frankly and critically as they want about the products it carries.  Wal-Mart believes blogging in this manner helps them solicit quick feedback from customers on its merchandise.  However, they have recognized that the blogs have become forums for “unvarnished rants.” 

         Unlike blogs, wikis give “contributors the power to edit, and presumably improve, the content.” (Noam Cohen)  Wikis have become popular for they foster a culture of collaboration amongst people working on a same page.  Unlike blogs, wiki contributors can edit prior content, typically of a certain nature. 

In today’s networked world convergence of such Web 2.0 technologies have benefited various enterprises.  As I mentioned before, Wal-Mart uses blogs to collect feedback on the products it sells, information deemed useful when strategizing marketing plans and making decisions of what products to carry.  Wikis have dramatically altered the manner in which corporations handle and disseminate internal knowledge because it “provides a simple way for workers to collaborate on documents and track changes.” (Edmonds)  Internal wikis serve as a repository of knowledge as I see it.  Very quickly and easily people can change and edit content, in other words, they collaborate and achieve communication more efficiently.  Moreover, given that these technologies depend on the input of others, information dissemination is more successful.  Wikis in particular can be used to communicate messages and solicit proposals from an extended network of individuals who just have to edit and add their thoughts and opinions.

Despite the fact that blogs are published by one person and does not have the same functionality as wikis do, they too can and are being used for collaboration.  Wal-Mart is but one example of an external corporate blog.  Internal corporate blogs and just typical blogs permit people to read what others have to say and comment on it.  Questions can be posed and answered, suggestions can be made and problems can be solved through the collaboration of insights from anyone leaving a comment.  For example, a fellow classmate from this CIS class may read this post and leave a comment or an inquiry as to why I think as I do, which can lead to further discussions and even change of opinions.  I believe that the root of collaboration is exchanging information with the learning and passing on information once unknown to the other.
Given the nature of wikis the possibilities through collaboration are endless.  Internal and external corporate wikis are gaining ground, and we have even read about the use of the Diplopedia wiki.  Wikis have become an ideal tool for collaboration because of its open source nature.  They have been adopted in many ways and it is hard to think of a new use for it.  Despite that I think wikis should really be exploited to write more computer programs.   Doing so makes it possible to tap into new talent while making it possible for the world population to freely access software.