I just got introduced to wikis
while I already knew about blogs (maintaining a MySpace page was pretty much
like blogging).
From what I grasp, blogs (their
main body) are made of one person’s contribution (ideas and thoughts) whereas
wikis are the product of several people’s contributions (ideas and thoughts).
Readers can only add comments to the blogs whereas readers can participate in
the editing of the wikis. Therefore, I can say a blog is essentially one way
information whereas a wiki is designed to be constantly edited and improved. Thus,
monitoring a wiki is much harder than monitoring a blog. Also, when someone
edits a blog, the person notifies the public whereas changes to a wiki don’t
have to be notified.
A blog is dominantly opinion
whereas a wiki is dominantly knowledge.
A wiki requires team work whereas
a blog doesn’t necessarily. In the
article “More on How to Build Your Own Wikipedia”, we read how wikis helped Tony
Pagliarulo and his team to make better decisions and get the project done
faster. The article was interesting, it
expanded on how a company can choose the right wiki software, how to set up
rules for using them (the purpose is to have parameters for what the wiki will
accomplish, and how), how to decide who will be responsible for maintaining the
content (critical) and lastly on how to get the employees to use it. Really informative article!
In today’s networked world, we
have to keep up with trending changes to be effective in what we do especially
business-wise. Blogs and wikis (mostly wikis) have proven to be useful to
people collaborating on ideas and information online towards a common goal
(project management). The article “Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write Unfiltered Blog”
talks about Wal-Mart’s blog initiative to encourage its merchants to speak
frankly, even critically, about the products the chain carries. Consumers can
get the most honest opinion about products they are curious about. Such
initiative can earn or cost money to Wal-Mart depending on the review. However,
the most important is that consumers that visit the blog undoubtedly appreciate
honesty and will trust Wal-Mart.
Blogs and wikis give that
personal interaction that was missing in communication processes. They allow
for communication to have more impact and be more effective.
I’d like to see Wiki used by
teachers of a country collaborating on ways to work on the education system, in
example to lower the analphabetism rate in Haiti or raise the math performance
of high school students in America.
