Blogs vs. Wikis

Blogs allow internet users to express their opinions and create a world in which they can comment on basically anything and/or everything. The information may not necessarily be true and while blogging distribute positive information, it may also be harmful. There have been many cases in which blogging has led to cyber-bullying, negatively affecting and publicly humiliating a person. Blogs may be viewed by anyone using the internet, and other members may comment on them. With blogs, there is typically only one author. Blogs can be collaborative because people can comment on posts and come to a collective understanding of an issue that needs to be addressed. For example, in Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid, many members of a community saw a rising drug issue in the neighborhood (Wilson). Together, they got together and brought the issue to the attention of higher community officials to solve the problem. 

Wikis allow internet users to collaborate and organize ideas on a specific page. Many businesses have turned to wikis to effectively communicate information among many employees. Wikis allow different users to edit the page, adding or changing relevant information. There usually needs to be a record of the person making the change and although members may add information, they may not allow others to edit the the particular content (Goodnoe 2). Although many people fear that wikis are unreliable because it has various authors, others can pick up on the wrong information and change it accordingly. Wikis still maintain a structure and most wiki pages have to give permission to authors in order to edit content. 

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"How to Use Wikis for Business," by Ezra Goodnoe, Information Week, August 8, 2005, http://www.informationweek.com/news/management/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=167600331

Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid By MICHAEL WILSON The New York Times June 26, 2008 available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/nyregion/26bayridge.html