Blogs v Wikis

Ever wonder what's the difference between a blog and wiki?  Chances are the answer is "no."  You probably didn't even think about the two in the same sentence - at least I didn't.  Well today's blog post will shed light on the similarities and differences.  To start, let's define blog and wiki. Using my best friend Google to search for definitions, a blog is defined as "a personal website or web page on which an individual records opinions, links to other sites, etc. on a regular basis."  A wiki is defined as "a website that allows collaborative editing of its content and structure by its users."  What does this mean exactly? 

 

Blogs and wikis both provide an avenue of communication, however, their main difference is the type of communication.  Wikis are usually knowledge based sharing while blogs are usually more opinionated which in most cases are the opinions of an individual or the owner of the blog, collaboration is very limited.  Wikis are edited by a team or group and promote collaborative work.  Multiple users can create, modify, and organize the content of a wiki in a collaborative manner.   A good example of how wiki is knowledge based sharing is seen in a NY Times article entitled A Rorschach Cheat Sheet on Wikipedia?  by Noam Cohen.  In short, the article describes the concerns over information being shared via Wikipedia, specifically “The Rorschach Test,” a series of ten inkblot plates that are well regarded in the field of psychology.  The inkblot plates were reproduced and shared on Wikipedia.  For many psychologist, sharing these inkblots undermines the decades of testing and researching performed and recorded over time.  I won’t go into the debate in the article -  feel free to read the article for yourself.  Nonetheless, this article shows how a wiki is a platform to share knowledge.
 

Furthermore, both medias provide a platform of feedback; you can post a comment on a blog and participate in a discussion forum in a wiki – either way you’re voice is heard! (Or at least you hope it is!)  A great example of this collaborative work can be seen in a NY Times article entitled Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid by Michael Wilson.  The article describes how a Brooklyn blog began to write about local suspicious criminal activity.  Visitors would leave comments replying to the activity noted in the blog post.  For the author(s) of the blog, it finally seemed that blogging lead to actions, although there is no clear connection of the two.  Nonetheless, the blog mentioned in the article united the community and provided an avenue for feedback over community concerns.

Additionally, since both blogs and wikis can link to articles and other blog post (as you've seen in this post), this provides an opportunity to connect and network among different channels.  This is extremely useful in blogging, as through blog-rolling, you are able to link visitors to your favorite bloggers, an informal word of mouth per se.  In today’s networked world, it’s best to give users a chance to cross over to other links and pages that may share similar interest as your blog or wiki.

Finally, what's next? Where are wikis headed?  As I’ve discovered in the course I’m enrolled in, wikis have made their way to the classroom.  In the weeks ahead my class will begin creating and/or editing our wiki page – that should be interesting!  I cannot begin to imagine the future of wikis, maybe they'll become a staple in how businesses function or may replace a business process.  What do you think?