The internet is a network that has successfully connected people across the globe. There’s so many ways for people to interact with each other or post information either for entertainment purposes, finding the latest news, or even writing personal reflections. This is where two of the biggest tools on the internet come into play, the blogs and the wikis. Although they share some similarities, they are different on many levels in terms of format, ownership, and collaboration efforts.
According to an article by UNSW Sydney, "A blog is owned by an individual. It can have a single author or multiple contributors." For people who want to use their blogs as personal journals, there is a less emphasis on collaboration and more on individualizing their blog as a diary. On the other hand, blogs that focus on collaboration are used as a way to spread awareness and information on specific interests that groups of people may share. As explained in the article Wikis, blogs and podcasts, “…blogs can also engender the drawing together of small virtual groupings of individuals interested in co-constructing knowledge around a common topic within a community of practice.”
One example of a blog that does this is the Krazycouponlady. The point of this blog is to provide people information and coupons to save as much money as possible. The collaboration effort comes into play as they encourage their followers to interact with the posts or even post some of their own findings. Users are able to submit information in regards to any deals they may find themselves in a section known as “Brags” on the blog website. Through this collaboration, other shoppers are able to find amazing deals that they otherwise would have never known about.
Blogs are formatted in a way known as reverse-chronological order, showcasing the latest blog first. This pushes down older blogs and keeps users who access the website up to date. Not all blogs are interactive, as its completely up to the owners discretion to allow people to comment on their posts.
Wikis are different from blogs as there are less restrictions to who can edit the posts. In the article Wikis, blogs and podcasts it states, “A wiki (from the Hawaiian wiki, to hurry, swift) is a collaborative Web site whose content can be edited by anyone who has access to it”. There is a larger collaborative effort when it comes to wikis, as its encouraged for people who know information to add onto or revise a page. These wikis can also be updated in real time for anyone who wants to edit them. Since wikis focus on collaboration, theres usually multiples authors. It can be a continuously growing page, with the ability for people to edit years down the line from the original post date. Wikis also allow people to view the edited history of a page which showcases the most recent edits first.
One wiki that I have yet to see is a collaborative video game wiki. The goal would be for video game developers to create a video game based on storylines made by individuals who contribute to the wiki. After the creation of the actual game, the updates would be future suggestions that people may feel the game lacks and any other things it may be missing.
Works Cited
“Blog, Wiki or Forum - Which Should You Use?” UNSW Teaching Staff Gateway, 28 Nov. 2018, teaching.unsw.edu.au/assessment-blog-wiki-or-forum-which-should-you-use
Boulos, Maged N Kamel, et al. “Wikis, Blogs and Podcasts: a New Generation of Web-Based Tools for Virtual Collaborative Clinical Practice and Education.” BMC Medical Education, BioMed Central, 15 Aug. 2006, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1564136/
Demer, Joanie. “The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Couponing.” Thekrazycouponlady, thekrazycouponlady.com/beginners.
Demer, Joanie. “The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Couponing.” Thekrazycouponlady, thekrazycouponlady.com/beginners.
