BLOG: Blog v. Wiki

 

Blogs and Wikis are online media institutions that facilitate access to a global community. Blogs are conversational single topic online posts. In BUSN 3110, blogs serve as an online course management tool and a medium for collaboration on course assignments. Blogs are authored and owned by the respective blog writers, and only blog authors can modify post content. However, the post author can authorize a defined group to provide content comments that can broaden the discussion. For example, a course blog like New Media and Business not only allows students to publish class assignments but promote participation by giving other students the opportunity to post comments that are reviewable by contributors, readers, and Professor Rhein.   

A Wiki is a webpage that functions as a collaborative writing tool with access rights for editing activity. Unlike blog posts, wikis have shared ownership and content can be modified by its’ contributors. The primary purpose of a wiki is to harness the expertise of a community of writers in the creation of a database of information for a large multi-participant project. For example, Wikipedia is a wiki project focused on the assemblage of reference material by authors with the responsibility for ensuring content accuracy and ongoing development. In the case of course BUSN 3110, a wiki will be useful for knowledge sharing, teamwork assignments and developing experience in collaborative writing.

In the article “Learning with Blogs and Wikis,” writer Bill Ferriter notes “Blogs and wikis are changing who we are as learners, preparing us for a future driven by peer production and networked learning. All you need to get started is a willingness to explore and a sense of the kind of tools that make work easy.”