Blogs vs Wikis

Blogs and wikis are both part of today’s new media. They are similar to one another yet have there differences. They both allow people to keep up to date with information. Being able to be updated on what’s going on in the world today is important to many people and they look for the fastest, cheapest and most convenient way to be able to do so. Blogs and wiki do this for us.

Blogs give us a way to all become journalists with what ever news we might have. It allows readers to keep up with our stories and participate by leaving comments leading to a discussion about the topic. In Melissa Gerry’s Celebrity Blogs: The Impact of New Media, she explains to us how we can follow the blogs of people like Perez Hilton and Trent Vanegas and keep up to date with celebrity gossip, much faster than we would by waiting for magazines and news articles to be released. “People may choose to read these blogs for free rather than a magazine at the supermarket”. The whole idea of newspapers and magazines might soon be an outdated form of media.

Wikis give people an easy way to have all the information they need at a convenient location. Anyone can contribute to the wiki which leads to having the most accurate information necessary. We can use it for business purposes, schools, government agencies etc. In Margaret Locher’s More on How to Build Your Own Wikipedia, she explains the ease of using wikis. “They don’t require a lot of personnel to support them and many of the tools are free. At some companies, end users run their own wikis, without help from IT (and Sometimes without IT’s knowledge...)".  I can’t think of a new way to use a wiki because many people have use wikis to their full advantage, from planning a simple trip to organizing a project to biographical or historic information and so one. However, I’m sure down the line someone will think of a way to develop this form of new media even further.

Social Networking: Better or worse than the real thing?

The way we communicate with one another has changed drastically over the decades. Long ago the only way we could communicate was either in person or through a messenger. Then the telephone was invented and created a whole new way of talking with one another. Cell phones revolutionized the telephone even further and now the Internet has changed the whole concept of communication. It has become so simple to get into contact with someone and being able to keep in contact with them even after years have passed. It seems like this has become a very good thing but there are some faults in this new form of communication. Social networking has taken out the personal element of communication which can be either a good or bad thing, depending on the circumstances. For my research paper, I will try to take a closer look at the impact of social networking on our society as a whole. I will examine how individuals have been affected by this new media. Also, a comparison using the social networking sites versus the old fashioned way of being there in person.