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 The whole idea of newspapers and magazines might soon be an outdated form of media.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.
Even though old media will not disappear completely but new media is replacing old media in many ways such as people reading about celebrities and news on blogs rather than using magazines or newspapers. Wikis can be used by individuals and different organizations to meet their unique needs such as companies sharing information among employees and team members managing their projects.
ReplyDeleteBlogs and wiki have come a long way and has allowed us to be more frugal as well as always in the know. I remember there was a time when I would wait for a month for a magazine in order to stay current in what happening in the hip-hop community. Due to blogs I no longer have to spend money and I can get information 24/7. Although I been one sites like wikipedia in the past but I never knew the power of a wiki.I feel that wikis have a lot of space for growth and when it take place many new innovations will come from it.
ReplyDelete