Blog v. Wiki

Both blogs and wikis are forms of new media. They both allow for communication of information by many people and encompasses the five c's of the internet. However, there are key crucial differences in blogs and wikis and how they share information. 

Blogs are a form of social media where they are created by one author and they are usually the expression of an author's opinion on a subject or issue related to the times. Wikis on the other hand are curated by multiple authors or contributors to share knowledge and information in regards to the subject that is being discussed. However, there have been criticisms in the past about wikis being factually incorrect. But developments to correct this have been in place for several years and the Wikipedia Foundation have employed public editors to manage the entries made by people to ensure accuracy of them. ("Wikipedia: No longer the Wild West?")

The importance of convergence in a networked world is vast and powerful. However, this new and novel power has the ability to be misused and quite possibly abused. In Noam Cohen's article, psychologist, James Heilman, faced severe backlash from his colleagues after posting the most common Roschach inkblots and the common answers for the inkblots on Wikipedia. They fear that since the inkblots are on Wikipedia, it would devalue the accuracy of the tests as the patients would research the most common answers to "cheat" the Roschach Test (Cohen). This shows the misuse of convergence as potentially dangerous people can study the inkblots' answers and benefit from being wrongly diagnosed with a certain disorder to prove insanity and escape potential criminal sentences.

Blogs can be used for convergence as people can follow one another for their opinions and gain a consensus in issues they feel strongly about. If the issue can be politically motivating, people would like to find like-minded individuals that have similar opinions and then allow them to converge and wok together to achieve a common goal.

I'm not sure whether wikis have this but I think a great addition to a wiki would be to add a forum for contributors to discuss and converge as a means to figure out what to add or omit from a wiki entry. This seems like an invaluable feature for a wiki to have. If you have any thoughts or questions, feel free to leave them down in the comments below.

Sources:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/08/26/wikipedia.editors/index.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/technology/internet/29inkblot.html?pagewanted=2&ref=business