Blogs vs Wikis

           The creation of blogs and wikis have had a major impact on the way people share ideas, express themselves, and interact with one another. Both act as a medium for information, but do so in different ways. Blogs are usually made by individuals, who are able to perform tasks, such as writing posts and adding pictures. They also offer the opportunity to comment on other blogs. In contrast, wikis are more of a group effort. Anyone can edit the content and everyone is a contributor. Although different from wikis, blogs also create a sense of community and may be used for collaboration, as demonstrated through a popular Brooklyn blog. According to Michael Wilson, in “Brooklyn Blog Leads to Drug Raid,” members would frequently post complaints and share horror stories of a group of local drug dealers on their local blog. These complaints were eventually taken to the community board and police department, which led to the successful arrest of three men.

With the pace of rapidly growing technology, the world is becoming a smaller place, as people from all over the globe are now connected through new means of communication. New media such as blogs and wikis are creating a sense of community on the internet as information passes freely from one user to the next. The creation of wikis has also had a major impact in the corporate world as well, which was summed up in Ezra Goodnoe’s article “How to use Wikis for Business.” According to the article, wikis allow for a cheap and easy way to share professional business content among team members. Not only this but another major advantage is the fact that it allows users to create their own structure rather than having one imposed on them from outside developers.

                I believe wikis may also provide a great educational tool for students as well. If professors posted class lectures and homework onto a wiki, students would have no problem obtaining missed notes or going back and reviewing something that they did not understand. A wiki would also create a community among classrooms, allow students to quickly correct problems and mishaps, and let individuals ask for help from their peers.

To bring this discussion to a close, an essential thing to remember is that when it comes to new technologies such as blogs and wikis, it is important to understand that just because something can be shared on the internet, does not necessarily mean it should be shared.

Facebook: The Good and The Bad

            For my paper topic, I would like to analyze the positive and negative effects Facebook has had on society. More than just another social networking site, Facebook also allows for precise marketing techniques from both local and established businesses and presents users the opportunity to express themselves to others, whether it be through a video, idea, or picture. Unfortunately, with its rapid success over the past few years, the site has also had its criticisms. Facebook is often used for unintended purposes, such as cyber-bullying, spamming, and stealing personal information. Disputes on the site have also caused trouble in school and individuals to lose their jobs. I believe the best way to start researching this project is to perform some basic searches on both google scholar and Baruch College's library databasa. This should give me a great starting point and I can hopefully branch out into different areas from there.

           Having used Facebook mostly during my free time in between classes, it will be interesting to use to the site to help me complete this assignment.