Blogs vs. Wikis

Blogs and Wikis are two of the most popular used web based new media, where anyone with an internet connection can access to the contents and create their own. Both Blogs and Wikis are free. They are widely used by users around the world to share information in the online community.
I think the main difference between blogs and wikis is that blogs are individuals or personal, where wikis are more collaborative. In blogs, owners share their personal stories, feelings, and opinions on topics that interest them. And provide a space for visitors with common interests to comment on their posts without any change to the original contents. Blogs work as a platform for individuals to communicate information. On the other hand, in wikis, individual users start a web page on interesting topics and/or facts, seeking for the collaboration of others to a finish product by allowing distributors to freely revise and edit on the contents. Wikis work as a tool for individuals and teams to collaborate toward a common goal. It is this efficiency and borderless way of communicating and collaborating brought people around the world more closely together than ever before. (Wikis at work: Up from the grassroots by Rob Edmonds E.learning Age; Oct 2006; p. 14)

Old vs. New

How do we distinguish “new” media from “old” media? First, let’s look at the question itself. Why are the words “new” and “old” in quotation marks? 21st century is the era of change; things are change in a rapid pace. Things that are new today will become old in a short time. However, when it comes to the term, media, I think new and old can be distinguishing by how users consume media. For instance, when we borrow or buy a book (old media) we read it and comments on the book by express our thoughts with friends. Now, we may go to the online forum (new media) of that particular book and share our thoughts with other forum members. In the old day, people wrote diaries, now they post blogs; people sent mails, now they send emails. New media are the new ways of doing old things.

New Media and Generational Difference

For my research, I am going to discuss what are new media and the impact of new media on our lives. When we say of new media, the first words that pop up of our minds are blogs, wiki, and face book. And yeah, new media are mostly internet related social networking and entertainments. We can say that internet is the new media. According to statistics on internet usage, 72.4% of US population are using internet in a regular basis. Of this 72.4%, it occupies people from different generations. My research is also going to focus on how different generations employ the new media differently.

What is New Media?

I think new media are the enhancements and/or the evolution of the old media in ways that enhance efficiency and facilitate the users by the help of popularity use of computer and internet. Average people can easily access to almost all types of information online. And share theirs as well. It can be says that internet is the foundation of the new media. Nowadays, the mainstream new media are the web based social media e.g. blogs, wiki, face book, YouTube…etc. With blog, everyone can write down their stories and publish them to the public for free. Then, readers can comment on the writings. And then, writers comment back to the reader, back and forth. That had already built up many solid friendships on the virtual world. Perhaps, later turn into real world friendship. Many companies also use blogs as a tool for promotion which, for sure, have saved them a big amount on advertisement. Take YouTube as another example, the free or low cost tools for shooting and editing make it possible for everyone to become a video producer. Most videos we see on YouTube are produced and published by average people like you and me. (Clive Thompson on How YouTube Changes the Way We Think) I also think that new media are greener than the old media. We can now be able to access to our materials with just an internet accessible device. Many publishers are now publishing in both physical and web versions. Even, this class is web based. No more carrying heavy textbook around!