Blog vs. Wiki

Blogs and wikis are similar in that they both allow for the dissemination of information to a broad audience but they are different in that a blog is usually authored by one person while a wiki is editable and composed by more than one author.

Convergence, the joining of old and new media, in today's networked world is essential because we are at the nexus of new media and old media. Vestiges of old media, like physical newspapers and magazines are still with us because they have been standards of the written word for centuries but now with new media like ebooks and Web 2.0 we can have both the physical and online versions of a magazine, for instance -- old and new have converged.

Blogs can be used for collaboration. A blogger writes something in a post and others see it (maybe the blog is on someone else's blogroll or RSS feed) and respond to the post. The conversation on the blog could facilitate the blogger and readers getting together to collaborate further.  

For example, in the NY Times article "Brooklyn Blog Helps Lead to Drug Raid," we see how a neighborhood in Brooklyn has used blogs as an updated new media version of a neighborhood watch. These neighborhood watches have led to arrests and a stronger feeling of community among the more productive inhabitants of Bay Ridge.

This article highlighting mass participatory journalism links to a broader phenomenon of the influence of the blogoshpere. Kathy E. Gill states in her article "How Can We Measure the Influence of Blogospheres?" that since "blogs have exploded on the Web's landscape [...] bloggers are influencing the world outside of the blogosphere, as measured by audience reach, media adoption and political necessity."