A blog is a shortened name meaning web log. Anyone can have a blog. It's essentially a website that you can create for yourself. It can be anonymous, you can use a pseudonym (anonymous author name), or you can choose to identify yourself. I, for example, have an anonymous blog that is like an online journal. It's just a place where I can express myself freely about whatever I'm thinking about. You can also use a blog to promote a business. Imagine you are a wedding planner trying to get your name out there and attract customers. You could post helpful wedding tips and posts related to this topic. Post highlights of the weddings you have hosted and let potential customers see your work in action. There would be a section with contact information so customers can call or write to you. Your blog can be about a certain topic, or like mine, any topic you have an opinion on. Blog sites such as the Blogger site, are very easy to use. If you are a beginner it might take some time getting acquainted with the design and layout processes, but Blogger has templates that are pre-designed so that all you have to do is pick the design you like, apply it to your blog, and then start writing. I recommend it, if nothing else as a creative outlet. Internet readers can follow your blog and there is a section for people to comment and start a dialogue about whatever topic you have posted about. Your articles stay your own though, no one is able to edit your content.
Wikipedia is a free online dictionary that is the brain child of Jimmy Wales. A wiki is kind of like a blog. It is an article posted on the wikipedia website on a topic. Like a regular encyclopedia, you will find articles on every topic. The difference is, these articles are not always written by academic people, and the topics may not be something you would expect to find in an encyclopedia, such as the episode by episode details of a TV show. The most fundamental difference between a blog and a wiki is that after you publish an article, it can be edited by someone else.
I used an example of the HBO series Game of Thrones, Season 1 Wiki. There is a link at the top of the main page to edit the article.
As you can see from the picture above, the code for the look of the page can be edited, and if you scroll down all the text of the article is listed, and can be altered. The problem with this is vandalism. I could change the text of the page to state that the starring role in the show is played by Amanda DeWeese. The pages are patrolled for quality assurance, but if I made that edit and someone that didn't realize wikis can be altered saw this before it was fixed, this person would go away thinking that I am in the show. There is another link on the main page to view the edits history and you can view all the revisions to the article. Below is an example of a comparison from an anonymous user and one that is a registered user.
You can see close to the bottom of the screenshot above, the one word that was changed. In an article such as this, credibility doesn't matter that much, but what if you were researching a topic and needed facts? I think that a person who identifies themselves seems more credible than someone who doesn't. That is just my perception of it, but if I think that way many others probably do too.
I watched a video of the founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, explaining the site and its methods. I can honestly say, I feel different about my views on the site now. Every teacher I have ever had, states that you shouldn't use Wikipedia as your resource, because of the editing factor and so I take what I read on the site with a grain of salt. I did not realize that they have measures in place to deter vandals and when the pages do get vandalized, system administrators and the person who originally wrote the wiki are reviewing the site all the time and delete the vandalized content. I might use Wikipedia more than I did previously, but because of the vandalism factor, you should always dig a little deeper and back up the facts that you find. It was really interesting to me to find out that Wikipedia is almost exclusively run by volunteers. That leads me to believe that if people are doing this as a hobby and for fun rather than profit, then it is a much more credible place to find information than I ever realized.
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