Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Weblogs and Wikis

Whenever I am faced with new technological advancements concerning the improvement of communication, I instantly become interested in knowing: what now?. Perhaps being a communication student, has allowed me to develop some uncounicius need to know, and an ability to be aware of what's going on. But at the same time I feel like I am caught in an unending, never satisfied web of ideas and constant recreations of similar ideas. It convinces the masses that the newer system of communication is more effective thus smarter and necessary for optimum service of information transfer. As Bryann stated “...the Mob stand for mobile and this means greater communication flexibility. This also means I am becoming more lost in this world of technological advancement.”

As for the use of email, personally, I find having more than one email account is more useful. I use an account for school related issues another for personal messages, and one for promotional contest or anonymous online events. This way when my messages are delivered they are properly grouped and categorized upon arrival. Although, Michelle points out that, having too many e-mails and not being able to find a specific message among the many, is one reason why e-mails are not the best way to store and organize information. But e-mails are purposeful to have a place to keep private and personal information that is more directed only to you and for you to see. I agree with Stephanie T. when she wrote, “All in all, I will not abandon email (especially for things that are personal and you are not trying to share with the world.)

Wikkis, allow groups of people, to collaborate in bringing information to a specific site, Wikkis have become the “social software”. These digital tools increase communication thus knowledge between people throughout the organization. These tools have few limitations, it is assumed that almost anything goes, people can then post and discuss anything that is useful to those within an organizations. One thing to take into consideration is the information source. One may question the information's validity. This type of information sharing is encouraged but is only successful if the thoughts are coming from a knowledgeable source. One complaint I have heard concerning wikkis, is its ability to support easy upload of images. But overall the capability of wikki services does better the distribution of knowledge to all that have access. People within an organization always have the option to be connected and obtain answers.

Search engines also serve an important role as far as providing the information to the public, that is available through such sites as wikkis. The increased knowledge gained through wikkis, aggregators and weblogs all perpetuate interest and build thought which will eventually end up on one of the many blog sites. One wikki that has recently caught my attention specifically targets the “no war” campaign, it is titled “No War Wikki”. It gives people who are interested in alternative news sources the opportunity to get their information concerning out present day events that involve foreign countries. Overall these forums give much of the population a place to easily exchange information.

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