Blogs Vs. Wikis

Both blogs and Wikis are important for regular individuals to get information from websites other than those of companies and website makers. Their are many similarities between the two. Firstly, they are both easy to set up, anyone can set it up in a matter of minutes without any sort of computer expertise. Secondly, they do not require any sort of .html for the basic look and are easily accessible for any device on the internet. They are also easy to edit and touch up and can be done so anywhere.

The difference however can be seen in many lights as well. On the one hand when Blogs can be centered around fiction writing, ones own personal ideas, and is highly subjective whereas blogs written are supposed to be centered around the truth and about some sort of day/event, a person, or something of factual substance. Secondly, anyone can edit wikipedia pages where as blogs are only able to edited by a person with permission to do so. The thing that blogs, such as the Huffington Post, offers versus Wikipedias, according to Virginia Heffernan's article Articles of Faith, is that it allows regular and up and coming individuals to post "curated news aggregation plus original reporting and opinion." Additionally, blogs can be used for collaboration in the sense that they can combine comments are articles and make the emergence of social media a vital part of articles that are updating by the second. The blog websites can also include allow individuals to submit articles to be published in order to lend a new perspective to individuals who choose to visit the blog.

To further the Wikipedia's, they can enable a comment section where people are able to add additional facts which would not be added to the normal page, such as unimportant topics regarding reviews, and other links to further ones research. Additionally, Wikipedia can track what users search for in an attempt to target them for specific advertisements.

Old vs. New

One of the main ways in which New Media is different from old media is the sense of distribution. Before the dawn of the internet, if someone wanted to send a check to another person they had to send it in the mail and wait a few days and then wait for it to clear. Now, with the internet and online banking, one is able to instantly send money from one account to the next and have it in the other persons back within minutes. For example, Chase.com offers individuals the opportunity to send other individuals who have a Chase account to send money and once approved by the other party, have it automatically applied to their account. Additionally, the sense of distribution applies to the fact that many companies who used to rely on various means of delivery have far less to worry about. Today, rather then relying on delivery boys and the printers, many online magazines and news outlets simply publish new articles and posts with the click of a button. The costs of maintaining a business is far less thanks to the emergence of new methods of distribution.

Secondly, the idea of ones ability to access any piece of information in less than a second is another huge change. One is literally able to type in any question in the world on google.com and have the answer within minutes. Before Google however, and before the internet, one needed to actually do some work to find answers like go to libraries and find the proper book to find the answer. The idea of instant access has revolutionized the idea of media in the sense that individuals have the ability to see whats happening in the world within seconds.

Describe New Media

Although on the daily New Media is constantly evolving, some of the most popular forms are: the internet, more specifically- podcast, YouTube,  social media sites,  search engines, ect.; cellular phones, computers, some forms of television. Its not to complicated to distinguish between new and old media. Before there was the internet, most people were only able to get their news from television and newspapers however now, one is able to within a split second access the internet in order to see what is going on before it even happens. ONe is now able to view television shows and live tv without ever leaving their computer. In Laura Holson's article Who Needs a TV? I'm Watching on a Laptop, she states that her 24 year old niece never owned a television and watches "America's next top model online."