Google Launches Potential Wikipedia Rival: KNOL

bhkad · 07-24-08, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Google Launches Online-Publishing Service, a Potential Wikipedia Rival
By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO
July 24, 2008; Page B8

Google Inc. has launched an online-publishing service that is a potential competitor to Wikipedia.

Google on Wednesday took the wrappings off its previously announced publishing-and-reference service called Knol, which allows users to write articles on specific topics and to make money from them.

By trying to provide such content, the service is likely to compete with online encyclopedia Wikipedia, whose articles tend to rank highly in Google search results.

In an interview, Cedric Dupont, a product manager for Knol, described the service as a way to improve Google's search results by making the "information in people's heads" searchable. While Knol entries won't be given any preferential treatment in Google's search algorithm, Knol entries that are highly ranked by users could surface higher in search results if they are established to have quality content, he said.

Google's service differs from the user-generated Wikipedia online encyclopedia in a number of ways. In particular, rather than stick to one article on a topic, Knol will allow many articles -- making it as much a collection of individual blogs as an online encyclopedia.

Users also attach their names to Knol entries. Others can comment on, but not edit, their work. (Wikipedia allows some users to edit others' entries.) Users can also elect to run ads sold by Google on their entries and can share in the revenue from them.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said it "is a bit early to tell" whether Knol will generate the sort of content that would make it a Wikipedia competitor. He said it seems "far more like a collaborative blogging platform" that he expects will generate "a lot of opinion pieces rather than encyclopedic content."
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Here's a screenshot of KNOL. At first glance I'm rather underwhelmed, but then again I'm not usually going to judge a person or thing on first impressions. And they may change the layout and graphics as time goes by.

Knol: a unit of knowledge

Let's see how it goes.

obvious Child · 07-25-08, 09:49 PM

I don't have high hopes. It's not hard to find blogs about specific subjects using Google and without the correction or addition aspect that has made wikipedia so useful, it's questionable if anyone will find value.

This reminds me of Microsoft's Zune against Apple's Ipod.