Wikipedia and Google “Knol”
Wikipedia is a phenomenon of the Web. It is a reference encyclopedia that doesn’t think much of experts and lets anyone write about a subject who wants to. It relies on the community to edit wrong or misinformed articles. This means that the quality of its articles varies enormously. Some of the articles on chemistry subjects where I call myself an expert are pathetic. Yet I use others on computing subjects as primary references in some of my computer articles. Besides inept entries, there have also been fraudulent and malicious entries.
However, in spite of the fact that its approach has many problems, Wikipedia has become one of the most cited references on the Web. Wikipedia has even gotten some favorable professional reviews. It also can’t have hurt that Google frequently puts a Wikipedia article at or near the top of a search list.
Now, however, it looks like Google may become a rival to Wikipedia. It’s still in early stages but a new project called “Knol” has been announced:
Earlier this week, we started inviting a selected group of people to try a new, free tool that we are calling “knol”, which stands for a unit of knowledge. Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it. The tool is still in development and this is just the first phase of testing. For now, using it is by invitation only. But we wanted to share with everyone the basic premises and goals behind this project.
Note that Google is relying on expert authorities for its articles. The goal is:
A knol on a particular topic is meant to be the first thing someone who searches for this topic for the first time will want to read. The goal is for knols to cover all topics, from scientific concepts, to medical information, from geographical and historical, to entertainment, from product information, to how-to-fix-it instructions.
What would this new service mean for Wikipedia? The blog, the Google Operating System, says:
Wikipedia managed to become one of the most important sites on the web even if it allowed anyone to edit an article… But one of the most important problem of Wikipedia is that articles lack credibility and it’s difficult to tell if they contain accurate information. Assuming Google manages to verify people’s identity, Knol could solve this problem.
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