Information Madness

Google recently announced the launch of their new tool called "Knol" which stands for a unit of knowledge. The tool is basically a collection of authorative web pages and will highlight authors from different subjects. Its like bringing the subject experts on the web and extract their knowledge and publish it online. The goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it. The tool is still in development though and Google has started inviting a selected group of people to try it out.

While the concept is not different from Wikipedia, Google authorities mentions that Knol is not a direct competitor to Wikipedia. While Wikipedia is more for a larger number of casual editors with cooperative relations, Knol wants article written by people who are an authority on a subject

The articles written in Knol are more like scientific papers because they have clearly defined authors, references, even if they don't necessarily include original research. "We believe that knowing who wrote what will significantly help users make better use of web content," explains Google. The challenge would be "How google will authenticate those people who are an authority on a subject?"

I still believe that there is some kind of "reinvention of a wheel". Google could have worked with Wikipedia to use their existing knowlege and turned it into their "Knol". Or may be I am wrong and what we all assume about Knol is totally different from the reality.

Udi Manber, who heads the project, told Danny Sullivan that the main goal is "to help people put knowledge on the web that doesn't currently exist, which in turn should make search better, since there will be better information out there." Those experts who has online presence, already have their knowlege out there. Why would they go to knol and rewrite their own stuff? Those who has some expertise in any subject might have written on Wikipedia, why would they go to knol? (via:Google Blog)

What do you think about Knol vs. Wikipedia? 

Tags: {technotags keywords="Google+Knol|Wikipedia|Unit+of+Knowledge"}{/technotags}