Knol, the new world of knowledge

December 17th, 2007 Posted in News

Google has decided to carve itself out a share of the online information industry. With Wikipedia, Squidoo and Yahoo Answers proving so popular with the online public Google have seen the potential for another site in this already crowded market. What however will be their unique spin on the medium?

So far it can be asserted that Google are to introduce a site that will have recognised, knowledgeable authors at its heart. The major difference between ‘Knol’ and other sites will be the addition of author profiles, making the contributors accountable for the information they submit, this is hoped to keep out some of the elements that have caused problems for Wikipedia. The pages will be known as ‘Knols’, a ‘Knol’ being a unit of information. Authors will preferably be specialists in their own field and subsequently the pages are intended to give a resource that can be referenced and trusted for the information it contains.

The ‘Knol’ pages will also offer authors the chance to add Google adverts and so take a share of the profits. Worries over spammers have arisen but Google have been quick to dispel such fears with developments in their anti spam software. Google’s vice president of engineering, Udi Manber has stated that the site’s main objective is to ‘organise information on the internet more efficiently’, he wants ‘Knol to be the first resource people go to when researching a topic.’

This can be seen as direct competition with Wikipedia, a site that was visited by 106 million people in the last year. The fundamental difference however is that, unlike Wikipedia’s non-profit approach, Google Knol will be heavily profit focussed. The fact that Google Scholar, the current Google information site only had 4.5 million visitors last year makes Mr Manber’s protestations of an information age, universally accessible and without the malicious elements that have troubled Wikipedia somewhat suspect. Surely the pursuit for profit is the main driving force behind this new information resource.