Knol Has Launched

Posted by Kenneth Ronkowitz on


Back in January, I wrote about Knol, a project Google was working on to create an encyclopedia online that is like Wikipedia in that anyone can contribute, and unlike Wikipedia in that changes to a page only become live after they are approved by the page's author(s).

Last week, Google launched Knol.

"The Knol project is a site that hosts many knols — units of knowledge — written about various subjects.  The authors of the knols can take credit for their writing, provide credentials, and elicit peer reviews and comments.  Users can provide feedback, comments, related information.  So the Knol project is a platform for sharing information, with multiple cues that help you evaluate the quality and veracity of information."

I'm a big Google fan and user, but I have my doubts about this particular app. Partially because Wikipedia has such a serious head start, and partially because I'm not sure there's a market for a monitored wiki. Then again, I didn't think Google stock would be worth as much as it is today, so...

I did a few test searches there and they all came up empty. I can't recall what happened when I first searched for things on Wikipedia back in 2001, but the approval process will certainly slow down Knol's growth.

So, all of you who complained about the inaccuracies of Wikipedia and wanted the entries to be checked and edited, you got your site. You better get in there and start contributing!

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