Meant to blog about this one for a while - just to flag it: Knol. It's Google's answer to Wikipedia. Sort of.Check out http://knol.google.com
According to Google, "a knol is an authoritative article about a specific topic.". The search giant is encouraging the online world to contribute their own knols and comment on others, to build up a repository of experience or knowledge, bit by bit.
There's an obvious application for electronics know-how here, if the idea takes off. And with Google behind it, who would bet against it?
Here's an example of a knol: Programmable Electronics using Memristor Crossbars, by one Blaise Mouttet of George Mason University.
This is how Google introduces Knol:
"The Internet is huge, but still a lot of expert knowledge remains untapped," said Juergen Galler, Director of Product Management for Google. "Knol provides a way for people to share their expertise with others-and get credit for their contribution. In the same way that books have authors' names right on the cover, knols have authors' names-and links to their other articles-right there on the page."
According to Google, Knols allow authors to include references, link to additional information, and interact with readers, with readers being able to submit comments, rate, or write a review of a knol.
Google in the content business?
Interestingly, some people see it as an indication of Google moving towards being a content provider and not just a distributor of existing content.
"Watch for more to come and see how Google will start to move away from it's "content distributor" statement and morph into something different," writes junta42.
The Knol site has one goal: to help you share what you know.
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 reviews and comments. Users can provide feedback, comments, and 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.
Knols are indexed by the big search engines, of course. And well-written knols become popular the same as regular web pages. The Knol site allows anyone to write and manage knols through a browser on any computer.If you are so inspired, you can read the guide to best practice for writing knols.
"The Internet is huge, but still a lot of expert knowledge remains untapped," said Juergen Galler, Director of Product Management for Google. "Knol provides a way for people to share their expertise with others-and get credit for their contribution. In the same way that books have authors' names right on the cover, knols have authors' names-and links to their other articles-right there on the page."
According to Google, Knols allow authors to include references, link to additional information, and interact with readers, with readers being able to submit comments, rate, or write a review of a knol.
Google in the content business?
Interestingly, some people see it as an indication of Google moving towards being a content provider and not just a distributor of existing content.
"Watch for more to come and see how Google will start to move away from it's "content distributor" statement and morph into something different," writes junta42.
