A few months ago Google was quietly testing a new product called Knol. The project included a series of authoritative articles about specific topics, written about people who know about those topics. In other words, Knol is Google's answer to Wikipedia.
Google on Wednesday announced that the online publishing service and potential Wikipedia rival would be made available to everyone.
“Millions of people know useful things and billions more could benefit from that knowledge. Knol will encourage these people to contribute their knowledge online and make it accessible to everyone,” Google said in a statement.
Unlike Wikipedia, which publishes nameless articles, the key principle behind Knol is authorship. Every Knol will have one author or a group of authors expressing their voice or opinion on a given topic. Thus Knol, unlike Wikipedia, will allow many articles on the same topic, much like a collection of blogs.
“We expect that there will be multiple Knols on the same subject, and we think that is good,” the company said.
The other difference, Wikipedia allows some users to edit others’entries, while Knoll users will be able to comment on, but not edit other people’s work.
Also, a Knol may include ads from Google’s AdSense program. If an author chooses to include ads, Google will provide the author with a revenue share from the proceeds of those ad placements.
The service could help Google by giving it new web pages on which to run ads. Knol entries can include text or photos, and other media will be announced soon.
It is hard to determine which topics will be discussed and if Knol will create encyclopedic content, with Google posing no limits as to the topics discussed, it will be a matter of taste left to the discretion of the Knol writers.
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