Google Launches Its Challenge To Wikipedia With Wide Release Of Knol

(PaidContent.org)  This story was written by David Kaplan.

---

After several months in beta, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is giving its content site Knol its wide release. While the site appears to be a challenge to Wikipedia, Google is stressing that the articles and entries have a professional quality. The way Google is maintaining this difference between Knol and Wikipedia is that all entries must have be identified by the writer's name. While Wikipedia does rely on editors and the community to police the site, Google is trying to go a little further. The articles on Knol can have multiple authors, which under Google's structure, is called "moderated collaboration."

Like Wikipedia, any reader can make suggested edits to a Knol entry. But the author may then choose to accept, reject, or modify before these contributions become visible to the public. This allows authors to accept suggestions from everyone in the world while remaining in control of their content, Google says. The first entries on the site include topics on diabetes and lung cancer, both written by doctors who provide some details about their background. Another post, a voluminous guide on How To Backpack, is written by an author who includes no details about his expertise, only his name and a photo. More details in this GoogleBlog post.


By David Kaplan