Friday, January 11, 2008

Google Knol: Encyclopedia, Not Wikipedia

Expanding on our coverage of Google's Knol encyclopedia, there arises a critical but subtle difference between Knol and its most immediately recognizable sibling, Wikipedia:

In contrast to Wikipedia's contribution system, which is overseen and moderated by anonymous committee, Knol's articles will not be continuously editable. In theory, Wikipedia's model should have been superior, allowing information to be continuously updated and accurized; however, as anyone who's ever spent much time browsing Wikipedia can attest, the theory often fails when put into practice.

Knol's model of data collection fits with the more traditional, more professional and more authoritative model, where the data is collected from expert sources, fact-checked and verified. Rather than being the end of Wikipedia, however, Knol may very well improve and reinforce the accuracy and verity of Wikipedia's articles by providing easily found, higher quality source and reference material.

Another crucial difference for Knol is that its contributors will not be anonymous -- authors will be bylined as well as compensated from a share of ad revenue. This compels authors to compete to have their work featured on Knol, and this competition should further ensure that articles of the highest quality will appear there.

Source : www.increased-online-traffic.com

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