Knol- A competitor to Google’s Wikipedia
The Internet is a large mass of information and can be easily available to a person by just clicking a button. However due to vast spread of information it is difficult to find the accurate data you are looking for. From the data it’s found that over 50% of the searches go through Google, so to make the access to the information easier they have designed an algorithm that will arrange the information in a specified order.
Now Knol, a competitor to Google’s Wikipedia has arrived with an attempt to create a stronger and user-friendly encyclopedia. Knol-”a unit of knowledge” is expected to advance in the fields in which Google lacked behind, but the basic premise is the same- that is to provide an online library.
The main difference between Wikipedia and Knol is that Wikipedia is ad-free and contributions are unpaid, while the author of a Knol entry will have the opportunity to support his article with ads and earn money from them. The main motive of Google behind this model is to encourage more and more people to contribute. Moreover as Wikipedia depends on multiple users to provide a collective information of a specific topic to maintain an entry, Knol encourages signed contributions from experts.
The criticism on Wikipedia about how easily the information can be modified affecting the accuracy of the information but this isn’t the case with the new model Knol. It would be premature to say that the days of collaborative, community driven, user-generated content are at an end, but there seems demand for the information provided by professionals. Now there wont be the case of faulty information as it was in Wikipedia. And now the experts also have an opportunity to earn money just by sharing the information they have.
max on August 7th, 2008 | File Under News | No Comments -




















