In relatively quiet fashion, search engine giant Google announced the testing of a new tool for organizing and disseminating knowledge on the Web. The new tool is built around the concept of a “knol,” which the company says stands for “a unit of knowledge.”
“A knol on a particular topic,” wrote Udi Manber, Google’s vice president of engineering, “is meant to be the first thing someone who searches for this topic for the first time will want to read.”
Manber said that, unlike Wikipedia, which relies on the collective and relatively anonymous contributions of many different editors, Google’s knols will be primarily written by a single, identified author whose credentials will be displayed at the top of each knol.
“Google will not serve as an editor in any way, and will not bless any content,” Manber emphasized. “All editorial responsibilities and control will rest with the authors. We hope that knols will include the opinions and points of view of the authors who will put their reputation on the line.”
More About.com Than Wikipedia
The common consensus in the media is that Google’s knols are aimed squarely at Wikipedia, and in fact, the sample Web page on display in Manber’s blog post does bear some passing resemblance to a typical Wikipedia page. At the top of the page is a brief summary, beside which is a table of contents with links to various sections of the page.
But Google is considering several different features, the most provocative of which is a ranking system that will affect how high the knols appear in Google search results. Manber said that Google anticipates that there will be competing knols for some topic, and rankings will help readers decide which knols are the most reliable and useful.
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