|
Google is launching an ambitious project to become the Internet's leading source of information on just about every subject. Their plans appear to be a direct attack on Wikipedia's popularity. According to a blog by Google's Vice President of engineering, the company wants to make it easier for experts to share knowledge. They plan to do this through a project titled 'knol' (a term they are also using to refer to each entry). The idea is for Google to take care of the hosting and formatting, leaving the experts to concentrate on the information. The goal is for the 'knol' to be "the first thing someone who searches for this topic for the first time will want to read."
Google is stressing that they will not take any editorial responsibility for the content and say readers will be able to comment, add extra information, or 'edit'. It's not yet clear if this will involve readers being able to change the content themselves (as with Wikipedia) or merely suggest changes. The biggest difference from Wikipedia is that 'knol' authors will be able to choose whether or not to allow adverts on the page. If they do, they will receive a 'substantial revenue share' from those ads. That raises the possibility that some authors will deliberately write controversial topics to attract attention and boost revenue. (Source: blogspot.com) Larry Sanger, a co-founder of Wikipedia who now runs his own rival site Citizendium, says Google's plan seems unlikely to work. He feels true experts will not be willing to put their efforts into a project where their research is open to review by the general public rather than other experts in their field. (Source: citizendium.org) Wikipedia welcomed the project, but appeared to imply Google might place restrictions on the content. "The more free content, the better for the world," a spokeswoman wrote. "Free content is about freedom -- the freedom for anyone to use, study and apply, change and redistribute the work, for any purpose." (Source: theglobeandmail.com) Most Google projects to date -- such as image searches, news and book searching -- have been successful. But the trend in recent years has been that once a site becomes established as the market leader in its niche (such as Amazon for book sales or Google itself for searching), it becomes very hard for new competitors to change people's habits. If Wikipedia is as established in Internet culture as many believe, Google could be in for a tough fight.
-- Related newsletter articles:
2007/12/14 Renowned Photographer Joins Up With Google Earth (google)
2007/09/13 New Software Makes Wikipedia Fraud Detectable (wikipedia)
2007/11/13 'Burning' DVDs...but not the Law (content)
2007/12/04 Thousands of Infected Links Weeded Out (google)
2007/11/14 More You in YouTube (content)
2007/10/03 Microsoft Quadruples Search Power (google)
2007/11/07 Gphone: Google Opts for Software Over Hardware (google)
2007/10/16 Is the Truth Really Out There? We May Soon Find Out (project)
2007/10/17 Analysts Predict GPhone Will Outsell iPhone (google)
2007/09/26 Who'll Take Down MS Office? (google)
2007/09/25 Share your Stuff with Google Shared Stuff (google)
2007/09/28 Microsoft and Google Battle for Facebook (google)
2007/12/02 Google Maps Link Up with Cell Phones (google)
2007/12/14 Microsoft Taps into Multi-Map (google)
2007/12/04 Google Spends Green to Go Green (google)
2007/12/10 Artificial Intelligence on Your PC Desktop? (project)
2007/10/29 Maybe Bill Gates Will Be Your Facebook Friend (google)
-- Recent articles (from all channels): 2008/05/12 Today in History: for Monday, May 12, 2008
2008/05/12 [ShellX 20080512]: 'Remote Manager', and 'Cyber Bandwidth ...
2008/05/12 Video Gaming Trade Group Struggling
2008/05/12 T-Mobile Finally Joins 3G Phone Race
2008/05/12 Apple Slammed by Environment Watchdog
2008/05/09 [ShellX 20080509]: 'Advanced Run', and 'Diver Windows Manager'
2008/05/09 Texas Refuses Facebook Friend Request
2008/05/09 Photo-Enforcement Technology Replaces Officers On Patrol
2008/05/09 Cuban Government Says 'Ok Computer'
2008/05/09 Excel Can E-Mail Your Weekly Reports For You!
2008/05/08 [ShellX 20080508]: 'Shell Enhancer', and 'Lansweeper'
2008/05/08 Xobni: MS Outlook Social Networking Technology for your Inbox
2008/05/08 Music Companies Jump on GTA IV Bandwagon
2008/05/08 Fascinating: Memristor to replace Binary
2008/05/08 Adobe Hopes To Make Flash Master Of The (Mobile) Universe
2008/05/08 Spiffy Envelopes and Labels in MS Word
2008/05/07 [ShellX 20080507]: 'Winbin2iso', and 'Loop Typer'
2008/05/07 Yahoo Adds Security Warnings To Search Results
2008/05/07 Apple to Lose Money on iTunes Movie Releases
2008/05/07 Amazon.com takes New York Tax to Court
2008/05/07 Need Glasses for the Slide Sorter View in MS PowerPoint?
2008/05/07 After Winning The DVD Format War, Blu-Ray Sales Tank
2008/05/06 [ShellX 20080506]: 'Visual Basic 6.0 Portable', and 'Double-...
2008/05/06 Yahoo Outsources to Jajah
2008/05/06 New HP Circuit Could Change Technology Forever
2008/05/06 Movie Downloads To Match DVD Release Dates
2008/05/06 Microsoft Ends Yahoo Bid
2008/05/05 [ShellX 20080505]: 'Ie7 Pro', and 'Desktop Ok'
2008/05/05 The WB Network Hops Online
2008/05/05 Microsoft Slashes Price of Xbox 360 Overseas
2008/05/05 Google CEO Wants YouTube to Take More of Your Money
|
