Google launched Knol today, their user-generated encyclopedia in efforts to create a rival to Wikipedia.
The overall idea of Knol, short for knowledge, is the same as Wikipedia: users write encyclopedia-style articles on any and all topic from ice fishing to bikini waxing. The main differences are that Knol articles have specific bylines giving credit to the author of the article. That author also has the right to protect their article from others who might want to edit or amend it. Others can make editing suggestions, but the author has a final say of what goes into his or her article. Furthermore, Knol users can place ads on their articles and earn revenue from those ads.
Since it is only one day old, Knol has only a fraction of the articles Wikipedia has (almost 2.5 million in English alone). With their system of article ownership however, authors who snatch up popular topics now might be able to make serious money with advertising if Knol becomes as popular as Wikipedia.
Here are some of the topic still available on Knol: France, George Washington, Basketball, Cheese… you get the idea.
URL for Knol: knol.google.com
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