Google has launched a new Web site, called Knol, to compete with Wikipedia's long-held grasp on Internet user-created encyclopedias. Knol, tagged by creators as "a unit of knowledge," has been up and running for less than a year and trying to rise above the weaknesses that cause professors to discourage the use of Wikipedia as a source for research.
Teachers often find the fact that anyone can say anything on Wikipedia a dangerous one when it comes to relying on the site for accurate information. Though any topic can be found on Wikipedia, there is no telling who wrote what, or how facts are proven.
Will Rodriguez, a senior in the School of International Service, said he believes Wikipedia can be a decent way to get an overall feel for a topic, but would not work as an actual research source.
"The information can change so quickly and vary so much that you don't know what's true or not," he said.
Knol, shortened from "knowledge," has attempted to remove all concerns of unreliability. Instead of allowing for community articles, any member of the community can write an article, or "beta knol," on a subject on which they have an opinion. This way, the articles you read are attributed and sourced, as well as written by someone whose merit you can judge on your own.
Though community articles are not available on Knol to represent the wide array of views that Wikipedia gathers, several authors can choose to collaborate on a topic. Also, Knol allows authors to write articles on subjects that have already been covered by someone else.
Others are hoping that the pressure from Wikipedia's competition will cause the site to improve the problems they see with accountability. Students tend to be enthusiastic about the site, hoping that teachers will be more accepting of the new wiki as a citable source.
"Whenever you're doing research papers it takes forever to go to the library to find a book that they may not even have," Austin Siebert, a freshman in SIS, said about Knol. "This way, you can do it in seconds and you have a credible quote, which is great for both the students and the teachers."
Knols can be written in any language, any length and on any subject. The Web site has its own knols, describing how to write and manage your own, as well as how to take your knol to the next level by adding images, tables and links.
Some Knol contributors speculate that Google created the site in order to help combat Wikipedia's tendency to surface in the top few results when searching for information. Knol will also be indexed into search engines.
Points against Google's Knol include the fact that each article will be slanted solely toward the views of its author and will not have the balance resulting from the thousands of contributors to the articles. Only time will tell, however, if Knol has the staying power that so many wikis have not held.
You can reach this staff writer at kboghosian@theeagleonline.com.
