Knol is also a new Google service. It has attracted some attention and caused a little controversy because it is Google's first content oriented service.
Until now Google has provided a variety of services - web-based email (or gmail), blogging platforms, server space to store documents and pictures, tools to track your favorite blogs and news sources, and (of course) a search engine to direct you to content.. Knol is a Google site that actually contains content articles created for Google by users with Google accounts.
The Development of Knol
In 2006 Google hired computer scientist Udi Manber. An Israeli with a PhD from the University of Washington, Manber had previously worked as a professor at the University of Arizona, at Amazon.com, and as the chief scientist at Yahoo! before coming to Google.
Manber announced Knol in December of 2007 as a project to created a repository of knowledge. Manber told Wired that Knol would fill the "black hole" that exist in the Internet's knowledge base and that Knol articles would provide the information that would come "when an expert who knows this topic would tell you, if they had 15 minutes to explain."
The Wired interview was published on July 23, 2008 - the day Knol began taking contributions from users.
Differences Between Wikipedia & Knol
Most Internet users are familiar with Wikipedia. It was recently ranked as the fifth most popular Web 2.0 site - after MySpace, eBay, Facebook, and YouTube. Web 2.0, according to Wikipedia is “the trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users.”
Knol uses that same Web 2.0 model, with articles created by users who can work alone or collaborate with other users.
While both Knol and Wikipedia are user created and structured like encyclopedias, there are some differences. Wikipedia articles are more-or-less anonymous; it is difficult to tell who wrote a particular piece or what their credentials are. Knol articles have an acknowledged author whose credentials are described in a profile.
Another difference is that Wikipedia tries to have a single article per topic, with users having something like "squatter's rights" to a topic they start. Knol on the other hand encourages competing points of view on a topic, so a reader may (eventually) find three or four different articles expressing competing points of view in a single issue or topic.
The Controversy of Knol
Knol is controversial primarily because of Google's role in directing Internet users tot he content they're looking for. The perception is that Google will develop a conflict of interest if it creates its own content, that it will be tempted to direct Internet users to Knol before directing them to other locations on the Web.
Yahoo! doesn't seem to have been harmed by the model of serving as both a search engine and a content provider. But Google directs about 70% of the search engine traffic on the web. Whether the conflict of interest concern is a real problem with Knol is something that time will tell.
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