So it's D-Day plus one since Google launched Knol, a hybrid online encyclopedia designed to replicate wikipedia, but with entries penned by named authors, preferably experts in whatever field they're writing about. Wired has a decidedly thorough account of the project's origins and mission here, but here's the capsule version: Google head of search engineering Udi Manber was annoyed that no one had posted a definitive wikipedia item on New Yorker cartoonist Peter Arno, and that got him thinking about all the other esoteric subjects in need of an authoritative explanation web users could find with a quick search. (Using, of course, Google.) Eighteen months later, he and Google have launched the beta version of Knol, in which experts will theoretically write explanations of everything you might find at That Other Source of All Knowledge, but attach their names to the item, rather than let any anonymous web browser change the item. This theoretically inoculates Knol from the nasty entry wars often seen at wikipedia, offering a more professional effort to fully explain an entry in good faith. it's wikipedia without the wackiness! And since entry authors get to share in any ad revenue that accompanies the item, experts suddenly have a little incentive to get to work.
So how they doing 24 hours later? Well, the mischief's already started. Los Angeles Times writer David Sarno has already written a Knol post about the freezie machine in the paper's cafeteria. Meanwhile, no one had taken a stab at writing up Barack Obama, John McCain, or even Google itself. A Times reader noticed that if you Google Knol, the wikipedia entry for it ranks higher than the page itself. Search Engine Land's Danny Sullivan is surprised to learn how quickly Knol entries have risen to near the top of Google's search rankings. ZDNet's Garrett Rogers wonders what's to stop anyone (like, say, me!) from copying wikipedia's entries, registering as an expert at Knol, pasting them onto a Knol entry, and waiting for the ad bucks to roll in. Hmm.... if you'll excuse me, I just realized I gotta see a man about a horse...
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