Knol: a unit of knowledge – Review

Google has officially released Knol, that’s right, just Knol. Though it is “Google Knol”, unlike most of its other services, it is advertised that way (Also note that it isn’t knol.com, or googleknol.com, or anything like that. Its knol.google.com). Initially from private testing, it came out for the world to use.

So… What is Knol?

The word “knol” means a unit of knowledge. Google advertises that anyone can write their own Knol “(almost) about anything”. Its basically a type of Wikipedia where instead of just one article about, say… computers, everyone can write their own article about computers, sharing their own knowledge.

Writing a Knol

Writing a Knol is actually pretty easy. All you need is a Google account. Basically, all you really need to do is go to http://knol.google.com/, and click on “Write a Knol”. It will almost instantly setup, and you can start sharing your knowledge.

Unlike Wikipedia, it offers editing with either a WYSIWYG editor, or HTML editor. Also, you can choose whether you can be the only one who edits the Knol (which is chosen by default), or if people can suggest edits, or if anyone can edit it. You can also invite people, as “Authors” to edit it when they want.

Downsides

Although I think Google Knol is a great alternative to Wikipedia, and I love the concept of the site, I do have some things to say about the service.

• Search Engine / Finding Knols
  • When I started using Knol a couple days ago, I noticed that I had problems with their search engine. Sometimes, the results did not show, and I almost always got no search results, even though I new that their were articles based about. For example, I read someone making an article about pit bulls. I typed in “pit bulls”, and I got “No results found for pit bulls“. Although they seemed to have corrected the problem, I do wish now that they had an easier way of find Knols. Basically, searching is the only way you can find them, and I do wish their was an “Advance Search” type option, like on Google search engine.
  • UPDATE: Google has since released a “Search Toolkit”, which is basically an advanced search, with additional options to limit results.
• Wikipedia Articles
  • I am tired of seeing people “Copy and Pasting” articles directly from Wikipedia, and on to their own Knol. I came to Knol to learn what people know about stuff, not what I could find on Wikipedia.
• Verifiying your name
  • Although I have no idea why you need to do this (or even if you’re required to do this), but Google asks that you verify your name, either by entering a code when they send an automated call to your phone, or by credit card info. I did it by phone, and I have nothing against it, but why is it needed?

And really that’s it for now.

Conclusion

This is basically a short review, because I just started using Knol, but I found it incredibly easy to create Knols (check out my first Knol here). I recommend trying it out by writing your own Knol about anything you have knowledge on. You can share what you know, and not have to worry about someone changing it every 5 minutes. So check it out!