My third post on the subject and potentially the most worrying. This blog suggests that Google are tipping the search balance so that knols come above the Wikipedia on search. Its also got a good quote from Nick Carr I'm guessing that serving as the front door for a vast ad-less info-moshpit outfitted with open source search tools is not exactly the future that Google has in mind for itself. Enter Knol.
Now the evidence here is anecdotal, but it will be interesting to see if others carry out more scientific and controlled tests. If it is true then Google's famous Do Good, already tarnished for its willing to compromise its principles in China would be finally shot. It would be an interesting new form of monopoly and a major issue of trust. Any other evidence out there?
Comments (3)
Here are some interesting articles criticizing the knol (and Google's addvertising strategy):
* http://www.dashes.com/anil/2007/12/google-and-theory-of-mind.html
* http://www.futureofthebook.org/blog/archives/2007/12/a_few_rough_notes_on_knols.html
They sum it up better than I can. In the mean time, a knol on 'buttermilk pancakes' has risen to the 2nd position in Googles search results. Searching on 'buttermilk pancakes'using Yahoo.com and Live.com doesn't turn out the knol (I just checked the first 4 result pages). So it seems that Google does indeed favor its own knols over other web content. However I agree that some real research should be done.
Posted by Mireille Jansma | July 29, 2008 8:15 PM
Posted on July 29, 2008 20:15
Here's a little piece of research by Johnathan Bailey, August 14, to see whether knol is being spammed: http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/08/14/knol-spam-two-weeks-later/.
The answer seems to be yes. One of the findings is that the content of the Wikipedia page on Apple has been duplicated into a knol.
Wonder whether people can do this without getting copy right issues: just copy stuff from Wikipedia, put some adds in and start earning money with the work of others... Has this been looked into by active Wikipedians, as far as you know?
Posted by Mireille | August 16, 2008 12:58 PM
Posted on August 16, 2008 12:58
And here's another: http://www.seobook.com/google-knol
Posted by Mireille | August 16, 2008 1:26 PM
Posted on August 16, 2008 13:26