Knol: When does the googlepedia gold rush start?

Strawberry is better than lemon.

One of the knocks on Wikipedia, the sprawling, 2.4-million article behemoth of an encyclopedia, is that all the good stuff's already been written about.  In order to make a new and substantial contribution, you have to tackle some Extreme Arcana, such as this new article about the SS Königin Luise, or this one reprising an episode of "30 Rock" or this one paying homage to a defunct soft drink called Grapico.

So you'd think that there'd be a land rush to grab the big broad topics on Google's new Wikipedia competitor, Knol.  Not just for the pride of being the first to write about, say, George Washington or water --but for the money.  Authors of Knol articles (or 'knols' -- for units of knowledge) have the option of "monetizing" their entries, meaning you can have Google place ads on the page, and partake in the revenue generated therefrom. 

But if you clicked on G.W. or water, you will have seen that nobody's staked a claim in those famous (and potentially lucrative) topics, nor is there yet an article on air, Barack Obama, John McCain, Google, dog (although there is an iffy one on Dog Genetics), Tom Cruise, 4chan,  "Dark Knight", or even "Star Wars". Where's the Internet's famous entrepreneurial spirit, here? If Knol hits it big and ends up replacing Wikipedia, think of all the money that could be made simply by owning a few major articles.  Michael Jackson anyone?  Queen Elizabeth? Jesus Christ!

To get the ball rolling, I've just written a mediocre Knol about the freezie machine in our cafeteria.  Anyone who wants to know about the frozen beverage options downstairs at the L.A. Times building will find themselves partly informed about their choices. The good news is, if you know more, you're free to help make the article better. 

Creating an article is fairly intuitive -- you don't have to be the master of reams of obscure design shorthand like you do on Wikipedia. What's not as clear is how long it would take Google's new project to catch up to the largest, most widely read encyclopedia in the known universe.  For starters, it helps to know who you're competing against.

If anyone decides to give article writing a try, post your links here so we can enjoy your handiwork.

UPDATE (1:54 p.m.): Several readers have now contributed Knol articles.  Chendra ruined my joke by creating a Knol article on Wikipedia (before, my final link above returned nothing).  Joshua looks towards a more tech-supported democracy. Mike setteles the toilet paper hanging debate. Mark helps you figure out how to study in law school, and LM plugs Adobe Flex. 

Keep posting and I'll add you to this list.

UPDATE 2 (3:51 p.m.):  I'm starting to think there's something off about Knol's search mechanism.  It's tough to get almost anything to show up in the search results, even articles that we know are already in there.

UPDATE 3: A Google spokesperson wrote to me: "There is no problem with Knol's search function, it just takes some time for knols to become searchable." Hmm...it's not a problem that it can three days for an article to appear?

Comments

[Lex]

LOL, when you type Knol in Google, Wikipedia's inside page on Knol ranks higher then Knol's home page.

[LM]

I gave it a whack.

The editing and publishing isn't that bad and it really looks like it could have a lot of potential.

http://knol.google.com/k/loyal-moses/adobe-flex/25apoyhwvbw5s/2

[Mark Boileau]

It seems like an interesting new service that encourages even the most basic of writers an opportunity to get themselves published, albeit in a limited way. I do, however, wish that there was some sort of categorization of the various knols to assist with random browsing. As it currently exists, there just seems to be one long random list of all the knols without any manageable way to sift through them absent an explicit search.

I couldn't resist the opportunity to take a swing at it, so as someone returning to school late in life (law school, no less), I thought I'd write about my own "lessons learned", so to speak.

Feel free to let me know what you think!

http://knol.google.com/k/mark-boileau/how-to-study-in-law-school/2llsfblnu16io/2#

[Ginger Lennon]

I am curious to se how many people actually copy and paste content from Wikipedia and add it to Knol!

Just did a post about this (http://racetalkblog.com) as I think it should be interesting to see whether or not Knol articles start appearing ahead of Wikipedia pages in Google search results in the future. Hope it stays objective.

[Righteous Bubba]

One of the knocks on Wikipedia, the sprawling, 2.4-million article behemoth of an encyclopedia, is that all the good stuff's already been written about.

That's not a knock.

[Cory]

so exactly what is the difference between knol and wikipedia, again?

[MikeQuinn]

OK, you asked for entries: I posted this one yesterday on the ever important issue of how to hang toilet paper:
http://knol.google.com/k/michael-quinn/the-right-way-to-hang-toilet-paper/12dhs1bqi31sp/2#

[chenda]

http://knol.google.com/k/chenda-ngak/wikipedia/2oam7vh21itln/2?locale=en#

[Joshua Brunhoff]

Here is one from the heart and brain.

http://knol.google.com/k/joshua-brunhoff/why-your-voice-cannot-be-heard/3ic9kzeljt9ug/2#

Joshua Brunhoff

[William L. Weaver]

I've had several nifty ideas and hand-crafted explanations eradicated on Wikipedia by the proverbial 15-year-old with a keyboard. I LOVE the Knol idea of keeping what YOU write.

Not looking to take over Wikipedia, just to be a place to put intact prose and see how it fairs against others.

http://knol.google.com/k/william-weaver/integrated-science-business-and/
http://knol.google.com/k/william-weaver/opportunity-cost-of-legacies/
http://knol.google.com/k/william-weaver/introduction-to-materials-science-metals/

[Giggy]

Ironically, Knol's Wikipedia article demonstrates where Wikipedia is superior (in my opninion (admittedly, as a Wikipedia editor)); "...who can cite their sources". I don't see Knol requesting sources; hence I'm now going to write my Knol article on how Knol was developed by the terrorists.

Well, not really, but you see my point.

[Brian F]

This project is part of Google, whose name has become synonymous with "search." So why does the search suck so hard?

[Joanna Egger]

Here's one we are working on in our area of expertise, Qatar: http://knol.google.com/k/joanna-egger/qatar/23cg41ziqfiub/2#

Not sure if we like the idea of a search engine getting involved with content, but don't think we can really afford not to participate!

[Teofilo]

Knol's search mechanism looks quite obcure to me.

For example http://knol.google.com/k/knol/system/knol/pages/Search?q=wikipedia&restrict=general answers "Search Results:No results found for wikipedia" although I know at least two knol pages dealing with Wikipedia :

http://knol.google.com/k/chenda-ngak/wikipedia/2oam7vh21itln/2?locale=en# which you mentioned and http://knol.google.com/k/john-smith/wikipedia/2as91duq6ag8q/2#

Meanwhile, the number of knol pages indexed on http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Aknol.google.com is stuck below 1200.

[On The Knol]

I had setup a Google Knol Tracker, http://www.ontheknol.com/ , to track what kind of articles show up on Google Knol’s frontpage and to provide Google Knol RSS Feeds and Knol Searching.

So far it’s very heavily health related and with articles that are a lot more eZineArticles like rather than Wikipedia like. I think Knol will provide a lot more competition to the article directories than it will Wikipedia or other similar sites.

[Awais Zia]

Here are some knol articles I've written. Check'em out and give suggestions!

HIstory of Vision Science:
http://knol.google.com/k/awais-zia/history-of-vision-science/34ovve4otnay1/4#

Cricket vs. Baseball:
http://knol.google.com/k/awais-zia/cricket-vs-baseball/34ovve4otnay1/2#

[Mark]

What's lacking in both Wikipedia and Knol is the community aspect.

But there is a monster wiki hiding amongst the collective. Collectionbuddy.com may be the new kid on the block, but when it comes to collecting information (or collectables,) it has raised the wiki bar.

[Richard Williamson]

I wrote one about video game strategy:

http://knol.google.com/k/rich-williamson/baserape/45gktis3kh0q/2#

Only problem is that, days later, it does not come up in search results.

It appears Google is using knol as a "honeypot" to attract people to write content, however it appears they have no intention of making all the contributed information searchable. I think their strategy is to deceive you into writing what you believe will be accessible content when in reality they want to score the searchability of your content by insisting outside sites link to it. Therefore, they will have tons of links on the net pointing to your content plus their revenue-generating ads. So far this stinks to high heaven. As much as I hate Wikipedia, it may be the only way for you to donate an article and have it searchable from the outside world.

In closing, I recommend not wasting time on "knol" until Google comes clean on the games they are playing.