Thursday, July 24, 2008

I could become a Knoller

A few months ago, Blogger announced a new web authoring tool called Knol (short for knowledge).

Yesterday it had its public launch.

Whilst a Blog is great for a producing a daily diary of life, Knols are designed for producing authoritative articles on a single topic. The tone is more formal, and, while it's easy to update the content and keep it fresh, knols aren't designed for continuously posting new content or threading.

Like Blogger, Knol has simple web authoring tools that make it easy to collaborate, co-author, and publish. It has community features as well: readers can add comments and rate articles, and they'll be able to suggest edits that can either be accepted or rejected.

One other important difference between Knol and Blogger is that Knol encourages writers to reveal their true identity. Knols are meant to be authoritative articles, and, therefore, they have a strong focus on authors and their credentials. Blogger thinks that this focus will help ensure that authors get credit for their work and make the content more credible.

¡Hmm, que interesante! That might be a good way to write an account of my life as a teacher in North Liverpool. Then again, perhaps not; Knol is meant to be like Wikipedia - articles about serious stuff. My stories about the brothers Holt and Queenie the Empress of Croxteth may not sit well with items about pediatric sports injuries and the metabolic sysndrome.

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