Of course, it could still be subject to editorial bias, but that's nothing new.
Google is launching a rival to Wikipedia, the world’s most popular online reference work.
The new Google website, dubbed “knol”, will be free to read and will invite “people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it”, Udi Manber, a Google engineer, said on an official company blog.
Mr Manber added that “Google will not serve as an editor in any way and will not bless any content. All editorial responsibilities and control will rest with the authors.”
Google will play a role in deciding which individual entries – or knols ("units of knowledge") – appear at the head of the results on the Google search engine, which is likely to be the most important access route to the new site.
In a major departure from the non-profit Wikipedia's editorial model, authors will not be able to contribute anonymously to knol and will not be able to edit each others’ work.
“We believe that knowing who wrote what will significantly help users make better use of web content,” Google said.
In knol, unlike Wikipedia, there will be no collaboration between authors who may not know other in the physical world. Whereas in Wikipedia, readers find only one entry on, say, the First World War, in knol, each author will submit a separate, competing piece.
Google is building in aspects of social networking sites. “People will be able to submit comments, questions, edits, additional content, and so on. Anyone will be able to rate a knol or write a review of it,” it says.
However, the knol site – currently in a test phase – appears to have been designed to stamp out the mischief-making that has blighted Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia that, "anybody can edit".
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