[A2k] Google debuts knowledge project-competition to wikipedia?

Fri Dec 21 09:52:22 2007

Hello Mark,

Thanks for your comments. This is moving a little beyond the traditional
scope of A2K, but it is an access to knowledge issue. On another list on
which a similar discussion has been aired (BCS-KIDDM), Edmund Lee of
English Heritage wrote, "One of the characteristics of an encyclopedia
written and edited by many hands is that you can't extrapolate bad (or
indeed good) quality by inference from one entry to another entry, just
because they happen to both be in Wikipedia (or I expect in 'Knol') any
more that you can extrapolate quality from one website to another just
because they are both 'on the web'. There is no overarching authority
responsible for both which is both the strength and the weakness of the
approach..."

My point wasn't in relation to quality but accuracy. I think you expect
at least the objective facts to be correct, and endure quality
variations in the authors' opinions. When Encyclopaedia Britannica said
something was 23, it usually reliably was, whereas this is demonstrably
not so with at least some of the Wikipedia entries. However, as Mark
says, a comparison between the two found Encyclopaedia Britannica not
that reliable either, so I should concede the point that in general you
can't trust such multi-author collections further than you can throw
them.

A different but related problem is the fact that Wiki changes all the
time - it might be accurate today but not tomorrow, or vice-versa.
People keep playing with it, sometimes as some kind of counter-cultural
activity, other times for darker reasons. A friend of mine is having to
repost every day an entry regarding the German bureaucratic entity for
which she works, since it keeps being deleted every day, I'd guess by
some disaffected former staff member.

Best,

Chris

Chris Zielinski
e-mail: zielinskic@who.int

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Perkins lists [mailto:lists@markperkins.info]
Sent: 19 December 2007 18:36
To: a2k@lists.essential.org
Cc: Zielinski, Christopher
Subject: RE: [A2k] Google debuts knowledge project-competition to
wikipedia?

Hi Chris

Beg to disagree - there was a face off a while ago between Encyclopedia
Britannica & Wikipedia a while ago which came out fairly even*. In using
any
information source care needs to be taken - a basic of information
literacy
that is often forgotten. With Encyclopedias - of whatever variety - IMHO
these should only be used as a starting point.

Interference in scientific research is not limited to Wikipedia - as
current
complaints against the US government are showing...

As for Wikipedia per se - I use often, but also refer regularly to the
discussion page (especially important for controversial issues).

As for Google's knol

"Since Knol pages will be authored, users won't, presumably, be able to
dive
in and edit another page. They'll be able to submit edits to the author
for
approval, though. So much for open collaboration. But as a platform for
authors who might want to make some money from their work, it's a better
bet
(Knol will allow authors to monetize their pages as they see fit)."
<http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9834175-7.html>

also see
Google Knol - Google's Play To Aggregate Knowledge Pages
<http://searchengineland.com/071213-213400.php>
Google announcement -  'Encouraging people to contribute knowledge'
"For many topics, there will likely be competing knols on the same
subject."
<http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/encouraging-people-to-contribute
.htm
l>

*Nature
<http://scienceblogs.com/stoat/2006/03/wikipedia_vs_britannica_contin.ph
p>

Wikipedia vs. Britannica Smackdown
September 7th, 2004 by Ed Felten
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/index.php?p=675

Wikipedia Reputation and the Wemedia Project
http://many.corante.com/archives/2004/08/29/wikipedia_reputation_and_the
_wem
edia_project.php

Mark Perkins MLIS, MCLIP
www.markperkins.info

https://keyserver.pgp.com/

-----Original Message-----
From: a2k-admin@lists.essential.org
[mailto:a2k-admin@lists.essential.org]
On Behalf Of Zielinski, Christopher
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2007 10:19 AM
To: Michelle Childs; a2k@lists.essential.org
Cc: ecommerce@lists.essential.org
Subject: RE: [A2k] Google debuts knowledge project-competition to
wikipedia?

It looks like the knol (I guess, a unit of knowledge, although then it
really ought to be a "know") is going to be another sez-who? type of
encyclopaedia.

To raise a few concerns: Wikipedia has already been tarred for its basic
inaccuracies. To take a trivial, but to me suggestive, example - since
it is
surely not contentious - the Federer entry provides a few annoyingly
wrong
tennis statistics. (Is it fair to extrapolate from this? Other comments
suggest it is.) Never mind the plagiarism (Wikipedia's main use in the
classrooms), what about the wholesale propagation of error? Those who
forget
their past are doomed to repeat it differently!

Worse are the numerous examples of Orwellian reality manipulation,
particularly (but not only) by the great and the good. Can we really
leave
the truth to whoever feels strongest about it? To the companies and
governments with a Chief Wiki Manipulator? To the psychotic obsessives
with
time and/or money on their hands?

Regarding the advertising-driven model, all advertising is not bad, per
se -
just look at non-state-supported TV, where the guy who buys the soap
powder
or BMW pays for me to watch high-value copyright content for free. Maybe
the
knol model offers something useful, as long as the advertising doesn't
distort the message, like paid-for-by-pharmaceutical-company
"scientific"
journals.

Has a mechanism to edit/review/improve/disprove knol-edge been offered?
It will be needed, as Wikipedia recognizes (but doesn't solve). I think
this
is an ethical issue and necessity.

Best,

Chris Zielinski
Geneva Switzerland
e-mail: zielinskic@who.int
Blog http://ziggysreflections.blogspot.com/2007/12/knol-and-wiki.html

-----Original Message-----
From: a2k-admin@lists.essential.org
[mailto:a2k-admin@lists.essential.org] On Behalf Of Michelle Childs
Sent: 16 December 2007 17:07
To: a2k@lists.essential.org
Cc: ecommerce@lists.essential.org
Subject: [A2k] Google debuts knowledge project-competition to wikipedia?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7144970.stm
Google debuts knowledge project

The knol system is an attack on Wikipedia, say experts Google has kicked
off
a project to create an authoritative store of information about any and
every topic.

The search giant has already started inviting people to write about the
subject on which they are known to be an expert.

Google said it would not act as editor for the project but will provide
the
tools and infrastructure for the pages.

Many experts see the initiative as an attack on the widely used
Wikipedia
communal encyclopaedia.

'Knol'

Writing about the project on the official Google blog, Udi Manber, one
of
the heads of engineering at the search firm, said it was all about
sharing
useful knowledge.

By indexing the web, Google strives to make information more easily
accessible. However, wrote Mr Manber, not all the information on the web
was
"well organised to make it easily discoverable".

By getting respected authors to write about their specialism Google
hopes to
start putting some of that information in better order.

The system will centre around authored articles created with a tool
Google
has dubbed "knol" - the word denotes a unit of knowledge - that will
make
webpages with a distinctive livery to identify them as authoritative.

Mr Manber wrote: "A knol on a particular topic is meant to be the first
thing someone who searches for this topic for the first time will want
to
read."

The knol pages will get search rankings to reflect their usefulness.
Knols will also come with tools that readers can use to rate the
information, add comments, suggest edits or additional content.

Revenue from any adverts on a knol page will be shared with its author.

Industry commentator Nicholas Carr said the knol project was a "head- on
competitor" with Wikipedia. He said it was an attempt by Google to knock
ad-free Wikipedia entries on similar subjects down the rankings.

Michelle Childs
Head of European Affairs
Knowledge Ecology International
michelle.childs@cptech.org

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