knol

Google’s SearchWiki shows where we are headed

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

If you’ve not heard of SearchWiki, prepare to be amazed. It’s going to change the way you think of Google. Tired of getting some really irrelevant results? Delete the ones you don’t like, add new URLs and markup the ones that you want to come back to later.

Actually it does more than even social bookmarking –a customized Delicious account, for instance — but considering how where Google is going with its new browser (Chrome),  and wiki (Knol), this wikified browser experience could be the way Google learns more about users’ needs.

I can see where this might be going. A search engine meets wiki meets social bookmarking would infect us with the collaboration virus surging through our veins. Soon, we may be able to share our customized search results with a group (a Facebook widget might make sense too) we are collaborating with.

Take a test drive my HoiPolloi Google Search Page at this customized site.

You could switch between HoiPolloiSearch and regular Google search. Even the paid search results change when you toggle between both. The pages could be free of ads for non-profits, government or educationional organizations!

Quotes for the week ending 22 Dec, 2007

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“Forgive me for being an old fart, but today’s “social networks” look to me like yesterday’s online services.”

Doc Searls, on why he is not joining a debate on whether brands should build their own, or join social networks.

“If I were a brand or agency, I would be down at the picket lines seeing if some of this top story-telling talent was available for freelance work.”

Joe Marchese, in Online Spin, on the impact of the writers’ strike, and what ad agencies should be considering.

“Democrats are at least 10% more likely to do just about anything involving social technologies. The Republicans are the opposite — they’re a lot LESS likely to participate.”

Josh Bernoff, on Charlene Li’s blog at Forrester Research, commenting on the social media profile of presidential candidates in the U.S. elections.

“At the end of A Bug’s Life, the main character, Flick, finally convinces all the ants that they have to stand up to the grasshoppers who’ve kept them repressed for years …It’s what happens when we all have a voice, and distribution, and the ability to get together and say something.”

Chris Brogan, co-founder of Podcamp, about how Social Media is a Bug’s Life.

“Googlepedia is perhaps a more direct rival to Larry Sanger’s Citizendium, which aims to build a more authoritative Wikipedia-type resource under the supervision of vetted experts.”

Commenter Ben Vershbow of IF (The institute of the future of the book) analyzing knol, Google’s answer to Wikipedia, that was launched this week.

The word “weblog” celebrates the 10th anniversary of it being coined on 17 December 1997.

BBC, on the birthday of the word that got all this started!

Wikipedia better watch its back

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

No matter what you say about Wikipedia in terms of the accuracy of information or the rules of editing, it created a great appetite and destination for knowledge sharing. But it did not have much of competition. Until now.

knol.jpgGoogle is after its lunch. “Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it,” says the new invitation-only wiki project called “knol.”

But it doesn’t appear to be after the exact model of Wikipedia. The key differences being:

1. Authorship over anonymity: Knol will give prominence to authors -as opposed to the anonymity of Wikipedia authors who only recently could be tracked down by their IP addresses.

2. Censorship: It won’t be in the business of attempting to “bless any content.”

3. Financial incentive: Authors could make money if they choose to allow ads alongside content.

I see the first two options as definite Wikipedia killers, apart from the others that Steve Rubel outlines. The third is troubling, because this would invite all types of content creators who won’t have a problem identifying themselves, but could provide infomercial-quality content, and get paid to do it. Tech Crunch‘s Duncan Riley notes this also means a shift from indexing content to becoming the content provider.