Google is preparing to take on Wikipedia. They are setting up to launch a portal of knowledge called "Knol" (short for knowledge) that is going to take on the famous online encyclopedia. But, their plans are different than the way Wikipedia works.

On Wikipedia, anybody can add or edit an entry on the site. The idea behind it is that democratically we will arrive at the truth on any particular topic. There are moderators who moderate everything and ensure that the quality of the site stays high. Of course, there has been controversy over how the moderation of Wikipedia is executed.

Knol is going to do it differently. They intend to invite people who are authorities on a particular subject to author an entry on that subject. Additionally, authors will be allowed to attach advertising to their entries and share the revenues generated. Google has said that the intention is to bring attention to authors who have expertise on a particular topic. Apparently, the site will allow multiple, potentially competing entries on the same topic.

Knol is not currently public. It is in private testing and new knols (the name they’re giving the authors) are being invited privately to write for the site. Google states that it is an experiment and could potentially never seen the light of day. However, if it is to go public, we’re looking at a few months at least.

Will it even work? Obviously, having the Google name behind it is going to give it a huge boost. Being able to position itself well in Google searches also gives it a distinct advantage. Currently, Wikipedia articles often show up at the top of search results. Would that change?

It seems to me that the very model they are striving for puts it at a disadvantage to Wikipedia, however. Wikipedia, for example, remains non-commercial. On the other hand, Knol will allow advertising and revenue sharing. This is going to attract people out to make a buck, and that doesn’t always lend itself to true information.

Also, the model they are going for makes it more open to opinion pieces. Wikipedia tries to avoid opinion, and chances are if you try to inject pure opinion into a Wikipedia entry that somebody else is going to remove it. Knol allowing exclusive "ownership" of an article as well as competing articles on the same topic seems to mean Knol would be more of an article repository than an online encyclopedia.

So, I think Knol could do well. But, I don’t really see it as a direct competitor of Wikipedia. Yet.