Eideard

Google has opened its website Knol to the public allowing people to write about their areas of expertise under their bylines in a twist on encyclopedia Wikipedia, which allows anonymity…

The name of the service is a play on an individual unit of knowledge, Cedric DuPont said, and entries on the public website, knol.google.com, are called “knols”. Google conducted a limited test of the site beginning in December.

Knol has publishing tools similar to single blog pages. But unlike blogs, Knol encourages writers to reduce what they know about a topic to a single page that is not chronologically updated.

“What we want to get away from is ‘this last voice wins’ model which is very difficult if you are a busy professional,” DuPont said.

Google will allow Knol writers to run ads on their entries and will share income with them.

Hey, it could be interesting. Just as I wander through www.edge.org when looking for someone authoritative on scientific methods, I can picture certain categories – and writers – developing a reputation at www.knol.com.