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July 25, 2008
Chatting on the grassy Knol
Looks like Ananda started playing on Google's grassy Knol around the same time as I did. I posted this as a comment on his post [below], but we seem to be having the occasional problem with comments, so I'lll post it here too. It's supposedly designed to make it easier to locate and grade information according to authors, who apparently have been shy about contributing their knowledge to the world. It certainly seems to have inspired authors from the world of medicine. Knol has quickly become a compelling site if you want to learn about Atrial Septal Defect, and Occult Gastrointestinal Bleeding, and Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, which, somehow, I don't.
I suppose the rating system might become an indicator of quality, although something tells me that we will quickly see the equivalent of search optimisation techniques that make it roughly as fair and substance-free as, say, the Tour de France. So far I'm impressed by the way you can import, say, a Word document.
There's an instructive piece on using Knol.
And while I'm not sure I really wanted to have barbecue defined in the way it's defined here, I notice there are links there already to, for instance, the Taxonomy of Sauces, which could completely alter your attitude to tossing a shrimp on the barbie.
Looks like this could become a bigger hit than the iPhone. At least in those circles that are dying for a good chat about atrial septal defect.
Posted by cw at July 25, 2008 11:18 AM
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