To Knol or Not

Last January in Writing on a Bloggy Knol, I told you about Google's hush-hush secret web authoring project, Code Name, Knol. I didn't get invited to beta test this one, sigh. Yesterday, while I was looking elsewhere, Google announced the public release of Knol in the Official Goolgle Blog. It says, "Knols are authoritative articles about specific topics, written by people who know about those subjects. Today, we're making Knol available to everyone."

In the Blogger Buzz blog, however, it is suggested that Knol can be used to complement a blog. Ufortunately, it didn't explain how. A method of connecting a blog with a Knol is not mentioned, which is my interest. This product add more collaborative, interactive tools, including ways for readers to make suggestions, review or comment on a Knol, like an edited Wiki.

Sounds like a blog with benefits, to me. I'm thinking of authoritative people who already blog with extended posts that accumulate long chains of comments, including conversations among readers and with the author. Of course, it is not usual for the author to change the post in response to the comments, if that is the point of the Knol collaborative features.

You can try out Knol for yourself. Before you start one, you might want to brush up on the Basics of Writing a Knol, one of the only two availaable Knols on writing.