Knol: too soon for Google scrap heap
Evidently trying to inject a little more life into its Knol project for sharing and storing bits of information, Google has begun a Knol for Dummies.com contest.
With a grand prize of $1,000, the contest isn't likely to stimulate the economy out of recession, but it was enough to spur Silicon Alley Insider's Eric Krangel to wonder why Knol is still alive. He's not the only one: my colleague Rafe Needleman suggested Knol is a good candidate for cancelation based on its buzz-free state.
Here's how I see it, though. Knol may not be the vaunted Wikipedia-slayer that some thought Google wanted to be, but it's probably not a huge drag on Google resources, so why not let it live? Knol is nascent today, but if Google can attract content and readers, Knol has the benefit of leverage: the labor of a few Google programmers can be amplified by the voluntary labor of outsiders to produce something useful without Google having to spend much.
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