Google may challenge Wikipedia with new web service

Wikipedia could have some competition as Google is testing a new Web service, reports the New York Times.

The service could push Google from a search engine into a service that creates and publishes Web content. Critics say the new service could jeopardize Google's objectivity as a search engine, reports the Times.

With Knol, short for knowledge, people could create Web pages on any topic, reports the Times. Readers can also post comments, rate pages and suggest changes. Unlike Wikipedia, however, only the Knol author can edit entries. Different authors could post competing pages on the same topic.

The goal of Knol was to create the primary resource for first-time access on all subjects from science to medicine to history, said Udi Manber, Google's vice president for engineering, in a corporate blog Thursday.

The current leader of Web-based information is Wikipedia, which often turns up in the top spots on a Google search.

Other services have taken similar approaches, reports the Times. They include Yahoo Answers, Squidoo, Mahalo and About.com.

Manber and Google declined commenting on Knol to the New York Times. The search engine company said Knol was an experiment that, like many Google projects, may never reach the public.

Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia's founder, downplayed the possible competition from Google. He told the Times that Knol would allow for competing, opinionated articles while Wikipedia sought to maintain objectivity.