Google takes Wikipedia idea to new level
Search colossus Google has said it will develop its own form of online social encyclopedia, called Knol.
The term Knol is defined as “a unit of knowledge.”
Google’s plans, while a bit vague, suggest it will hire and recruit experts on particular subjects to write authoritative articles about them, which it will rank.
“The key idea behind the Knol project is to highlight authors,” Google VP of Engineering Udi Manber wrote on the company’s blog. “Books have authors’ names right on the cover, news articles have bylines, scientific articles always have authors – but somehow the Web evolved without a strong standard to keep authors’ names highlighted. A Knol on a particular topic is meant to be the first thing someone who searches for this topic for the first time will want to read.”
The blog entry did not refer to Wikipedia, the well-known vast online encyclopedia, which is authored collectively and edited by anyone who creates a free account.
Google officials also said Knol will place ads alongside most articles and will share ad revenue with the authors of those particular entries.
Net trolls haunt candidates
The Web sites of presidential candidates or political bloggers are adjusting to the scourge of Net trolls. Those are people who spend hours each week visiting the official candidate site, posting negative comments and generally becoming a nuisance.
The Wall Street Journal recently tracked the efforts of Brian O’Neill, a 33-year-old part-time bartender and full-time college student, who has been marauding on Sen. Hillary Clinton’s Web site for the past few months, even though his posts attacking the candidate are frequently scrubbed from the site within hours.
He ended up haunting Clinton’s site because he’d already done the same at the sites of former Sen. John Edwards, Sen. Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee; and those sites had systematically banned him from returning.
O’Neill lives near Cincinnati and spends many hours per day working at a desk in the basement of the library on the campus of Northern Kentucky University in nearby Highland Heights.
As the number of trolls proliferates, many sites counterattack by banning them. The popular political blog, Daily Kos, estimates it bans about 10 trolls each week.
FBI building a massive tracker
The FBI will spend roughly $1 billion to build the world’s largest computer database of biometrics to give the government more ways to identify people at home and abroad, the Washington Post reported recently.
The FBI has already started compiling digital images of faces, fingerprints and palm patterns in its systems, the paper said.
In January, the agency — which focuses on violations of federal law, espionage by foreigners and terrorist activities — expects to award a 10-year contract to expand the amount and kinds of biometric information it receives, it said.
If successful, the system, called Next Generation Identification, will collect the biometric information in one place for identification and forensic purposes, the Post said.