Google has launched its own version of communally constructed online encyclopedia Wikipedia, which consistently ranks among the most visited websites in the world.
The Internet search powerhouse went live late Wednesday with a free service dubbed "Knol," to indicate a unit of knowledge.
While Wikipedia lets any visitors make changes to its online pages, trusting that people with accurate information will correct errors and misleading entries, Google lets folks author their own articles.
"Every knol will have an author, or group of authors, who put their name behind their content," Google product manager Cedric Dupont and software engineer Michael McNally said in a posting on the Google website.
"It's their knol, their voice, their opinion. An enormous amount of information resides in peoples' heads: millions of people know useful things and billions more could benefit from that knowledge."
People get to post their pictures and pedigrees in knols and are able to designate who can contribute to their postings.
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