I am in hearty agreement with Plato that "Knowledge is food for the soul." My oldest daughter, though not necessarily a fan of Plato, also agrees. She and I share a voracious appetite for learning and understanding the world around us. I love that about her. She continually asks questions about what she sees and we're both prone to distraction and to "chase rabbits" instead of staying on point (this column may be another example of rabbit chasing).

One of my seminary professors used to say, "If the rabbit has meat on it, go ahead and chase it…" He was odd. Nonetheless, as an undergraduate at the university library one afternoon when I should have been working on a paper about political game theory, I came across a book on statistics and was fascinated for hours--I used the knowledge I gained from the book to determine the number of possible combinations for the library's keyless door entry. After you factor out combinations that are too short, too simple or too long, there were surprisingly few combinations left to enter the Library Staff Only entrance--sorry--rabbit chasing again. At this point you're expecting something more interesting about how I used my newfound knowledge to gain unauthorized access to the library, find clues, and locate the never-before-discovered National Treasure…now THAT would be an interesting column.

National treasure and meaty rabbits aside, a place to feed the soul with the knowledge of others is Knol (knol.google.com). Knol (rhymes with "bowl") is yet another free beta application from Google. Released to the public in July of 2008, Knol strives to disseminate knowledge from the masses to the masses. A "knol" is defined by Google as a unit of knowledge and generally refers to an article about a specific topic. According to Udi Manber, Vice President of Engineering at Google, "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."

Although Knol may be compared to Wikipedia, it's a completely different animal (rabbit maybe?). Knol authors put their reputation on the line and generally open themselves up for comments while Wikipedia does neither. Knols are rated for quality and will help weed out the pedestrian or infomercial content that accompanies most popular Internet destinations.

Knol is where I go to get non-encyclopedic answers about everyday things: the swine flu, how to (and why) make buttermilk pancakes from scratch, learn how to pack for a trip to Jamaica, better understand the evolving cell phone text language your kids use (e.g., PITA isn't bread), how to create a podcast, speak Japanese, or even how to dance at a nightclub (imagine my disappointed that somebody wrote that before I had a chance).

You can collect knols and then publish your collection, maintain a list of favorite knols, subscribe to knol feeds and even download most knols as audio files to play on your iPod, iPhone, or other MP3 player. Most importantly, however, is that YOU can share your knowledge with the world by writing a knol. Everyone knows something about something, even if it's nothing. “I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about. (Oscar Wilde)" Oscar Wilde would have loved Seinfeld, an entire show about nothing.

I've written what I know about knol and chased a rabbit or two. Now you write what you know on knol. I look forward to learning from you. Technically yours.



Bott Technology Solutions solves computer and network problems and helps small to midsize businesses turn technology into a strategic advantage instead of an expense. Reach Greg Bott via e-mail at gregbott@bottinc.com or by cell, 601-616-8509. Greg’s professional experience includes consulting for Price Waterhouse’s Strategic Consulting Group, working as a Program Manager for Microsoft Corporation, and serving as Chief Technology Officer for several companies. He has a Master of Science in Software Engineering degree from the University of Texas and has presented at technical conferences across the world. He has published over a dozen works including the Microsoft Press Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure textbook, Customizing SharePoint, and the Microsoft ASP.Net Security Operations Guide.