Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Google Vs Wikipedia

Bill talks about Google's potential decline in the wake of more sophisticated versions of Wikipedia. Being a big fan of Google, I am not sure I know how to respond, without getting a bit emotional. But then I am a fan of Wikipedia as well. :-) Coincidentally, the other day, when I was in a local KM community meeting, someone spoke about an article that apparently suggests that the birth of effective and meaningful social networking hints at the death of search. That was surely an Aa..ha! moment for me and I continue to entertain the idea. (After all, it is akin to organizational KM's shift from repositories to communities...isn't it?) Only time can tell how true this prediction is going to turn out to be. But here's some food for thought....whenever I want to learn about something brand new, I tend to visit the Wikipedia while I go to Google if I am looking for a specific article or ideas on something I am somewhat familiar with. Does this tell you something? And, btw, how do you choose between W and G?

Bill points to this elaborate article on Google Vs Wikipedia 3.0.

Update: Atul's interpretation of this post has made this debate/dialogue even more interesting. Go here to read his thoughts and my response to them.

5 comments:

Atul said...

blogged about this idea of search going obsolete ...

http://atulrai1.blogspot.com/2008/10/search-or-communities.html

i guess you neednt get too emotional for google! :-)

Nimmy said...

hey atul...thanks for the food for thought. there are so many ways in which we can interpret this whole debate. i agree that repositories will not go away...but here's what may happen....i start paying attention only to content that is recommended by someone from my network. i dont search for content....i happen to look at it because someone brought it to my notice. (different from a situation that involves problem solving - where, once again, i may ask my fellow KMer to lead me to content rather than search for it). i am not sure if you would agree with me...but i think the idea is this....

- let's assume that i have an exhaustive network of KMers (mostly people who are worth listening to) via my blog, RSS, linkedin, facebook, plaxo and twitter. ok?
- somehow or the other, i get to hear about the latest tidbit, content, article, thought, idea from one or more of these networks. thus the content comes to me...rather than my going and searching for it! i dont happen to be using google...for i invariably get links from twitter and RSS to anything that happens to be worthwhile!!
- and when it comes to reactive situations like problem-solving, let's assume i once again rely on my LinkedIn queries and prefer to look up what is recommended by my network rather than google it!

so...you see where this is going? less reliance on google (search) and more reliance on networks to get to content...at least, this is what my interpretation is! :-)

PS: The irony is that there will have to be someone - maybe 1% - of the network that does some original research (and search ;-)) and passes it on to the rest! what this implies is the world may increasingly run on the original ideas of a few...which may of course be modified by others and slowly change shape.

Subash said...

Nimmy,

I once asked my mom if you are stuck on what to do when you access internet what will you do?

She immediately replied I will google. I was very surprised I have only once thought her about google and she felt comfortable using it. May be I should have thought about wikis too to her. But people who are around 50+ now feel so comfortable with google

Our Generation is trying to use both and wikis and search and we mostly get what we are looking for

My serious concerns is for the next generation kids who would be in a information overloaded world.What will they go for ... i personally feel G and W will continue to coexist the way they are

SM said...

hi

i just wanted to point out that there will not be end of google G AND W is like two diffeent dishes foods like today u will eat have a taste of candy tomorrow you will want icecream just same way there will be google and wiki side by side

see you later
mitesh
http://realityviews.blogspot.com/

Nimmy said...

hey subash and sm...
thanks a ton for leaving your thoughts here....i quite agree that these two are different fares...like i'd mentioned on atul's blog....i guess this is not a game of disappearing choices but of slightly shifting choices...
subash; good point on how each generation may face the information overload challenge
sm: like your example of candy vs ice-cream... :)