Wednesday 8 October 2008

Knol debates: See both sides, get involved

As the election season builds to a climax, the candidates have been engaging in a number of debates. With all the excitement, we wanted to get involved, so we've started our own set of debates on our new tool Knol. The debates on Knol are meant to offer a variety of in-depth opinions from experts so you can really understand all sides of an issue.

Our first debate focuses on the economy. Economists from the Cato Institute and the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) have offered opening arguments on what should come next now that the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act is law. Take a look to see what they think -- but don't stop there. As with most articles in Knol, these are open to collaboration, so you can rate what you read, submit comments, write full responses (i.e. reviews),  or even suggest edits to the author by making changes right in the knol itself. These experts are using Knol because they want to collaborate with readers, and they are committed to updating the articles based on your input.

In addition, there's a forum where you can suggest additional topics that you'd like to see debated in our new tool Google Moderator.  As we prepare for the election, experts from leading think-tanks including Cato, EPI, the Heritage Foundation, and the Center for American Progress Action Fund will conduct similar debates on the issues you find the most important.

We hope these knols help inform your decision on election day, and we encourage you to voice your opinion.

Posted by Matt Ghering, Product Marketing Manager