Knol and Semantic Web

http://knol.google.com/k

...reading between the lines on this for awhile... Google is seemingly going to move in the semantic direction... this is a step... by referencing a Knol (or a Wiki link or any link to a definition) in an RDF, you define that element in the HTML hierarchy with a real meaning "a shark is an aquatic creature, yada yada". Search for "shark" not only pulls up hyperlinked web content (current legacy which uses headers, urls, hyperlinks... to relate search terms to highest relevance), but pulls up all in the 'web' defined, so it pulls up shark, the creature that swims, not Shark the former wide receiver for the Irish Jeff Samardijza, nor The Shark Greg Norman, for instance... it's a way to relate words with different definitions in a semantic way, which is a common and big problem to solve on the web. It also enables new automated ways for apps to talk with other apps. The web has been missing this step towards progressing.

Google doesn't want to be beholden to Wikipedia... and why should they be, they have the resources and the intelligence to pull this off and move it forward.

... those ahead of the curve, start thinking about and programming your internetz and interwebs semantically...

http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html