Google Groups 2

What can you do with Google Groups?

Search or browse for information
Want to learn about car repair? Have a question about computers? You can find a discussion or a group about it.

Make a group of your own
Why not start your own group? For your family, your softball team... Creating a group is easy – just pick a name and start inviting members.

Join a group
Find something you like? Join straight away, or request an invitation if it's a private group.

Discuss online or over email

Join in on what others are talking about
From within a group, you can reply to a message that someone else posted, or post a message or question of your own

Start a discussion in your own group
Create a group of your own so you can get in touch and keep in touch with your group’s members.

Discuss online or over email
You can choose whether you want to read and post messages online, or to just use your current email account to read and respond.

Create rich, custom pages

Create web pages right inside your group
Use it for information about your group, shared documents, or anything you want to publish online. Any member can view, contribute to, and comment on the pages, from right within your group.

Build a knowledge base
Capture the content and information that may already be in your discussions, in a way that’s more easily accessible. Have a group for discussing the best restaurants in your area? Why not create a page that lists members’ favorite restaurants?

Customize your look and graphics

Make it your own
No two groups are the same, so why should they look the same? Select pictures, colors and styles to give your group its own distinct look.

Share files and member information

Upload files
Group members can upload files and share their work with others in the group.

Learn more about each other
Each member of a group can create a profile, including a picture and quote. Now you can share information about yourself, and even find other members using search.

Try it out

Related:

Google Knol Beta

Knol is a Google project which aims to include user-written articles on a range of topics.

Introduction to Knol

What knols are and how they work

By Knol Help

The Knol site has one goal: to help you share what you know

The Knol project is a site that hosts many knols — units of knowledge — written about various subjects. The authors of the knols can take credit for their writing, provide credentials, and elicit reviews and comments. Users can provide feedback, comments, and related information. So the Knol project is a platform for sharing information, with multiple cues that help you evaluate the quality and veracity of information.

Knols are indexed by the big search engines, of course. And well-written knols become popular the same as regular web pages. The Knol site allows anyone to write and manage knols through a browser on any computer.

So what subjects can I write on?

(Almost) anything you like. You pick the subject and write it the way you see fit. We don't edit knols nor do we try to enforce any particular viewpoint – your knol should be written as you want it to be written. Of course, knols are

subject to Terms of Service and Content Policy to ensure a good experience for all users and compliance with applicable laws.

What if someone else has already written an article on that subject?

No problem, you can still write your own article. In fact, the Knol project is a forum for encouraging individual voices and perspectives on topics. As mentioned, no one else can edit your knol (unless you permit it) or mandate how you write about a topic. If you do a search on a topic, you may very well see more than one knol in the search results. Of course, people are free to disagree with you, to write their own knols, to post comments and ratings.

Can I collaborate with other authors?

Of course. For each knol you can choose to write on your own or collaborate with other authors.

Can I write knols in languages other than English?

Absolutely. However, it will take us some time to localize the interface into various languages. Sorry, we cannot pre-announce when any given language will be available.

Can I search for knols on a specific subject?

Yes, you can search on Google or other search engines to find knols, like any other web pages. You can also use the Search button found on the Knol homepage and on each knol to search.

How do I get started writing my own knols?

Here are some links to knols that may be helpful to you:

Basics of Writing Knols

• Creating and publishing a new knol
• Entering text into a new or existing knol
• Using the formatting bar
  

Managing Knols

• Listing all of your knols
• Managing your author profile
  
• Managing versions of your knol
• Specifying settings for your knols

Advanced Knol Techniques

• Inserting Images
• Creating and formatting tables
• Creating links and references
• Working with the HTML source
• Changing your bio/profile

Best Practices: Writing Good Knols

• Things to do
• Things to avoid
• Publishing tips for authors

Knol Bugs and Current Issues

• Indexing and search
  
• Internationalization and localization
  
• Stability, reliability, latency
• Content Features
• Other Features
  

Where else can I discuss or get help on Knol?

Several authors have noticed that there is a forum at http://groups.google.com/group/knol-users/topics where people share tips and tricks about Knol. Keep in mind that this forum is user-driven and not moderated by the Knol team (although we do take a peek from time to time to look for great suggestions...)

Have other questions? You can also send us email at knolhelp@google.com.

Related: