Anyone whoever searches using Google will know that Wikipedia more often then not appears in the search results.
It’s interested to read (from the BBC) that:
Google has kicked off a project to create an authoritative store of information about any and every topic.
The search giant has already started inviting people to write about the subject on which they are known to be an expert.
Google said it would not act as editor for the project but will provide the tools and infrastructure for the pages.
Many experts see the initiative as an attack on the widely used Wikipedia communal encyclopaedia.
It will be interesting to see how this will work out. I also wonder what will be the impact of such a project on the search results in Google, will Wikipedia be pushed out, in other words will the Google algorithim be changed to favour Google’s site over Wikipedia.
From a learning perspective, it certainly means that there will be another site which students can use, but whether it will be as good or as bad as Wikipedia (depending on which subject you look at) it can only be a good thing that there is going to be more (good) information available freely to learners to support their learning.