Local Firm Creating a Map of Human Knowledge

The Fredericton startup is five years into the pre-commercialization of a set of online tools that promise to allow users around the world to learn about ideas and concepts visually for free, according to Mark D'Arcy, co-founder of the firm.

"What we want to do is from this browsable, clickable map of human knowledge, you can launch into a website, news site, Wikipedia," D'Arcy said.

"To find it (the topic) in the first place is what Knowledge Atlas is all about."

The entrepreneur believes his product - which he hopes to launch late this year or early in 2010 - will take the web by storm.

"The first year we're looking at tens of thousands (of users) and after that, it's anyone's guess."

D'Arcy is in the midst of changing the incorporated firm into a co-operative so members can have a say in business operations.

"Certainly our goal is to become the first and largest international social co-operative in the world. And we'll be a virtual co-operative," he said.

Learning tools like Wikipedia - similar to Knowledge Atlas - are averse to advertising, but allow donations, D'Arcy said.

"We're going to take a middle ground and go with sponsorship advertising."

Like Wikipedia, Knowledge Atlas will allow members across the globe to contribute information on certain subject areas, as well as sift through the website to learn.

But Knowledge Atlas is about providing context on top of information, D'Arcy explained.

"If you're interested in, say, renewable energy for your house, where do you start?" he said, pointing out the dilemma of using traditional search engines that pull up myriad results from different websites based on narrow search terms.

"You might know the keyword solar panel and you would probably get several tens of millions of hits with Google and Yahoo."

With Knowledge Atlas, D'Arcy envisions a user typing in the search term "solar panel" and an image of a solar panel popping up, surrounded by images of related subjects such as geothermal technology, wind turbines, etc. - with information on each displayed. "It's subtle but we believe that you have to see the context, not simply read the content."

Knowledge Atlas was incorporated in 2004 by D'Arcy and co-founder Andrew Haines and has received $250,000 in funding - about half from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and the rest from National Research Council Canada.

The firm's operations have also been supported by the founders and through corporate loans and lines of credit.

D'Arcy and Haines work in the company's Fredericton office with three others.

The software is nearing its beta-phase release where it will be tested by friends and family.

The entrepreneurs plan for it to be compatible with touch-screen computer monitors and portable devices such as Apple's iPhone. According to Haines, the firm's product is part of a growing social media trend online.

"What there is going on now is a social media landscape, with the advent of Wikipedia, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, which really allow for co-ordination and collaboration of people," Haines said.

But the concept of sharing information, he insists, is age old.

"It's really tapping into something that's very old and instinctive. People want to collaborate on things."

Harold Jarche, an e-learning consultant based in Sackville, said the Knowledge Atlas project - though unfamiliar to him - sounds similar to Wikipedia, which, though created with a small sum of money, fast outpaced Microsoft's online encyclopedia, Encarta, launched at nearly the same time.

He said the fact of the matter is that users who are passionate about a specific subject matter will contribute information online - to share - at no cost.

"If you offer stuff for free, which is what you're doing, people actually do this (post) for free," Jarche said of Wikipedia. "What they (Wikipedia) did is that they killed anybody else that wanted to charge for it."

The consultant said finding a way to make money off a collaborative open content learning platform is tricky.

"The tough thing is figuring out a business model that sustains you," he said.

"It's not easy, but it's possible."



REBECCA PENTY
Telegraph-Journal