Using Free Expert Sites: From The Information Advisor

[Infoadvis2 at aol.com]

(Cross-posted: apologies for any duplication)

Greetings--Below is a summary and excerpt from the January  issue of The 
Information Advisor, which is an article that analyzes the various free 
expert sites. If there are questions or comments feel free to call or email 
me directly at rberkman at aol.com. The full article provides more details and 
names of expert sites.

(Other articles in the January 2001 issue include: a review of Mergent's 
FISOnline company information database, how to find corporate Webcasts, and 
techniques that search engines are using to increase their revenues) 

Robert Berkman
Editor
The Information Advisor
www.informationadvisor.com
Falmouth MA
508-540-5990
rberkman at aol.com

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(Excerpt from January, 2001 Information Advisor)

WHAT TO EXPECT ON THE FREE EXPERT SITES 

Suddenly, it seems, everyone's an expert. A slew of free "ask-an-expert" 
sites have popped up all over the Web, promising answers and advice-usually 
free-to your specific questions from "ordinary" people. But as a business 
information professional, how much trust should you put in these kinds of 
"experts .

Free vs. Fee
It should be noted that, while most of these ask-an-expert sites are free, 
others charge a fee for information. Some, like AskMe.com, will answer 
literally any question on any topic, while others specialize in answering 
questions on a particular subject.

There are other important differences as well. Some of these sites do not 
qualify their so-called experts, while others have a screening process in 
place. Certain sites serve primarily as showcases and marketing opportunities 
for consultants to find leads and get new business. And while most will 
provide you with your answers via e-mail, others, like Keen.com, rely on 
dispensing advice over the telephone.

The key question, of course, is whether the advice you get from these free 
experts is good advice, and when, if at all, should you consider using them 
as a source. We did some informal tests of about a dozen of the free sites, 
and were mostly disappointed. In a couple of cases we did, indeed, ultimately 
receive a correct answer to a difficult question, though it took a few days 
to finally get the response.  

A lack of consistently good results comes as no surprise, of course, given 
the fact that anyone can call him or herself an expert on most of these 
sites. But it may not mean that you should rule out using them. We'd say that 
you might give them a try under the following types of situations:

*   Your question is of a popular nature or related to a topic about which 
some people may be passionate. Say, for example, you need to find out about 
the impact of a certain lesser-known battle in World War I, or the name of 
the author of an obscure book of German poetry. 

*   Your question relates to a matter in which you need to obtain the actual 
experiences of people; e.g., you want to know how to perform a certain task 
on a computer.

*   Your question is not concrete and specific enough to get good results on 
a search engine. Fuzzy or more abstract questions are usually best put to a 
person, who can better understand what you are trying to find out, and then 
direct you to the appropriate resources; e.g., research on how Spanish women 
are portrayed in the media.

In choosing a free expert site, consider using one that is devoted to a 
specific topic, rather than using the general sites. Subject-specific sites 
are more likely to be populated with qualified and experienced experts. The 
"ask-a-linguist" site uses actual linguists to answer questions, and the 
"ask-a-philosopher" site is populated with philosophy professors. But the 
people who are answering questions on the general ask-an-expert sites can be 
anyone-though many of these sites do provide a short bio of their experts and 
allow the user to choose which expert to query.

An interesting twist on the free ask-an-expert concept that looks promising 
is a new venture begun by the Library of Congress called the Collaborative 
Digital Reference Service (www.loc.gov/rr/digiref). CDRS is a network of 
librarians around the nation who have agreed to profile their expertise and 
then share their knowledge by answering questions from around the country, 
and eventually, around the globe


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The Information Advisor, an international monthly journal founded in 1987, is 
a guide for information professionals, who rely on its articles to help them 
identify, compare and select the best business sources from the myriad of 
information products and services available, whether in print, on a 
professional database or on the Web.  Readers include business librarians, 
information brokers, market researchers, knowledge managers, competitive 
intelligence professionals and other hands-on researchers and information 
specialists. The January  issue  is available to non-subscribers for $20.  
Contact Ms. Sonia Bedikian at (212) 633-4539 or sbedikian at findsvp.com for 
further details.

The Information Advisor is published by FIND/SVP, Inc. (FSVP-NASDAQ), the 
global business advisory, research and consulting firm ( www.findsvp.com.)