[Web4lib] Mahalo Answers - The latest commercial virtual reference wrinkle

[B.G. Sloan]

Steven Patamia asks:

"...would somebody PLEASE explain to me WHY any librarian would WANT to spend their time answering questions in this manner?   I can imagine some answers, but I'd really want to hear from librarians why they are either worried or enamored of this.  Maybe I am missing something important -- would not be the first time<g>!"

I wasn't suggesting that librarians should want to participate in Q&A services like Mahalo Answers, and I wasn't saying that librarians should necessarily be worried about or enamored of these services. I was just pointing out yet another commercial Q&A service attempting to fill a niche that I've long held that librarians were ideally suited for: online reference services.

Sure, libraries offer online reference services, but I don't think they've come close to reaching the potential that I and others saw back in the early days of online/virtual reference in the mid-to-late 1990s.

Many of the commercial Q&A services have fallen by the wayside. And others, like Yahoo! Answers, have become more like social software sites than straightforward Q&A services.

When Google Answers folded I found myself thinking that if a company like Google, with all its dollars, can't make a Q&A service work...maybe there isn't a real market for these services? Maybe people are "satisficed" enough by the information they can find on their own? And maybe that's why library online/virtual reference services never really met the expectations held by the early pioneers of online/virtual reference...maybe there's not a big enough demand?

Bernie Sloan
Sora Associates
Bloomington, IN


--- On Tue, 12/16/08, Steven E. Patamia, Ph.D. <patamia at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Steven E. Patamia, Ph.D. <patamia at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Mahalo Answers - The latest commercial virtual reference wrinkle
> To: bgsloan2 at yahoo.com
> Cc: web4lib at webjunction.org
> Date: Tuesday, December 16, 2008, 12:58 AM
> Bernie et al.,
> 
>     Its a little out of field, but out of curiosity I
> checked out
> Mahalo and also read Jason's rationale for the service.
>  Actually, I
> was mildly attracted to the issue because in the  Institute
> we are
> planning collaborative problem solving and some open access
> to problem
> solvers (researchers) are indeed among our interests.
> 
>     So... Mahalo is indeed a lot like Yahoo Answers and
> similar
> offerings.  I followed a few threads that I happened to
> know something
> about.  I was not impressed.  More importantly, I am not
> convinced
> that the overall model is sustainable or should be, though
> I don't
> have a crystal ball and it will be interesting to see what
> happens.
>
[SNIP]