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

[Steven E. Patamia, Ph.D.]

Hi Bernie,

   I think we agree that when Google Answers folded it was a bad sign
for the viability of the idea.  I recall that Google answers tended to
fetched a higher financial reward than Mahalo and what little I saw of
it reflected much more serious research efforts.  I am not quite sure
whether Google explained why it closed it up (a research project!) as
it probably didn't cost them much to host it.  I do think that Mahalo
has a poor chance of reaching self-perpetuation -- but I don't wish
them ill nor do I claim to see the future that precisely.

   What you and I are sensing is that there is something missing or
poorly conceived about the way answer systems like Mahalo and even
Yahoo work.  As a librarian, you are quite naturally intrigued by the
implications.  I am curious for slightly different reasons.

   In a perfect world, (as you view it of course<g>) what role should
librarians play in contributing to ad hoc information requests?

On 12/16/08, B.G. Sloan <bgsloan2 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>  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
>
>
>

-- 
Steven E. Patamia, Ph.D., J.D.
Personal Cell: (352) 219-6592