The Oxford Knowledge Company

One of the best tips I picked up at Online Information 2000 was this: when teaching people to search for information first remind them that the best and quickest way is to ask someone who knows.

According to a study conducted on behalf of WebTop (the UK, Cambridge-based search engine company), 49% of people surveyed had experienced "search engine rage" - anger when search engines don't find what you need. I've been scouring the Web for these kind of statistics for the past four years and the picture is always a rosy one for those of us who are in the business of helping people extract information from the Web.

A terrifically glib summary of two current studies would be as follows: The Internet is now seen by most as the main source of information. And people need information several times a day. They can usually get it from the Web. But not without pain…

For the digital elite of New York City, it seems that Google has found fame as a place to check your date's credentials. Sound evidence of its rising popularity!

For quick and specific information: the score from last night's game, who won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1995, a recipe for carrot cake; these are things you can look up, print out and move on. This is information hunting and I maintain that anyone can be taught to do this.

And now there's yet another way to hunt for information on the Web - ask someone else, somewhere else in the world! In the past year, human-searching portals have sprung up let-right and center.

Since Oxford Knowledge offer a not unrelated service, we've been interested in the competitors in this field for some years now. Back in 1996 there was a service called Humansearch (don't bother looking at the relevant URL - the ownership has changed hands) and another called Answers.com. Both offered to answer your questions by searching the Internet, for free (HumanSearch) or for a small fee (Answers.com). Perhaps unsurprisingly, Humansearch disappeared. Answers.com, one of the first companies hatched at idealab, modified the business to provide sales query answering services to companies and survived.

There didn't seem to be much money in providing people with answers using the Web as your primary source.

Maybe the timing was wrong though, at least that must be the belief of the new cadre of companies who opened the stores in the past couple of years, offering knowledge-for-money.

The new kids go by the name of AskMe, Questico, Keen.com, Kasamba, ExpertCentral, KnowPost.com, Abuzz.com, Frenzi.com to name just a few. The business models may differ slightly but they can all share the broad classification as Knowledge Portals.

These sites offer answers to questions. The answer might be in someone's head, it might be found on the Web. The idea is that you can benefit both ways: answer other people's questions to earn cash or credits, pay for an answer when you need it.

And it is so simple! To cite just one example: at Questico you find an expert in the subject of interest, check out their fee rate, press the call button and wait. The expert answers only if available and is then put through to your phone number. The expert then answers your question in person and in real-time and your account is charged. You can then give feedback about your expert for other users to see.