I found this via digg. No guides responded to my searches at 8:22am CST -- maybe they were all busy or still in bed? This is an interesting concept though -- Hey! I think I have a name for it. Let's call it "Virtual Reference".
ChaCha Search - Connect and search with a live ChaCha Guide | | Our Story: "ChaCha has set out to create a better search engine. But this is no easy task and will take some time to be perfected.
Scott Jones and Brad Bostic, two dynamic entrepreneurs, were not satisfied with millions of irrelevant search results and thought there could be a better experience. So the ChaCha team has been hard at work to create:
* A smart search engine powered by human intelligence.
* A place to find exactly what you're looking for without sifting through millions of results.
* Intelligent search results from people who are knowledgeable about the very thing you are looking for.
Remember, ChaCha is all about making the web more accessible, by giving you the most relevant results you need. And it's your choice whether to search with or without a guide. So come join our experiment and have some fun!
Why Search with a Guide?
By searching with a Guide your query is sent to a real person who is skilled at finding information on the internet and knowledgable on the subject at hand so that you get the few exact results you want, not the millions of results you don't.
ChaCha only provides quality, human approved results.
How does it work?
When your query is submitted it is sent to a Guide who is knowledgable in the topic you're searching."
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
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2 comments:
I just wanted to point out that, as a ChaCha guide, I can say that we are not knowledgeable in the topics users search about. We are given the option to sign up for keywords which we are knowledgeable in but the search queries that come from outsiders hardly ever apply to our keywords so their existence is kind of pointless. As a guide you could sign up for the "gardening" keyword and receive searches for "death metal music".
Thanks for the insight and stopping by LibraryStories!
I think one of my biggest concerns as, as both an information professional and a consumer of information, is what kind of training do these individuals have? How am I guaranteed that this person has the skills necessary to evaluate the resources they are recommending to me? I hope there is more to becoming a guide than what's listed on their "Become a guide page"...
http://www.chacha.com/info/guidesignup
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