Searching Where Google Can't

SPAM: Searching Where Google Can't 0

Submitted by

itwbennett

on Friday July 10 2009, @02:14PM

itwbennett writes "Believe it or not, there are parts of the world beyond Google's reach. And while most of us have happily assumed that their information needs are being met with SMS alerts, Rose Shuman developed a contraption for this under-served population called Question Box that is essentially a one-step-removed Internet search:
A villager presses a call button on a physical intercom device, located in their village, which connects them to a trained operator in a nearby town who's sitting in front of a computer attached to the Internet. A question is asked. While the questioner holds, the operator looks up the answer on the Internet and reads it back. All questions and answers are logged. For the villager there is no keyboard to deal with. No complex technology. No literacy issues.

This week, Jon Gosier, of Appfrica, launched a web site called World Wants to Know that displays the QuestionBox questions being asked in real time. As Jon put it, it's allowing 'searching where Google can't.' And providing remarkable insight into the real information needs of off-the-grid populations."
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