February 3, 2000
Suddenly, Everybody's an Expert on Everything
Sites Turn Questions and Answers Into a Free-for-All, but Sometimes the Facts Get Trampled
By LISA GUERNSEY
scar Wilde is said to have defined an expert
as an ordinary man away from home giving
advice. Today, those words may be truer than
ever, with a few tweaks. An expert, it seems, is now an
ordinary person sitting at home, beaming advice over
the Internet to anyone who wants help.
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Maxine Hicks for The New York Times
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Bill Russo volunteers online as a triplets expert. He is with his wife,
Bettyanne, and from left, William, Marissa and Thomas.
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In the last few months, thousands of such ordinary
people have signed up to wear the label of online expert.
They are participating in a new breed of Web site that
tries to match people who have questions with people
who think they have answers.
Sites like ExpertCentral (expertcentral.com), XpertSite.com (xpertsite.com), KnowPost (knowpost.com)
and EXP (exp.com) have been open for only a few
months but have already become virtual trading floors
where the currency is knowledge and the subjects jump
from brewing beer to filing taxes and cheating at poker.
Others, like Deja.com (deja.com) and the just-opened
Abuzz (www.abuzz.com), are more free-form, guiding
users to online bulletin boards that are populated with
people eager to offer their two cents' worth.
These sites, often called expert sites or knowledge
networks, represent the latest stage in the Internet's
evolution, the people who have created them say. For
years, computer users have tried to find answers on
line by sifting through frequently asked questions on
Web pages or typing keywords into search engines.
Many people have also tried posting questions to newsgroups or other discussion groups linked by e-mail.
But something was missing, the founders of these
new sites argue. What people need, they say, is human
intervention, real answers that are fast, personalized
and -- unlike much information in online discussion
groups -- easy to find. Expert sites are trying to
provide the technology to make that happen -- and they
are betting that enough real people will be willing and
able to answer even the most obscure queries.
"People have questions like, I'm moving from Cincinnati to Seattle, what are the best things to know?" said
Udai Shekawat, vice president for marketing and business development for Xpertsite.com. "We will try to
give you a customized answer."
Dealing with real people, however, is not always easy.
Sure, it can result in heartwarming interactions with
people who want to help for purely altruistic reasons.
But it also means coping with people who have real
needs to make money, who have real desires to build
reputations, or who, at the worst, have real delusions
about whether they know what they are talking about.
"Anybody can be an expert now, at least on the things
they have personally experienced," said
Paul Resnick, a professor at the University
of Michigan's School of Information who
studies the interaction between people and
computers. The result, he said, is "a democratization of information publishing" and a
"democratization of expertise."
But he added that it was more important
than ever to be wary. "Just because someone says something doesn't mean it's true,"
he said.
Ron Conlin, corporate research director
for J. D. Power & Associates, a company
that conducts consumer surveys, has
stronger words for the phenomenon. He
calls it "pseudoresearch."
"We are seeing a lot of questions being
asked very inappropriately to the wrong
kinds of people," he said, "and the wrong
information is transmitted."
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The `democratization of
expertise' can lead to
error and opportunism.
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Some people who might be considered
established information experts, like librarians and professors, say the commercialization of expert sites could taint the information from such traditional sources. Some of
the sites, like EXP, hope to generate revenue by encouraging their experts to charge
for their advice and then pocketing a percentage of the fees. Others, like Xpertsite.com (which will be renamed AskMe.com at
the end of the month) plan to make commissions on whatever is purchased as a result
of their experts' suggestions.
For now, however, many of the answers
offered on these sites (and available for
viewing) have nothing to do with product
recommendations but are a mixed bag of
information. Abuzz, for example, is designed to be a variation of an online discussion board and sometimes elicits responses
that are simply off-hand remarks. (It is
owned by Times Company Digital, the Internet division of The New York Times Company.)
Each of the sites, however, displays at
least some thoughtful answers that appear
to come from kindly souls who have the time
to respond , without strings attached.
Bill Russo, for example, is an expert on
ExpertCentral. Ten years ago, he and his
wife had triplets, a result of the use of
fertility drugs.
Now he answers questions,
free of charge, about coping with the challenge. "We've had just about every problem
you can have, in triplicate," he said.
Mr. Russo gets several questions a day,
which he answers while sitting in his den at
night, usually after testing his ideas with his
family during dinner. Some of the requests
he has received, he said, are personal questions about the emotional repercussions of
multiple births -- questions that, experts in
library science say, are typically not asked
of reference librarians or even of counseling
professionals, who might seem intimidating.
"I think sometimes people are looking to
avoid going to a professional," Mr. Russo
said. "Sometimes it's easier to not be face to
face with someone." Visitors to most of
these expert sites can disguise their identities by adopting screen names and can even
choose to have their questions and answers
hidden from public view.
As an expert, however, Mr. Russo makes
every attempt to disclose his identity. He
uses the screen name of "bill.russo," has a
Web site at www.bill.russo.com and offers
several paragraphs of information about
himself and his wife in his ExpertCentral
profile. "What I offer to you," he says in his
profile, "is the knowledge we have accumulated over the years."
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CONSUMER INFORMATION
Just how helpful can expert sites be?
Here are a few answers received in response to a question posted on several
sites last week. The question: If I make
scrambled eggs in an old Teflon pan and
some of the Teflon flakes off in my eggs,
should I be worried about it?
EXPERTCENTRAL.COM
You should not be worried. Teflon is inert to most chemicals, which means it
does not react with other substances.
Here's a link to DuPont's Web site for
more information.
KNOWPOST.COM
I probably would not eat the eggs but if
you did I doubt there will be a problem. If
you are truly concerned, give your local
emergency room a call.
XPERTSITE.COM
Worried if you accidentally swallow a
Teflon flake or two? Unlikely it will do any
serious damage.
I would throw that pan out! I do not recommend non-stick cookware to anyone.
ABUZZ
Don't worry about it. Now your stomach is Teflon coated. Nothing will bother
you. The flakes might be slightly irritating
to your GI tract due to physical characteristics (i.e., irregular, sharp edges, etc.)
My guess is that it's probably not a huge
problem.
More Sites
Seeking a quick answer?
KEEN.COM
WEBHELP
Willing to pay for online advice?
EXP
GURO.COM
INFOROCKET.COM
Seeking product advice?
DEJA.COM
EPINIONS.COM
PRODUCTOPIA
WEPICK.COM (To open next month.)
Seeking how-to articles or essays?
ABOUT.COM
CONSUMER REPORTS ONLINE (By subscription.)
EHOW
LOOKSMART
Have a question for a librarian? You may first want to try the Web site of your local public library.
Other options include:
INTERNET PUBLIC LIBRARY
VIRTUAL REFERENCE DESK
Want an educational site created by an institutions like the Microscopy Society of America?
You can find such sites at:
THE ASKA+ LOCATOR
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But what happens if the people answering
questions are less open about their credentials -- or about what motivates them?
EXP, a site that encourages people to pay at
least a few dollars for expert advice, offers
an expert named Austin who purports to be
a guru on nutrition, stress management and
other health-related subjects. Under the
heading titled Background in the profile
area, Austin writes: "It's not my experience
that you care about. It's your problem."
The creators of expert sites want users to
judge for themselves who can best answer
their questions, and most of them have
posted lengthy disclaimers about their lack
of responsibility for harmful advice. But
they do offer some guideposts to steer people away from suspect "experts" and point
them toward people who are forthcoming
about their credentials. The sites have
adopted rating systems similar to the one
used on eBay, which asks buyers to rate
sellers and sellers to rate buyers. In the
case of the expert sites, each expert is given
a rating.
Abuzz, for example, depicts the number of
good reviews a person has received by
putting pictures of starbursts -- which it
calls "applause" -- next to their names. The
site, also offers statistics on how many
questions each person has answered.
Those who have answered more questions
than the vast majority of Abuzz users are
listed as "top people." One is Nance Douglas, an elementary schoolteacher who has
answered more than 630 questions since the
site opened for testing in September.
Those rating systems are, in a sense, the
sites' attempt to build new frameworks of
credibility. They want to be anti-elitist
spaces filled with "real answers" that have
not been edited or vetted by professionals,
yet at the same time they are encouraging
people to build their own hierarchies, to
review their peers.
Debbi Craig, a woman has used ExpertCentral as both a questioner and an expert,
has already subscribed to that notion.
"When looking for an expert," she wrote in
an e-mail interview, "find one that has
answered at least five or more questions
and has a rating of three or higher." As a
self-described expert on herbs, fertility and
marriage relationships, Ms. Craig has so far
answered 18 questions and received a rating
of four out of five bull's-eyes.
But, as many librarians and social scientists ask, who is evaluating the evaluators?
Some eBay users, for example, say they
have seen sellers rig the system -- by
selling bogus items to relatives, for example
-- to bolster their ratings. And some people
may give good reviews even if they have not
tested the advice yet.
A man named Jack, for example, recently
posted a request on ExpertCentral, asking
for recommendations for exotic scuba diving sites. Someone going by the name Thomashemphill replied that same day, suggesting that Jack try Micronesia. Jack replied, "Thanks. You answered my question
perfectly," and gave Thomas the highest
possible rating. But what if Jack actually
went to Micronesia and found that it was an
awful place to dive?
Trust and credibility become even more
significant, analysts say, when experts are
offering medical and financial advice. Holly
Atkinson, a doctor in New York who is now
running a Web site called Healthanswers.com, worries that people might get medical
advice from "any Joe Blow" -- perhaps
leading them astray and keeping them from
seeking professional help. "There are people out there who are misrepresenting
themselves," she said.
One person who offers medical advice
through an expert site is Tim Birdsall of
Colorado. Since ExpertCentral opened in
October, Mr. Birdsall has answered 55 questions about naturopathic medicine and
achieved a rating of four out of five bull's-eyes. In his extensive online profile, he calls
himself "Dr. Birdsall," but he also explains
that he is an N.D., which stands for doctor of
naturopathy, not an M.D. He has offered
advice on a number of subjects, like using
herbal therapies for prostate cancer and
treating a sty with a hot compress.
When asked in an interview if he expected
that most of his questioners knew the difference between a naturopathic doctor and a
conventional physician, he replied, "I'm
sure that a lot of them do not." But he added
that most users considered the site a "buyer
beware" environment. "The point," he said,
"is that whether it is hepatitis or Beanie
Babies, everyone has some expertise."
Mike Venso for The New York Times
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Debbi Craig of Lewiston, Idaho, is among the people who have signed on as
experts at Web sites. She takes questions about herbs, fertility and
marriage on ExpertCentral.
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For now, Mr. Birdsall has answered nearly all of the questions posed to him without
charging a cent. But he said that would not
last forever. "I've done a lot more gratis
work initially than I will do down the road,"
he said. He is using ExpertCentral, he acknowledged, to make a name for himself
and gain more paying clients worldwide.
When Mr. Birdsall does start charging
clients, ExpertCentral will pocket 15 percent of the revenue he generates from queries on the site. He expects to charge fees
that are slightly less expensive than his
usual rates, $50 to $120 an hour.
Xpertsite.com plans to use a similar system. But Mr. Shekawat also plans to derive
commissions from products that are sold
based on experts' referrals. A runner answering questions about running shoes, for
example, might suggest her favorite brand,
along with a link to that brand's shopping
site. Under this model, Mr. Shekawat said,
experts will get a percentage of the purchase price and Xpertsite.com will get a
percentage of that percentage.
"We already
have merchants who want our experts to
recommend their products," he said.
Traditional vetters of information, like
librarians and editors, voice strong doubts
about such a model.
David Carter, for example, has seen his share of online questions as
the head of the Internet Public Library, run
by the University of Michigan. Visitors to
the Internet Public Library may send e-mail questions to volunteers. The volunteers
are trusted, Mr. Carter said, partly because
of their independence from commercial interests.
"If someone is getting a kickback from
Nike," Mr. Carter said, offering a theoretical example, "you have to ask, Is there
objectivity behind that information?" But
Jonathan Glick, founder of a soon-to-be-opened site called WePick.com
(wepick.com), said he expected that users would not
have a problem with such recommendations
if the information was helpful. WePick.com
plans to help people stake out online spaces
in which they can recommend products and
get commissions on their recommendations.
As long as the commercial interests are
"transparent," Mr. Glick said, "people will
understand exactly what they are getting."
The risk, of course, is that people will
indeed understand exactly what they are
getting -- and will avoid these sites for that
very reason. Remember newsgroups? In
the beginning, they offered the unfettered
exchange of ideas; they were online bulletin
boards where people could ask for help and
often receive it. Now, many newsgroups are
nothing but black holes swirling with classified advertisements, unanswered questions
and questionable answers.
The legitimacy of the Oscar Wilde quotation -- "the ordinary man away from home
giving advice" -- may be a case in point. At
least half a dozen people have posted the
quotation on Web pages, attributing it to
Wilde without referring to an essay, a play
or an occasion. But references like The
Oxford Dictionary of Quotations do not list
it. And a search of Wilde's most well-known
works turns up no reference to it at all.
What better time to ask an online expert?
A query about the quotation was posted on
Knowpost.com, and an anonymous person
offered an answer within minutes. It was a
list of three Web sites that had posted the
quotation and credited it to Wilde, yet the
sites offered no information about the quotation's origins. They looked strikingly familiar. These were, in fact, some of the same
sites that had led to the need to ask the
question in the first place.
Related Sites
These sites are not part of The New York Times on the Web, and The Times has no control over their content or availability.
expertcentral.com
XpertSite.com
knowpost.com
exp.com
deja.com
www.abuzz.com
www.bill.russo.com
wepick.com
