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Mahalo: a new type of knowledge exchange.
There’s a new kid on the web answer block. And this one looks a little different.
Launched in Beta on December 15th by CEO Jason Calacanis, Mahalo Answers is a knowledge exchange service that operates with the backbone of a social network, a network of answerers motivated both by good will and by the potential to earn points/dollars for providing quality answers.
Mahalo users post questions for answering by other users. Question posters are encouraged to offer tips for the best responses to their queries. The transaction occurs via Pay Pal. The virtual currency, distributed in Mahalo Dollars is currently worth $0.75.
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Before we develop any righteous library indignation over why folks might want to pay for a Q & A service that their state or public library system likely offers for free, with reliable quality, it may help to examine the types of questions coming across the Mahalo virtual reference desk.
It looks like the questions may not coming from super savvy information professionals. And it looks like the questions are not those that might be answered with a quick Google or Wikipedia or referency Answers.com search.
Among the current Mahalo questions:
- What Makes a video game good?
- What is the best college in the northeast to get undergraduate training in tech theater and for acting?
- If you could only teach your child(ren) one lesson in life what would it be?
Mahalo-type questions seem to invite judgment from specialists, hobbyists, enthusiasts. But in that way it resembles other free, community-driven, cooperative, and noncompetitive sites. Say, for instance Wikianswers, a sister site of Answers.com or the very popular Yahoo! Answers.
The site describes the process following the posting of a query:
our rabid group of researchers–both employed directly by Mahalo and not–will race to answer your question.
In a day you’ll probably be faced with the difficult task of selecting which answer was best and awarding the five dollars. If you didn’t get an answer, you can rescind your tip–but be careful rescinding tips too often, as it goes on your profile (aka permanent record).
Like other Q & A sites, questions are archived in subject categories for browsing. Persistent questions are added to a fast facts section. Information consumers may leave e-Bay-like feedback to their question answerers.
Calacanis hopes that the site may develop a cottage industry of traditional, and not so traditional, experts and he imagines the following possibilities:
1. A lawyer could quickly and cheaply review the advice and information given to you by other lawyers.
2. A professional copywriter could directly review sales proposals and websites through the system, with no need to reveal the information exchange to the public.
3. A PR expert could write press releases.
What about out-of-work librarians?
So, will Mahalo Answers take off?
The market will tell, of course.
But a pay-to-play player seems a little incongruous on this open source, Web 2.0, for-the-good-of-the-community block. A block where folks have free options for very similar services. Most of the networked folks I know, network without financial incentive. Maybe those folks are not the intended Mahalo market.
Will a pay-to-play player make it tighter times when free options abound?
Time (and this crazy market) will tell. What do you think about this reference model?
Filed under: Uncategorized
About Joyce Valenza
Joyce is an Assistant Professor of Teaching at Rutgers University School of Information and Communication, a technology writer, speaker, blogger and learner. Follow her on Twitter: @joycevalenza
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