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Searching Google, Where Internet Access is Scarce

Posted by timothy on from the guessing-isn't-quite-a-substitute dept.

Internet searching means that finding information mundane, obscure, or fantastically useful is just a few keystrokes away — but not if you're without a connection to the Internet (or can't read), both the norm for many of the world's poor. itwbennett writes "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."

4 of 130 comments (clear)

  1. better than sneaker net by maharg · · Score: 4, Funny

    I suppose we could call this 'speaker net'.

    --

    $ strings FTP.EXE | grep Copyright
    @(#) Copyright (c) 1983 The Regents of the University of California.
  2. Goatse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Person: "Operator, what is Goatse?"
    Operator: "Please hold"

    *4 seconds later*

    Operator: "AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH"

  3. Re:Put a computer where the intercom is! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    A voice connection can run on a crank.

    whereas it takes thousands of cranks to run slashdot.

  4. This answer is sponsored by Coca-Cola... by olsmeister · · Score: 2, Funny

    Your answer will be read after you listen to this short advertisement. You know it's just a matter of time.