Google’s search is only a first step.   It usually doesn’t give you the exact answer to a question.   Usually, you end up doing more digging.   Google helps you to start the process, but that’s about it.

So, how does one make the web even more useful?   This is an especially difficult challenge within the enterprise.

How do you get people directly and quickly to an answer?

Wikipedia certainly represents a reasonable response, at least for certain types of knowledge.   Why bother going to Google to find out about the Black Dahlia, when you are pretty sure Wikipedia will be in the top 10 links, and is more likely to give you a good introduction to the subject.

But What about Tacit Knowledge?

I got thinking about this thanks to an interesting article by Dennis Howlett, entitled Tacit knowledge repositories: where real value resides.

Dennis talked about answering some questions on a new knowledge exchange site called Yedda.   Of his answers, Dennis says

It also struck me that much of what I was saying is tacit. In other words, it is knowledge I’ve acquired from experience. The kicker is that most of it is in my head rather than recorded anywhere useful.

[This is] where collaboration among professionals both internally and externally could make a quantum difference to a professional’s ability to service clients, improve knowledge and develop client relationships at a level way beyond where we’re at today. We have the technology to do that right now - if we’re brave enough to use them.

The formal questions and experts approach

Yedda takes an interesting approach to this problem.

They have set up a very slick, fun, easy to use social network around asking and answering these questions.

They have all the key features one would expect to see for success, including:

- Avatars

- Ratings of answers

- Widgets to link into your blog

- Answers that display a link to the person giving the answer.   This is ego motivation at it’s best.

- AJAX everywhere

- Tag clouds

- A very clean, simple, fun, easy to use interface

The only problem with Yedda is that you have to go to their site to participate.   This means you have to change your workflow.   It also means you have to establish another id.

The brilliance of Google was that they did not need to get people’s co-operation to start adding value.   Sure, Google today makes a huge chunk of their money with co-operation from bloggers who post ad words on their sites.   But that came after they established their success.

Requiring a change in behavior will be Yedda’s greatest challenge.   However, the rest of what they have put together is brilliant.   My bet is that they are a perfect target for someone like Microsoft or Google, both of whom need a product to compete against Yahoo! Answer.

The scalable approach: use semantic A.I. to leverage blogs

An Alpha stage search engine called Boorah points to an alternative approach.   It’s an approach that works now, straight out of the box, without having to change what people are doing today.

Boorah is a domain specific semantic search engine powered by some hard core artificial intelligence.

The first application is useful, but deceptively pedestrian.   In its first iteration, Boorah helps you find good restaurants.   It mines existing information already published in blogs, and gives you both a breakdown of the restaurants in your area by cuisine, and real comments from real people, as written in their blogs.   Here’s a typical summary review:

” Mmmm  good Pizza–though the place makes me feel like I’m eating in the back of an east coast bar from the 1970s–but maybe that’s the point.” …. “I love Haystack’s pizza but they also make a great meat lasagna.” …. “They gave me a corkscrew and 2 wine glass and one of the best pizza she’s ever had.” …. “So far its the absolute best ravioli, fresh baked bread, fried scallops and perfectly cooked vegtables I have ever tried anywhere.” …. “I love Haystack’s pizza but they also make a great meat lasagna.”

Imagine being able to apply Boorah’s search technology to topics like cars, books, or in an enterprise setting, imagine using Boorah to solve some of those difficult tacit knowledge problems that baffle most enterprise search engines today.

As full disclosure, I should let you know that I know one of Boorah’s founders.   Unfortunately for me, I don’t have any other stake in the company.