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For your information
The Web has long been loaded with data, but nothing this helpful.
Info markets promise specialized answers to your every question.

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By Christopher Ott

August 3, 1999 | For every question you can answer on the Net (how do motorcycles work?), there's always a stumper (how can I synchronize the carburetors in my 1968 twin-engine BMW?). The Web may be an awesome information resource, but most of its data is static and often doesn't address the specific questions you want answered. However, that's quickly changing, as information markets -- online bazaars in which people can buy or sell expertise in real time -- are rolling out.

"Think of eBay, but where the underlying products being traded are pieces of information," suggests Michael J. Stern, who is president of Adeste.com, one of several information markets preparing imminent debuts. Stern's idea is to supplement the Web's vast array of freely available information with an offering of expertise that people are willing to pay for. The information markets will connect experts ranging from tax accountants to dog trainers with people who are willing to pay for their help, and the info market providers will take a cut of the transaction fee.

"We probably won't ever bother with questions like 'Where's the best place to get a steak in Seattle?'" Stern says. "But on the other hand, we do very well with questions like 'Can I deduct losses from the sale of a publicly traded partnership from capital gains income on my 1040?' -- where the answer depends on the facts and circumstances of the querier's individual tax return. Plugging these same questions into search engines yields nothing useful."

"What we're doing is creating a marketplace for expert advice and services," says Mark Benning, president of Advoco.com, another information market that's planning a fourth-quarter launch. The info markets work by encouraging experts to post information about themselves and their areas of specialty, while potential customers post questions they hope to answer. Either party can contact the other and arrange for the expertise to be conveyed for a set price. Some information markets, like Advoco, make the transaction very simple -- by charging a customer's credit card and cutting a check to the expert, minus the info market provider's commission.

"This is one of the first true examples of a market that wasn't possible before the Internet," says Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist at Apple and now CEO of Garage.com, a company that brings entrepreneurs and investors together. "It's not 'bricks to bits.' It's 'impossible to possible.'"

. Next page | "We've invented the Bat Computer"



 

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