Experts Abound Online, But Beware of Bias

Staff -- Library Journal, 2/7/2000

The growth of new web sites like ExpertCentral, XpertSite.com, KnowPost, and EXP represent the increasing desire of online users for human intervention -- fast, personalized, and easy to find, reports the February 3 New York Times. But information experts are wary of some claiming to be everyday experts. "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. David Carter, who heads the Internet Public Library (IPL), notes that IPL's volunteer reference librarians are trusted, partly because of their independence from commercial interests. The Times warns that such sites could follow the pattern of newsgroups, which originally were online bulletin boards but now may be "black holes swirling with classified advertisements, unanswered questions and questionable answers."