Wednesday, January 25, 2006

The Best KM Software Yet? Yahoo 'Answers' the Question

Okay, so if you've noticed, most of my posts don't talk about traditional KM systems (if there is such a thing), but I think I've found something very interesting that Yahoo has in beta now, http://answers.yahoo.com. With a Yahoo account, you can start using the system right away. The interface is very easy to use, allows you to associate your question to their taxonomy, tracks and rewards the number of questions you post and respond to and provides additional 'points' when your answer to a question is deemed the best by the asker. If you ask too many questions without responding to any, you eventually run out of points, which is a good way to ensure people contribute. The more points you rack up, the higher your rating is in the system. The system also allows you to browse questions by topic, conduct full-text searches among questions and check the status of questions you post or respond to. You'll also get e-mail notification when your questions are answered.

The methods and principles used by Yahoo Answers are basic and straightforward. Anyone with a sharp developer could build something similar to help capture and retrieve information at their firm, rather than this information being lost in the "All Attorney" e-mails that go out.

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