Wolfram has certainly been very good at publicizing this new service. I've seen such claims before. The proof is in the pudding. I am dubious.
________________________________________
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries [NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Alexander Johannesen [alexander.johannesen_at_GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Monday, May 04, 2009 3:56 AM
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Another nail in the coffin
On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 17:45, Weinheimer Jim <j.weinheimer_at_aur.edu> wrote:
> While I can't class myself as a naysayer, I do see that this project does not really overlap with librarianship (or it doesn't have to, anyway). From what I see of Wolfram Alpha, it is designed to be a giant "answer machine" which will respond to natural language questions to provide someone an answer.
About half-way through in the Q&A there's a question about its role
with libraries, and Wolfram answers that they've got about 90% of all
reference library enquiries covered. The only thing they don't really
do (and don't want to do) is details about people.
Alex
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Received on Mon May 04 2009 - 08:57:14 EDT