Wolfram|Alpha
May. 20, 2009 | by Jonathan Stewart
Wolfram Alpha is the new computational knowledge engine that everyone is talking about. If you’ve had your head in the “SEO sand” for the last month, Wolfram is the latest supposed Google killer – “it is an online service that answers factual queries directly by computing the answer from structured data, rather than providing a list of documents or web pages that might contain the answer as a search engine might”, according to Wikipedia.
So what does that really mean? Well, pose it a purchase related query, and you get the following response:
Wolfram really doesn’t know what to do – it’s not a search engine in the traditional sense. It doesn’t use spiders to crawl the internet – its knowledge is managed by a team of experts. But then this isn’t what Wolfram is for. I studied Maths at University, so I’m going to show off a bit here. I’m going to ask it to do some relatively simple Calculus:
Wolfram has answered my query perfectly, and this is exactly when this computational knowledge engine comes into its own. Compare this to the result that Google returns:
Here Google appears old and confused – not quite sure how to answer my query, it returns a muddled result. I still love Google BTW, it’ll just never be able to do my Maths homework.
So what does this mean for a wider set of queries? Ask it something simple like “cat”, and it returns a great deal of information – scientific name, taxonomy, other members of order carnivore, members of family Felidae, and the taxonomic network:
One of the nicest queries I’ve seen is when you start asking about your family relationships, and Wolfram presents you with a family tree:
So, what does this mean for search? Well, Wolfram Alpha is certainly a nice tool, but it’s more on a par with the likes of the Wiki or Encarta Encyclopedia than Google. I’ll still go to Google to find “cheap hotels in Boston”, but I’ll definitely go to Wolfram next time I need help doing a complex differential equation. And this is where Wolfram will come into its own – as a research engine, with its team of experts helping hordes of students with their GCSEs, A-Levels and Degrees.
Wolfram will become the place to go for scientific informational based queries, for which I currently have no stats as to how much of the search pie this group of queries relates to – I imagine it will be small though! Google killer it isn’t. In the long term, Google acquisition it might be. But for now, you should make sure you give it a try, and check out these Wolfram related Easter Eggs.
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Comments (6)
Joe Surely Wolfram Alpha is a competitor to something like Yahoo Answers rather than Google?May 29, 2009 12:02 am
Adam Boulton From the wolfram alpha FAQs looks like they are considering a few options:
Is Wolfram|Alpha free to use?
Yes, it's free for personal noncommercial use as described in its Terms of Use. Subscriptions will be available in the near future with enhanced features for large-scale and commercial use.
Does Wolfram|Alpha accept advertising?
At present, Wolfram|Alpha is concentrating on major corporate sponsorships. In the future, there may be opportunities for more targeted advertising. Contact us for information.
What is Wolfram|Alpha's business model?
Wolfram|Alpha represents the first deployment of a new kind of computing technology. Many different businesses will develop from Wolfram|Alpha and its technology.
May I build a business based on Wolfram|Alpha?
There are many potential opportunities, particularly around the Wolfram|Alpha API, distribution channels, and data curation. We intend to encourage the best possible business ecosystem around Wolfram|Alpha.
Is Wolfram|Alpha seeking partners?
Yes, particularly in relation to distribution and complementary content and services. Please contact us for details on business proposals.
http://www.wolframalpha.com/faqs.html
May 21, 2009 02:33 pm
Jonathan Stewart @adam Monetisation of Wolfram is interesting, but as it's still in its infancy I think they've still got a while to work on it - after all, Google still haven't cracked the very same issue with Youtube yet.
Perhaps it will go down the same route as the proposed Twitter business model - paid subscriptions for usage. It would have to prove it's worth as an invaluable tool to the general public first though.May 20, 2009 06:31 pm
Daniel I have run into problems trying to use Google for my calculus homework sometimes, so I'm excited by the potential of Wolfram. Also, as a non-technical person who has trouble remembering simple things like the periodic table, it's a handy reference when I need to know something sciencey and relatively obscure (for example, when I'm writing about the chemical composition of a certain type of sand, which has happened).
One problem I see with it in its current incarnation is the apparent lack of direct attribution. There's a sources page, but not a source on a specific data result. This can be problematic in cases like Ars Technica's:
“Data on my search result page indicated that, in 2003, global human activity led to 27 Gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions. But it also indicated that, in 2000, the US produced 40 Gigatons during cement production alone. One of these has got to be wrong, and Alpha gives you absolutely no way of finding out which …” (as quoted at newsy.com)
May 20, 2009 04:24 pm
Adam Boulton One of the things I think is interesting, is the potential commercialization of the service and some of the IP and ethical issues that might arise. With google their commericlization is not on the information itself but on the ability to find it, the content producers (i.e. websites in their search index) maintain ownership and control over the content. And because of this they can make money from their sites i.e. by placing ads or selling products.
Where as with Wolfram Alpha they are actually showing you the information and not referencing sources, so they are making money on the information itself. This may not be a problem but I think it depends on what data source Wolfram Alpha is using. For example let’s say Wolfram Alpha used Wikipedia as a data source and used the information to answer search queries from users. Fine, but then what if alongside the answers to these queries WA showed advertising? Wolfram would then be making money from the Wikipedia foundation’s information and the millions of hours of work the community has spent creating Wikipedia. Is the service provided by Wolfram Alpha sufficiently advanced that it would provide enough additional value to warrant advertising, or is it just making a easy buck? For example could the answers it gives be found from simply reading an article on Wikipedia? Or does it provide some kind of extra interpretation generated from crunching multiple articles and data sources?
Personally I think if Wolfram Alpha is going to be more than just a answer engine for lazy searchers it needs to build up its academic authority. Before it can be used by academics it will need to be able to be referenced so that each answer it gives can be retrieved in the future, this could easily be achieved by each answer containing a unique reference URL that would be available indefinitely.
There is a real need for easy to use and easy to reference academic tool that carries sufficient authority to be used in a student’s study or even to appear in research papers. Wikipedia struggles here, not because of the quality of information but because of the functionality that makes the site so successful, the ability for anyone to edit an article. And therefore the possibility that any piece of information it contains has been adjusted since it was referenced. Wolfram Alpha’s controlled and secured database of information may just be the solution.
May 20, 2009 11:47 am
Chris Eden
Nice post Jonny, i've also done a bit of reading up on it and thought i'd share my findings.