Weblog:		Gas Price and the Web: Volunteers Chart Bargains
Subject:		Taking the Time to Report
Date:		2004-08-29 20:04:17
From:		mikebaas
Seems the biggest obstacle to get something like 'gasbuddy' to really work well would be having the Internet at your fingertips as you happen to be getting gas. I don't really understand the kind of person that is going to take time to remember the price they paid for gas, write it down, go home and get online, login to 'gasbuddy' and report their price. Maybe people are much more altruistic than I am. I just don't want to have to one more thing to do before bed like logging my gas prices on 'gasbuddy'. Seems it does work well without my participation but I still don't understand it. mb

Showing messages 1 through 1 of 1.

• Taking the Time to Report
  2004-08-30 11:51:23  tungwaiyip [View]
  
  

  Good point. There're just too much hassle for majority of people to particate in feeding input. But do give the website a check. There is indeed a good amount of information available. Although average person would not bother with it (perhaps just use it to check the price), there are enough enthusiasts who would go far enough to actully get online back home and feed useful information into the system.
  

  The success of a system has much to do with building a community rather than the software system. The higher participation level it has the more useful the database would be. Which in turn raise the profile and attract even more participation. In gasbuddy there is a score system that motivates volunteers to feed data regularly.

---

Showing messages 1 through 1 of 1.