Googling off the grid

From Slashdot:

Internet searching means that finding information mundane, obscure, or fantastically useful is just a few keystrokes away — but not if you're without a connection to the Internet (or can't read), both the norm for many of the world's poor.

Rose Shuman developed a contraption for this under-served population called Question Box that is essentially a one-step-removed Internet search: 'A villager presses a call button on a physical intercom device, located in their village, which connects them to a trained operator in a nearby town who's sitting in front of a computer attached to the Internet. A question is asked. While the questioner holds, the operator looks up the answer on the Internet and reads it back. All questions and answers are logged. For the villager there is no keyboard to deal with. No complex technology. No literacy issues.' This week, Jon Gosier, of Appfrica, launched a web site called World Wants to Know that displays the QuestionBox questions being asked in real time.

Snippets from the site:

2301. What is the use of melanine in humans?
2300. what proceedures must a person go through to hold patent rights when he wants to produce a book?
2299. what are the causes and control of constipation?
2298. are telephone masts hazardous to human health
2297. What is the cause and control of constipation?
2296. what is the least sparse district in uganda
2295. what are the best varieties of beans to plant
2294. what are the signs and syptoms of swine flu in human beings
2293. when was the uganda railway line built?
2292. what food values are got from eating jackfruits?