Filipinos Answer Questions at Defunct Google Answers

By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net

Ever wondered who answered some questions posed on the now-defunct Google Answers?

Answer: Filipinos.

With the web service officially closed, three Filipino ex-Google Answers Researchers (GARs) have come out to reveal their "adventures" working with the biggest and popular Internet company Google.

GARs are hired to provide answers to random queries posted on the special website for a fee.

Google Answers announced the end of its service on December 2006. It revealed that at least 800 people worked on providing answers to queries posted online, including the three Filipinos. It also highlighted one question, Why flies survive a good microwaving, posted on October 12, 2003.

Google Answers was four years old when Google decided to call it quits. INQUIRER.net later learned that the highlighted question was answered by Richard Angeles, a Filipino who works from home. Angeles now works as a freelance translator to several international "localization companies." He also does freelance writing and research. He's married with a daughter and lives in Quezon City.

Angeles who is known as by his codename "feilong-ga," said he and fellow Filipino researchers have provided answers to questions varying from Science, Biology, computers, Geology, among others. They were hired as Google Answer Researchers after passing an exam.

He landed a job at Google Answers after doing job searches on popular websites in 2002. Having a background in Fine Arts (with major in advertising arts), he actively searched for a part-time job because he wanted to work from home.

"On one of my many 'web treks,' I chanced upon an ad in one of the many international job sites looking for researchers for a service that they (Google) are going to open. I applied and the rest is history," he said in an e-mail interview.

He later told his friend, Chino Fernandez, known as Techtor-ga, about the job. Fernandez applied and passed the exam.

"That international ad ran for I think about two months before they finally closed it. We 'met' the other researcher, Henry Marcos, known as easterangel-ga, on the web forum, which is now exclusive for Google Answer Researchers," he added.

Angeles once applied as a web researcher in a banking institution in the Philippines but was rejected. Now, he could not stop smiling retelling that story.

In a separate e-mail interview, Marcos revealed that he has a physical handicap and yet he worked full-time as a GAR.

"I really love doing research ever since I was able to surf the Internet. I studied at Ateneo De Manila and had a degree in BS Management Major in Legal Management. God blessed me immensely by providing for me and my household. You see I am a physical handicap and I cannot go out of the house and work like an ordinary person. But God has provided for me and for my daughter all this time! Praise God for all He has done!" he said in an e-mail interview.

Marcos chanced upon Google's advertisement when he was hunting for some information for a friend online. "Little did I know that such activity would land me a job," he recalled.

Now that he's an ex-GAR, Marcos has created a blog that provides free answers to random questions.

"Google Answers has enabled me to discover and improve a skill I never thought I had. Right now I will be launching a free Answers service of my own. Unlike other free services though, my answers will be based on research and not just by mere opinions or personal bias. However, the answer will only consist of one link! The link will most of the time be the most authoritative and trustworthy source that one could find so that it will be of great service to the asker. People might be surprised by the power of one link," he said.

He was, however, charging people for more detailed research on questions they post via his blog, he added.

"[Our stories] shows that Filipinos can do anything people from other countries can do. Perhaps even better... being a melting pot of different cultures and information resources, the Philippines can produce more skilled talent than most other countries," Fernandez,
another Filipino GAR, in an e-mail interview.

A part-time GAR, Fernandez stressed that Filipinos' influences from both the West and the East, "make our people well-rounded and knowledgeable."

"Plus this is the age where computer connectivity can eliminate the need to have people go to offices. My experience at Google answers has taught me, 'Why go to an office with fixed time? It can be a waste of time and energy.' If the employee can do it at home and still deliver, what's wrong with that? There is a host of work at home jobs for Filipinos and I believe this should be the trend even companies should take for their employees, especially if cost reduction is a must," he added.

Fernandez met Angeles in a Korean-owned English tutoring company back in 2000.

"He emailed me one day about a work-at-home opportunity, which was being a Google Answers researcher. Although I had a job at the time, I jumped at the chance to take this job and gain extra money, something you can't live without in the Philippines," he said.

Marcos added that Filipinos can compete globally "if we just have the proper support and resources."

"There were only three of us Filipinos who were researchers and it's too bad that others weren't able to join since it was just such a fun ride," he said.

So what was the answer to the question, "How did the fly survive inside the [microwave] oven?

Angles wrote this interesting answer:

"First we must understand how a microwave oven works. A microwave oven emits evenly spaced, waves of energy called "standing waves" that are focused on the plate inside your microwave. Only some parts of the plate are exposed to these waves and that the inside of the oven is not completely exposed to the waves. This is the reason why the plate was designed to rotate and expose the food to these waves. Inside a microwave oven, the air in the oven is at room temperature. Air doesn't absorb the emitted waves of energy well, so the air in a microwave oven doesn't get hot. Heat is produced due to 'molecular friction' when the atoms of the food are excited and 'twisted back and forth.' Microwave doesn't remain still in objects and passes through most matter except metal," he said.

"Given the size of the fly and the space inside the oven, there is still plenty of space where it can move safely. Even if it gets hit by some of the emitted standing waves, its small surface area means very little energy is absorbed to produce heat. For as long as it keeps on moving and/or not remain in a place where it will be constantly and repetitively bombarded by the emitted energy, it will not be 'cooked' inside and it will survive. The situation is similar to moving your finger through a flame. Keep it moving and very little heat is absorbed. Hold it in the flame and your finger will get burned," he added.