Search engine connects journalists with experts; makes finding interview subjects easy

After becoming frustrated with the inability to find experts before the deadline, a former reporter has co-created a search engine that helps journalists quickly and easily find the subjects they need for interviews, Kristen Hare reports for The Poynter Institute. Expertise Finder, created by Stavros Rougas and Ebrahim Ashrafizadeh, allows user to type in a name or subject and immediately be given a list of people and their subjects of expertise. (A sample search for rural reveals 81 experts and their subjects of expertise)

Rougas, who worked at a television station in Toronto, told Hare, "I was looking for experts with depth all the time, too often scrambling for deadline and ending up with less than ideal guests. I thought there must be a better way, so I looked and looked and looked. But nothing beat the power of the Google sledgehammer." He said listing experts is free for accredited universities and colleges. (Read more)