JP7656785B2 - Program, method, and information processing device - Google Patents

Description

The disclosures in this specification relate to programs, methods, and information processing devices.

In recent years, some network-based question and answer services have been providing answers to questions posed by askers from experts registered with the service.

Patent Document 1 describes a method of mediating information exchange that has a user computer, a WWW server, a search server, and a database server constructed on a network, assists users in searching for information, and mediates between questioners and answerers in providing answers to questions. The method describes technology that displays to the questioner answer candidates related to the question text entered by the questioner, question and answer history information, standard information, and project lists.

JP 2002-049786 A

In services that provide answers to questions from users, there is a need for technology that can further encourage questions from users and answers from respondents.

According to the present disclosure, a program executed by a computer having a processor is provided. The program causes the processor to execute the steps of: accepting input of first information, which is a question sentence, based on an input operation from a first user; identifying candidate answerers for the question sentence of the first information by performing a specific process based on the input first information in response to the input of the first information; and presenting the identified candidate answerers to the first user without waiting for completion of input of the first information.

According to the present disclosure, in a service that provides answers to questions from users, it is possible to provide a technology that further encourages questions from users and answers from respondents.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a system 1. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a terminal device 10 constituting the system 1. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the functional configuration of a server 20. 2 is a diagram showing a data structure of a user information database 281 and a data structure of a respondent candidate information database 282. FIG. 2A and 2B are diagrams showing the data structure of a past question information database 283 and the data structure of a past answer information database 284. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the data structure of an external network information database 285. 11 is a flowchart showing a process of presenting information on answerer candidates to a user in response to an input operation of a question sentence from a user, without waiting for completion of input of the question sentence from the user. 11 is a flowchart showing a series of processes for presenting information on a question received from a user to a candidate answerer, presenting information on an answer to the question from the candidate answerer to the user, and identifying an evaluation value for the candidate answerer. 13 shows an example of a screen when a user inputs a question. 13 shows an example of a screen when a candidate respondent accepts a question and presents an answer.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the same parts are given the same reference numerals. Their names and functions are also the same. Therefore, detailed descriptions thereof will not be repeated.

<1 Configuration>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a system 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, the system 1 includes a terminal device 10, a server 20 for providing information to users, and an external network 30 associated with the system 1. Here, the terminal device 10 is used in the following explanation as the terminal device 10 used by the user and the terminal device 10 used by the candidate answerer. In some aspects, the notation may be a different notation (e.g., terminal device 10A, terminal device 10B, etc.). The server 20 provides information on questions and information on answers to the questions to the users and the candidate answerers. The external network 30 is an external network that is affiliated with the services provided by the server 20, and provides various services such as news distribution and paper distribution on the network.

The terminal device 10, the server 20, and the external network 30 are connected for communication via the network 80. For example, a user of the terminal device 10 accesses a website provided by the server 20 or the external network 30 using a browser or the like.

The terminal device 10 is a device operated by each user. The terminal device 10 is realized, for example, by a stationary PC (Personal Computer), a laptop PC, a smartphone compatible with a mobile communication system, a mobile terminal such as a tablet, etc.

The terminal device 10 is connected to the server 20 via the network 80 so as to be able to communicate with the server 20. The terminal device 10 is connected to the network 80 by communicating with communication devices such as a wireless base station 81 that supports a communication standard such as LTE (Long Term Evolution) and a wireless LAN router 82 that supports a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) standard such as IEEE802.11.

The server 20 manages information about each user of the terminal device 10. For example, the server 20 stores each user's login information, each user's settings, etc., and performs processes such as authenticating the user of the terminal device 10 who accesses the server 20.

As shown in the figure, the server 20 includes a communication IF (Interface) 22, an input/output IF 23, a memory 25, storage 26, a processor 29, etc.

The communication IF 22 is an interface for inputting and outputting signals so that the server 20 can communicate with external devices. The input/output IF 23 functions as an interface with an input device for accepting input operations from the user and an output device for presenting information to the user. The memory 25 is for temporarily storing programs and data processed by the programs, etc., and is a volatile memory such as a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory). The storage 26 is a storage device for saving data, such as a flash memory or a HDD (Hard Disc Drive). The processor 29 is hardware for executing a set of instructions written in a program, and is composed of an arithmetic unit, registers, peripheral circuits, etc.

<1.1 Configuration of terminal device 10>
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the terminal device 10 constituting the system 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal device 10 includes a plurality of antennas (antenna 111, antenna 112), wireless communication units (first wireless communication unit 121, second wireless communication unit 122) corresponding to each antenna, an operation reception unit 130 (including a touch-sensitive device 131 and a display 132), a voice processing unit 140, a microphone 141, a speaker 142, a position information sensor 150, a camera 160, a storage unit 180, and a control unit 190. The terminal device 10 also has functions and configurations (e.g., a battery for storing power, a power supply circuit for controlling the supply of power from the battery to each circuit, etc.) that are not particularly shown in FIG. 2. In addition, although not shown, the terminal device 10 may be connected to a pointing device such as a keyboard, a mouse, or a touchpad to receive input operations from a user. As shown in FIG. 2, each block included in the terminal device 10 is electrically connected by a bus or the like.

The antenna 111 emits the signal emitted by the terminal device 10 as a radio wave. The antenna 111 also receives the radio wave from space and provides the received signal to the first wireless communication unit 121.

The antenna 112 emits the signal emitted by the terminal device 10 as a radio wave. The antenna 112 also receives the radio wave from space and provides the received signal to the second wireless communication unit 122.

The first wireless communication unit 121 performs modulation and demodulation processing for transmitting and receiving signals via the antenna 111 so that the terminal device 10 can communicate with other wireless devices. The second wireless communication unit 122 performs modulation and demodulation processing for transmitting and receiving signals via the antenna 112 so that the terminal device 10 can communicate with other wireless devices. The first wireless communication unit 121 and the second wireless communication unit 122 are communication modules including a tuner, a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) calculation circuit, a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) calculation circuit, a high-frequency circuit, and the like. The first wireless communication unit 121 and the second wireless communication unit 122 perform modulation and demodulation and frequency conversion of wireless signals transmitted and received by the terminal device 10, and provide the received signals to the control unit 190. The first wireless communication unit 121 is compatible with mobile communication systems such as 5G, 4G, 3G, and LTE. The second wireless communication unit 122 is compatible with short-range wireless communication such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (registered trademark).

The operation reception unit 130 has a mechanism for receiving input operations from the user. Specifically, the operation reception unit 130 is configured as a touch screen and includes a touch-sensitive device 131 and a display 132. The touch-sensitive device 131 receives input operations from the user of the terminal device 10. The touch-sensitive device 131 detects the user's touch position on the touch panel, for example, by using a capacitive touch panel. The touch-sensitive device 131 outputs a signal indicating the user's touch position detected by the touch panel to the control unit 190 as an input operation.

The display 132 displays data such as images, videos, and text in response to the control of the control unit 190. The display 132 is realized, for example, by an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or an organic EL (Electro-Luminescence) display.

The audio processing unit 140 modulates and demodulates audio signals. The audio processing unit 140 modulates a signal provided by the microphone 141 and provides the modulated signal to the control unit 190. The audio processing unit 140 also provides the audio signal to the speaker 142. The audio processing unit 140 is realized, for example, by a processor for audio processing. The microphone 141 accepts audio input and provides an audio signal corresponding to the audio input to the audio processing unit 140. The speaker 142 converts the audio signal provided by the audio processing unit 140 into audio and outputs the audio to the outside of the terminal device 10. For example, the terminal device 10 can accept an input operation by the user's voice by receiving the voice uttered by the user through the microphone 141 and having the control unit 190 perform voice recognition processing.

The position information sensor 150 is a sensor that detects the position of the terminal device 10, and is, for example, a GPS (Global Positioning System) module. The GPS module is a receiving device used in a satellite positioning system. In a satellite positioning system, signals are received from at least three or four satellites, and the current position of the terminal device 10 in which the GPS module is installed is detected based on the received signals.

The camera 160 has a photographing function and is a device for generating a photographed image. The terminal device 10 can detect the user's body movements based on the photographed image. For example, the terminal device 10 detects the user's head movements, facial expressions, and hand movements based on the photographed image of the camera 160. As a result, the terminal device 10 can process the user's hand movements in the same way as the user's operation on a pointing device. For example, the terminal device 10 may detect that the user is moving his or her hand and move the pointer. In addition, the terminal device 10 may detect the movement of the fingers of the user's hand and detect the action of the user fisting his or her hand (in a "rock" shape) or opening his or her hand (in a "paper" shape), thereby determining that a click (tap) operation has been performed on the pointing device. As a result, it is possible to determine that an operation equivalent to drag and drop has been performed by the user moving his or her hand while fisting it.

The user's facial expression (emotions such as joy, anger, sadness, and happiness) may also be determined based on the image captured by the camera 160. In other words, the terminal device 10 can accept the determination result of the user's facial expression as an input operation.

The storage unit 180 is configured, for example, from a flash memory or the like, and stores data and programs used by the terminal device 10. The storage unit 180 stores, for example, user information 181. The user information 181 indicates settings for the user of the terminal device 10 to use the services provided by the server 20. For example, the user information 181 includes the user's profile, past question history saved by the user, and the like, in the services provided by the server 20.

The control unit 190 controls the operation of the terminal device 10 by reading a program stored in the storage unit 180 and executing instructions contained in the program. The control unit 190 is, for example, an application processor. By operating according to the program, the control unit 190 fulfills the functions of an input operation reception unit 191, a transmission/reception unit 192, a data processing unit 193, and a display control unit 194.

The input operation reception unit 191 performs processing to receive a user's input operation on an input device such as the touch-sensitive device 131. The input operation reception unit 191 determines the type of operation, such as whether the user's operation is a flick operation, a tap operation, or a drag (swipe) operation, based on information about the coordinates where the user touches the touch-sensitive device 131 with a finger or the like.

The transmission/reception unit 192 performs processing for the terminal device 10 to transmit and receive data to and from external devices such as the server 20 in accordance with a communication protocol.

The data processing unit 193 performs calculations on the data received by the terminal device 10 according to a program and outputs the calculation results to a memory, etc.

The display control unit 194 performs processes such as displaying the display image on the display 132.

<1.2 Functional configuration of server 20>
Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the functional configuration of the server 20. As shown in Fig. 3, the server 20 fulfills the functions of a communication unit 201, a storage unit 202, and a control unit 203.

The communication unit 201 performs processing for the server 20 to communicate with external devices.

The storage unit 202 stores data and programs used by the server 20. The storage unit 202 stores a user information database 281, a candidate answerer information database 282, a past question information database 283, a past answer information database 284, and an external network information database 285.

The user information database 281 shows various information about the user who creates the question and requests answers from potential answerers. Details will be described later.

The answerer candidate information database 282 shows various information about answerer candidates who will answer questions received from users. Details will be described later.

The past question information database 283 shows various information about questions received in the past. Details will be described later.

The past answer information database 284 shows various information about answers that have been presented to users in the past. Details will be described later.

The external network information database 285 shows various information about other services linked to the services provided by the server 20. Details will be described later.

The control unit 203 performs functions shown as various modules by the processor of the server 20 performing processing according to a program.

The transmission/reception module 2041 performs processing for the server 20 to transmit and receive signals to and from external devices via the communication unit 201.

The operation determination module 2042 performs processing to determine the content of an operation performed by the user of the terminal device 10. For example, in response to a user performing an input operation on an object displayed on a screen displayed on a browser or the like, the terminal device 10 transmits a signal from the terminal device 10 to the server 20 as processing associated with the object. Based on the received signal, the operation determination module 2042 determines the content of the operation performed by the user (e.g., which object was specified).

The screen generation module 2043 performs processing to generate a screen that the server 20 displays on the browser of the terminal device 10, etc.

The user information database acquisition module 2044 acquires various information about the user who creates the question and requests answers from potential respondents.

The answerer candidate information database acquisition module 2045 acquires various information regarding answerer candidates who will answer questions received from users.

The past question information database acquisition module 2046 acquires various information regarding questions received in the past.

The past answer information database acquisition module 2047 acquires various information regarding answers previously presented to the user.

The external network information acquisition module 2048 acquires various information about other services that are linked to the services provided by the server 20.

<Data structure>
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the data structures of the user information database 281 and the respondent candidate information database 282 stored in the server 20. As shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4, the user information database 281 includes the items "User ID", "Company", "Industry", "Department", "Language", "Number of questions asked", "User rating", and "Disclosure of user information to respondent", etc.

The "User ID" item is information that identifies each user who creates a question and requests a response from a candidate answerer.

The item "Company" is information about the company to which each user belongs. For example, the user with user ID "U001" is affiliated with "AA Company." Here, server 20 may acquire information by accepting registration of information by input operation from the user. In addition, server 20 may be linked to a service provided by server 20 and acquire information by referring to a database of an external service in which users register various information. Similarly, for other items described below, server 20 may acquire information by referring to a database of an external service.

This allows users to refer to and register various information from external services linked to the services provided by server 20, reducing the effort required to register various information.

The "Industry" item is information about the industry to which each user belongs. For example, the user with user ID "U001" indicates that the industry is "IT." When the server 20 receives a question from a user, the server 20 may identify information about potential answerers based on the content of the question and the information.

As a result, when a user requests an answer to a question that is close to the industry to which the user belongs, the user can check the candidate respondents identified based on the information, allowing the user to ask the question with confidence.

The "Department" item is information about the department in the company to which each user belongs. For example, this indicates that a user with user ID "U001" belongs to "AA Company" and belongs to the "Marketing" department. As with the "Industry" item, when the server 20 receives a question from a user, the server 20 may identify information about potential answerers based on the content of the question and the relevant information.

As a result, when a user requests an answer to a question related to the work that the user is involved in in their department, the user can check the candidate respondents identified based on the information, allowing the user to ask the question with confidence.

The "Language" item is information about the language used by the user. For example, a user with user ID "U001" indicates that the language is "Japanese," and a user with user ID "U002" indicates that the languages are "Japanese" and "English." Based on this information, the server 20 may identify information about potential respondents who speak the same language as the user.

The item "Number of Questions Asked" is information regarding the number of times a user has requested an answer to a question in the service provided by the server 20. For example, it indicates that a user with user ID "U001" has requested an answer to a question "five times." In a certain situation, the server 20 may, based on this information, identify a user who should be given priority as an answerer by a potential answerer, and present this to the potential answerer.

This allows users to obtain answers to their questions more quickly the more they use the service, which is expected to encourage more people to enter questions. On the other hand, server 20 may preferentially present questions from users who have asked fewer questions as potential answerers. This allows users who have started using the service provided by server 20 to enjoy the experience of receiving immediate answers to their questions, providing motivation for continued use of the service.

The item "User Rating" is information regarding the rating of each user. Specifically, the server 20 may identify the information as the user's own rating based on the number of times the user has used the service provided by the server 20, or the user's track record in external services (e.g., whether a posted article has been highly rated, etc.). For example, the user with user ID "U001" has a user rating of "A." In a certain situation, the server 20 may identify a user who should be given priority as a respondent candidate based on the information, and present the user to the respondent candidate.

This allows users to receive services based on their own ratings, which is expected to improve the user experience.

The item "Disclosure of user information to respondent" is information regarding whether or not user information can be disclosed to the respondent. Specifically, when a user requests an answer to a question and the respondent answers the question, the server 20 may accept an input operation by the user regarding how much of the user's registered information to disclose to the respondent. For example, the user with user ID "U001" indicates "no" (i.e., the user's registered information will not be disclosed to the respondent), and the user with user ID "U002" indicates "partially yes." At this time, the server 20 may accept an input operation from the user regarding whether or not to disclose each piece of registered information.

This allows users to choose how much information they want to disclose about themselves to respondents, which helps protect their privacy and allows users to ask questions with peace of mind.

In some situations, the user himself may act as a respondent. In this case, when registering information on the candidate respondent, the server 20 may refer to the above-mentioned user information database 281 and register the information on the candidate respondent.

As shown in FIG. 4, the respondent candidate information database 282 includes the items "Respondent ID", "Affiliated company", "Area of expertise", "Department", "Career", "Language", "Evaluation value", and "Registered network", etc.

The item "Answerer ID" is information that identifies each candidate answerer who will provide an answer to the question received from the user.

The item "Company" is information about the company to which each of the candidate respondents belongs. For example, the candidate respondent with the respondent ID "A001" is associated with the company "Company AB". Here, the server 20 may acquire information by accepting registration of information by input operation from the candidate respondent. In addition, the server 20 may acquire information by referring to a database of an external service in which the candidate respondent has registered various information in cooperation with a service provided by the server 20. Similarly, for other items described later, the server 20 may acquire information by referring to a database of an external service. In addition, in a certain situation, when a user is registered as a candidate respondent, the server 20 may register related information as information of the candidate respondent by referring to the above-mentioned user information database 281.

This allows potential respondents to refer to and register various information from external services linked to the services provided by server 20, reducing the effort required to register various information.

The "Specialty" item is information about the specialty of each of the candidate answerers. For example, the candidate answerer with the answerer ID "A001" indicates that his/her specialty is "chemistry." When the server 20 receives a question from a user, it may identify the candidate answerer who will present the question based on the content of the question and the information.

This allows potential respondents to efficiently answer questions that are close to their own areas of expertise, increasing their opportunities to receive rewards for their answers and is expected to increase their motivation.

The "Department" item is information about the department in the company to which each of the candidate answerers belongs. For example, this indicates that the user with the answerer ID "A001" belongs to "Company AB" and belongs to the "Basic Research" department. As with the "Specialty" item, when the server 20 receives a question from a user, it may identify a candidate answerer who will present the question based on the content of the question and the relevant information.

This allows potential respondents to answer questions related to the work they are doing, which encourages more responses from respondents.

The item "History" is information indicating the history of the candidate answerer. Specifically, it indicates information regarding the companies to which the candidate answerer has belonged in the past. For example, the candidate answerer with the answerer ID "A001" indicates that he/she has worked for "Company B" for "2 years" and "Company AB" for "5 years." In a certain situation, the server 20 may identify the candidate answerer who will present the question based on this information, even if the question is from a questioner in a different industry than the company to which the candidate answerer currently belongs.

This allows potential respondents to answer a variety of questions based on the types of jobs they have had in the past, which is expected to increase their opportunities to earn rewards and improve their motivation.

The "Language" item is information about the language used by the candidate answerer. For example, the candidate answerer with the answerer ID "A001" indicates that the languages are "Japanese" and "English." Based on this information, the server 20 may present the candidate answerer with questions from users who speak the same language as the candidate answerer.

The item "Evaluation value" is information regarding the evaluation of each of the candidate answerers. Specifically, the server 20 may identify the evaluation value of the candidate answerer based on any of the following information: (1) the number of times the candidate answerer has answered a question, (2) the time it took the candidate answer the question, (3) the order in which the candidate answerer answered the question, (4) the user's evaluation of the answer presented by the candidate answerer to the user, etc. For example, the candidate answerer with the answerer ID "A001" is "B+". In a certain aspect, the server 20 may identify the candidate answerer to whom a question is to be presented preferentially based on the information. In another aspect, the server 20 may present the candidate answerer with a notification, such as an offer to introduce the candidate answerer to an external network affiliated with the service provided by the server 20, based on the information.

This will allow potential respondents to expect increased rewards by being presented with more questions based on their own evaluation, and increased name recognition through introduction to external networks, which is expected to encourage more potential respondents to respond.

The item "Registered NW" indicates information about the network in which each of the candidate answerers is registered. Specifically, it indicates information about the candidate answerers' registration in a network made up of specific experts based on their industry, occupation, language used, etc. For example, it indicates that the candidate answerer with the answerer ID "A001" is registered in the "Chemist NW" and the "English NW." In a certain situation, the server 20 may not only prompt the candidate answerer to answer based on the content of a question from a user, but may also suggest to the user that they can ask a question on the network. At this time, the server 20 may present the question text received from the user to the network, or may prompt the user to ask a question on the network by presenting the user with information such as a URL link to access the network.

This allows users to obtain answers to their questions not only through the services provided by server 20, but also from a network of specific experts.

Figure 5 shows the data structures of the past question information database 283 and the past answer information database 284 stored by the server 20.

As shown in FIG. 5, the past question information database 283 includes the items "Question ID," "Date received," "Question user," "Question content," "Field," "Whether to make the question public to other questioners," and "Tags," etc.

The item "Question ID" is information that identifies each question received by the server 20.

The item "Received Date" is information that indicates the date on which the server 20 received the question.

The item "Questioning User" is information about the user who entered the question. For example, question ID "Q001" indicates that the question was entered by a user with user ID "U001." In some situations, server 20 may accept questions from users who are not registered with the service provided by server 20, in which case the item may be left blank or may be stored in the database as "anonymous," for example.

The item "Question Content" is information about the content of the received question. For example, the question content of question ID "Q001" is "Regarding AA." In one aspect, the server 20 may respond to a user's input operation of a question text, refer to the information, identify the content of the input question, and present related information to the user.

This allows users to not only request answers to their questions from potential respondents, but also to refer to information about similar questions that have been asked in the past.

The item "Field" indicates information on the field of the received question. Specifically, it indicates information for identifying the field to which the received question belongs. For example, it indicates that the field of question ID "Q001" is "IT". In a certain aspect, the server 20 may identify an appropriate candidate for an answerer to a question based on the information and the answerer candidate information database 282. At this time, the information on the field of the question may be such that only one field is associated with one question, or multiple fields are associated with one question. When accepting input of a question, the server 20 may identify the field of the question by analyzing the question (item "Question content") (for example, frequently occurring words are associated with each field, and the field of the question is identified based on the distribution of words included in the question). In addition, when accepting input of a question from a user, the server 20 may also accept a designation of the field.

The item "Can this be made public to other questioners?" is information that indicates whether the content of the question asked by the user and the content of the answers given by potential answerers to that question are to be made public to other users. For example, the question with question ID "Q001" indicates that the option to make the content public to other questioners is "Yes."

This allows users to ask highly confidential questions without disclosing the content to other users, allowing them to ask questions with peace of mind, which is expected to encourage more questions from users to be accepted.

The item "Tag" indicates a tag that is assigned to a question by the server 20. When the server 20 accepts input of a question from the terminal device 10, it analyzes the content of the question without waiting for the input to be completed (the question to be completed), and assigns a tag based on the analysis result.

For example, the server 20 divides the content of the question into words by morphological analysis, etc. The server 20 holds information on the degree of relevance (that is, the context in which the word appears) of each word to a field (technical field, job field, etc.), region, language, and industry (e.g., construction industry, IT industry, company name, etc.) (i.e., the context in which the word appears) (for example, the server 20 may manage company information, industry information, technology information, economic news, etc., and calculate the degree of relevance of each word to a company, industry, field, etc.). The server 20 may assign tags such as field, region, language, industry, etc. to the question being input, based on the words that make up the question and the information on the degree of relevance indicated by the context in which these words appear.

In addition, the server 20 may create a trained model based on a large number of documents, such as economic information, that have been tagged in advance (by field, industry, region, language, etc.), and then assign tags to the question based on the order of the words that make up the question and the trained model.
The server 20 stores the tag assigned to the question in the item “tag” of the past question information database 283 .

As shown in FIG. 5, the past answer information database 284 includes the items "answer ID", "answer date", "question ID", "answerer", "answer content", "field", "answer range", "time from receipt to answer", and "rating", etc.

The item "Answer ID" is information that identifies each answer to a question received by the server 20.

The item "Answer Date" is information that indicates the date on which the server 20 received the answer text.

The item "Question ID" is information that indicates the question linked to each received answer. For example, the answer with answer ID "AN001" indicates that the answer is related to question ID "Q001."

The item "Answerer" is information about the answerer to the question received by the server 20. For example, it indicates that the answerer to the question ID "Q001" linked to the answer ID "AN001" is "A003", etc.

The item "Answer Content" is information about the answer content of each of the candidate answerers to the received question. For example, the answer content of the answer by the answerer "A003" to the question content "About AA" of the question ID "Q001" linked to the answer ID "AN001" is "It would be good to do AB", etc. In a certain situation, the server 20 may determine the evaluation value of the candidate answerer based on the answer content.

This allows potential respondents to receive evaluations for their answers, which can contribute to increased rewards, etc., and is expected to encourage more people to answer questions.

The "Field" item indicates information about the field of the answer to the received question. In this case, the field may be the same as the field of the question ID linked to the answer ID, or it may be a different field.

The item "answer range" indicates information regarding the range of answers given by the candidate answerer to the question received. Specifically, the candidate answerer may input answers to all or part of the content of the question received from the user into the candidate answerer's terminal device 10 and transmit it to the server 20. For example, this indicates that the answer range is "all" for the question with question ID "Q001" linked to answer ID "AN001". In one aspect, when the server 20 receives an evaluation of the candidate answerer from the user, it may receive both an evaluation of the answer to all of the question and an evaluation of the answer to part of the question.

This allows potential respondents to provide an answer if they are able to answer part of a question, even if it is difficult for them to answer all of the questions. In addition, if they can only provide a partial answer to a question, they may be able to provide an answer based on their own field of expertise, which is expected to maintain and increase the motivation of potential respondents.

The item "Time from receipt to answer" is information on the time required for each of the candidate answerers to present an answer to the user after accepting a question from the user. Specifically, the server 20 may acquire information on the time required for each candidate answerer to present an answer to some or all of the questions. For example, the time required for answering the question "About AA" of the question ID "Q001" indicates that the answerer "A003" took "10 hours" for the answer range "All". In a certain aspect, the server 20 may specify an evaluation value of the candidate answerer based on the information on the required time. In addition, in a certain aspect, the server 20 may specify, as the evaluation value of the candidate answerer, an evaluation value regarding the time required to answer all answers and an evaluation value regarding the time required to answer some answers (for example, answers about some fields).

As a result, the faster a candidate answerer answers a question, the higher his or her own evaluation can be, and users can quickly obtain answers to their questions. This is expected to encourage both the acceptance of questions from users and the presentation of answers from candidate answerers. In addition, the server 20 can provide answerers with evaluation values for all questions and evaluation values for some fields, allowing them to receive evaluations according to fields.

The item "Evaluation" indicates information regarding the evaluation of the answer presented by the candidate answerer. Specifically, the server 20 may receive an evaluation of the answer to the question presented by the candidate answerer from the user and store it as the item. For example, it indicates that the evaluation of the answer given by the candidate answerer "A001" to the question ID "Q001" linked with the answer ID "AN001" in the answer range "All" is "B". In a certain aspect, the server 20 may determine the priority of presenting questions to the candidate answerer based on the evaluation. In addition, the server 20 may determine the expertise of the candidate answerer based on the evaluation, and introduce the candidate answerer to related external networks, etc.

As a result, the more questions potential respondents answer, the more information they will accumulate about their own evaluation, which will allow them to expect to earn more rewards and build their careers by being introduced to external networks.

Figure 6 shows the data structure of the external network information database 285 stored in the server 20.

As shown in FIG. 6, the external network information database 285 includes the items "External NWID", "Field", "Service Content", "Introduction Conditions", "Area", and "Remuneration", etc.

The item "External NWID" is information that identifies each external network that is affiliated with the service provided by server 20 and is the target of server 20's inquiry of information on potential respondents. Specific examples of external networks include networks that distribute news, networks that publish papers, etc., which are different in type from the service provided by server 20, but where experts in a particular field provide information.

The "Field" item is information about the field that the external network mainly handles. Specifically, for example, the external network with external NWID "N001" indicates that it is in the "IT" field.

The item "Service Content" is information about the service content that an external network provides primarily to users who use the network. Specifically, this item may indicate information about a network that primarily handles the latest world news, a network that primarily handles specialized papers, etc. For example, the external network with external NWID "N001" indicates that its service content is "news distribution" and "column distribution."

As a result, potential respondents may be introduced to various networks affiliated with the services provided by server 20, which can help them improve their name recognition and build their careers, and is expected to encourage more responses to questions.

The item "Introduction conditions" is information regarding the conditions for introducing a candidate answerer to an external network. Specifically, the server 20 may refer to the "evaluation value" in the candidate answerer information database 282 and identify the information of the external network to which the candidate answerer is to be introduced based on the evaluation value. For example, the external network with the external NWID "N001" indicates that the inquiry condition is "evaluation B+ or higher." In a certain aspect, the server 20 may introduce the information of a candidate answerer who satisfies the inquiry condition to the external network without going through approval from the candidate answerer, or may accept an input operation regarding approval from the candidate answerer before introducing the information to the external network.

As a result, by providing more answers, potential respondents can increase their own evaluation value and increase their name recognition through introductions to external networks, which is expected to encourage more responses from potential respondents. In addition, potential respondents can prevent their information from being introduced to external networks without their intention by approving the introduction of their information depending on the type of external network.

The "Region" item is information about the region in which the external network is dominated. Specifically, it is information indicating in which country the services deployed on the external network are primarily provided. For example, an external network with an external NWID of "N001" indicates that the region is "Japan dominated."

This allows potential respondents to know what regions are primarily focused on external networks to which their information may be introduced. This is expected to increase the motivation of potential respondents, as they can aim to be introduced to external networks primarily focused on the region they are aiming for in their career development.

The "Reward" item is information about rewards for services on external networks. Specifically, it may show information about rewards paid to potential answerers when they post articles or the like on the service. For example, the external network with external NWID "N001" shows that the reward is "*** yen per column."

This allows potential respondents to know in advance the reward information for external networks and then decide whether or not to introduce their own information to those networks.

<Operation>
(Accepting questions from users and presenting information on potential respondents)
7 is a flowchart showing a process of presenting information on candidate answerers to a user in response to the user's input operation of a question sentence, without waiting for the completion of the input of the question sentence by the user. For example, the user's terminal device 10 accesses a service provided by the server 20 through a browser or the like.

In the following example, the server 20 identifies the content of the question being input based on answers given by respondents to past questions, and presents candidate answerers to the user of the terminal device 10. On the other hand, the server 20 may assign tags to the question being input on the terminal device 10 as described above, without waiting for the input of the question to be completed, and identify candidate answerers for the question based on the tags assigned to the question and the candidate answerer information database 282. The server 20 may display the identified candidate answerers to the user of the terminal device 10, without waiting for the input of the question to be completed (by identifying candidate answerers while assigning tags to the question as needed in response to the input of the question).

In step S701, the control unit 190 of the user's terminal device 10 accesses the server 20 in response to the user's input operation of a question sentence, and transmits the information to the server 20. For example, the terminal device 10 accesses the server 20 through a browser or the like. The server 20 generates information for displaying a screen on the terminal device 10, and transmits the generated information to the terminal device 10. The terminal device 10 accepts an operation to input a question sentence from the user in a predetermined area of the screen displayed on the browser or the like. In a certain aspect, the control unit 190 of the user's terminal device 10 may transmit the information to the server 20 without waiting for the completion of the input of the question sentence from the user. That is, each time the control unit 190 of the terminal device 10 accepts input of information related to the question sentence (for example, input of words constituting the question sentence) from the user, it transmits the received information (for example, the question sentence in the middle of being input) to the server 20.

In step S751, the server 20 identifies the content of the question sentence that the user is about to input based on the information on the acquired question content and the information on past questions and answers to the questions stored in the past question information database 233. In a certain aspect, the server 20 sequentially receives the question sentence (the question sentence that the user is in the middle of inputting) that is being input at the terminal device 10 from the terminal device 10 (for example, each time the terminal device 10 accepts input of the words that constitute the question sentence). The server 20 extracts information that represents the characteristics of the question sentence based on the information received from the terminal device 10. For example, the server 20 extracts the words that constitute the question sentence based on dictionary data or the like as information that represents the characteristics of the question sentence. Also, for example, the server 20 calculates a sentence vector related to the question sentence. The server 20 identifies the content of the question sentence that the user is about to input by referring to the past question contents stored in the past question information database 233 based on the information that represents the characteristics of the extracted question sentence. For example, the server 20 may identify the content of the question currently being received from the user by comparing the words contained in the question currently being received from the user with the words contained in past questions. Here, in one aspect, the server 20 may identify information such as the area where an expert on that information is located based on information such as keywords contained in the content of the acquired question.

In addition, in a certain aspect, the server 20 may identify information related to the question that the user is about to enter based on the information of the words that make up the question each time the server 20 receives input of words that make up the question from the user. That is, the server 20 may identify information such as the industry or field from the information of the words that make up the question that the user is about to enter, and identify candidate respondents based on the identified information.

In step S752, the server 20 identifies potential respondents to the question based on the content of the identified question and information on past questions and answers to the question stored in the past question information database 233, and transmits the identified information to the user's terminal device 10.

In one aspect, in step S752, the server 20 may identify information about the network to which the answerer candidate belongs, rather than the answerer candidate, and transmit the identified information to the user's terminal device 10. At this time, the server 20 may present the user with a link or the like for accessing the network.

This allows users to ask questions to a network of experts who have the same expertise as the potential respondents, which can lead to more specialized answers.

In step S702, the control unit 190 of the user's terminal device 10 presents the candidate respondents to the user's question, obtained from the server 20, to the user, for example by displaying them on the display 132 of the terminal device 10, without waiting for the user to complete input of the question.

This allows the user to know what kind of respondents are likely to provide an answer to their question, without having to wait until the question has been completely entered. Therefore, if the information of the presented candidate answerer is not that of the candidate answerer the user intended, the user can check the following points, etc. (1) whether they have entered a question that will yield an accurate answer, (2) whether they have used accurate technical terms, etc. Therefore, the user can enter a question that will yield a more accurate answer while checking this information.

In step S703, the control unit 190 of the user's terminal device 10 accepts an input operation for requesting an answer to the question from the answerer upon completion of the input operation of the question from the user, and transmits the accepted result to the server 20.

In step S753, the server 20 transmits information about the question acquired from the user to the terminal device 10 of the potential answerer. In one aspect, the server 20 may refer to the user information database 281, identify a priority for answering the question based on the value of the user evaluation, and transmit the information to the terminal device 10 of the potential answerer together with information about the identified priority.

This allows users to expect to receive quick answers based on their ratings.

(Answer submissions from potential respondents and evaluations of potential respondents)

Figure 8 is a flowchart showing a series of processes for presenting information about a question received from a user to a candidate answerer, presenting information about the candidate answer to the question to the user, and determining an evaluation value for the candidate answerer.

In step S851, the server 20 obtains information about the question from the user.

In step S852, the server 20 identifies a target answerer candidate and a period during which the answerer candidate can answer preferentially based on the content of the acquired question and the evaluation value of the answerer candidate acquired by referring to the answerer candidate information database 282. The server 20 then transmits information regarding the content of the question to the terminal device 10 of the answerer candidate. In some aspects, the server 20 may transmit information regarding the content of the question to the terminal device 10 of the answerer candidate without identifying a period during which the answerer candidate can answer preferentially.

This allows potential respondents to prioritize answering questions based on their own evaluation value, which is expected to encourage potential respondents to give more proactive answers.

In step S801, the control unit 190 of the terminal device 10 of the candidate respondent highlights unanswered questions, questions with few respondents, etc., and displays them on the terminal device 10 of the candidate respondent. At this time, the control unit 190 may present the information about the question to the candidate respondent by displaying it as a pop-up on the display 132 of the terminal device 10 of the candidate respondent, changing the appearance of the question (for example, making it bold, making it red, highlighting it by surrounding it with a shape, etc.), etc.

This allows potential respondents to review and answer questions that are more likely to earn them rewards.

In step S802, the control unit 190 of the terminal device 10 of the candidate respondent receives an answer to the acquired question from the respondent and transmits the received answer to the server.

In step S853, the server 20 presents the obtained answers to the user and obtains information regarding one or more of the time it took for the candidate answerers to present their answers to the question, the order in which they were presented, etc.

In step S854, the server 20 identifies information regarding the remuneration to be paid to the candidate answerer based on the acquired information, and transmits the identified result to the terminal device 10 of the candidate answerer. At this time, the remuneration may be not only a monetary remuneration such as ** yen per answer, but also an introduction to an external network, etc., may be identified as information regarding the remuneration.

In step S803, the control unit 190 of the terminal device 10 of the candidate respondent presents the acquired information to the candidate respondent, for example by displaying it on the display 132.

<Screen example>
(Example of a screen when a user enters a question)
FIG. 9 shows an example of a screen displayed when a user inputs a question for a service provided by the server 20. In FIG.

As shown in FIG. 9, the screen example may be displayed on the operation reception unit 130 (display 132). The user performs an operation to input a question by inputting characters on the screen. Question input URL 901 indicates a URL for accessing a screen for the user to perform an operation to input a question. In some aspects, information on the date and time when the user accessed the screen may be written on the screen.

The question input field 902 indicates a field for the user to input a question. Specifically, when the user inputs a question in this field, the user's terminal device 10 presents the user with information on candidate answerers identified by the server 20. Here, the user's terminal device 10 may display the information below the field in which the user is inputting the question, without waiting for the user to complete input of the question. In addition, in a certain aspect, the user's terminal device 10 may present information to the user in the form of entering information on candidate answerers in a candidate answerer field 804 described below, which is separate from the field. In a certain aspect, the user's terminal device 10 may display suggestions for corrections to the question that may result in a more accurate answer to the content of the question that the user is about to input.

For example, when the user writes "cure for influenza" in the field, the user's terminal device 10 may display information such as "A001" as a possible respondent.

This allows users to check the information of potential respondents even while they are in the middle of entering a question, and allows them to consider whether the question they are about to enter will yield an accurate answer.

In addition, in a certain aspect, the user's terminal device 10 may display information on tags (e.g., industry, field, technology, region, language, etc.) related to the question that the user is about to enter. In addition, at this time, the user's terminal device 10 may accept an input operation from the user to select a tag, and transmit the accepted result to the server 20.

As a result, by checking the tag information for the content of the question the user is about to enter, the user can confirm whether or not they have entered an accurate question related to the intended field. This allows the user to enter a question that will obtain a more accurate answer based on the tag information. In addition, by accepting the user's selection of tags, the server 20 can identify candidate answerers based on the tag information selected by the user. This is expected to result in the presentation of candidate answerers that are more suited to the intent of the user's question.

The question candidate field 903 shows a field for displaying the content of the question input by the user and the candidate answers to that question. Specifically, when the user is inputting a question in the question input field 802, the terminal device 10 displays the content of the question identified by the server 20 as a candidate in the field without waiting for the completion of the input of the question by the user. At this time, if an answer has been given by a candidate answerer to the identified candidate question, the user's terminal device 10 may present the answer information to the user. For a question that has already been answered by a candidate answerer, the user may refer to the answer by performing an operation for referring to the details of the answer (accessing a link linked to the answer information, opening a tab, etc.), or may request a new answer from a candidate answerer. In a certain situation, when requesting an answer to a question input by the user, the user's terminal device 10 may accept an input operation from the user to select whether or not to disclose the question and answer to other users.

For example, when the user enters "cure for influenza" in the question input field 902, the user's terminal device 10 may identify candidate questions such as "medicine for treating influenza" in that field and display information on the answer to that question.

This allows users to quickly check the answer to their question if one has already been answered, since they can refer to that answer. Also, when requesting an answer from a potential answerer, users can choose whether or not to disclose the question and answer to other users, so users can feel safe asking questions even if they want to keep the question confidential.

The answerer candidate column 904 indicates a column for displaying information of answerer candidates for the question that the user is about to input. Specifically, when the user is inputting a question in the question text input column 902, the user's terminal device 10 may display information of answerer candidates identified by the server 20 in that column without waiting for the user to complete input of the question. In one aspect, the user's terminal device 10 may display details of the answerer candidates (e.g., information such as specialty and evaluation value) in that column.

This allows users to check the candidate answerers before entering a question. Therefore, even if a user is in the middle of entering a question, they can refer to the information on the candidate answerers to check whether the content of their question is correct, in other words, whether their question is likely to be answered by a candidate answerer in the intended field.

The external network candidates column 905 indicates a column for displaying information on external networks on which a user can ask for advice on the question that the user is about to input. Specifically, the user's terminal device 10 may display in this column information on the external networks to which answerer candidates belong, identified by the server 20 based on the content of the user's question. In one aspect, the user may access a URL to the external network displayed in this column and input a question at the accessed destination. In another aspect, the server 20 may present the acquired information on the user's question to the network. In another aspect, the user's terminal device 10 may accept an input operation from the user regarding the submission of a question to the network, and transmit the accepted information to the server 20.

This allows users to expect responses not only from a specific candidate, but also from the network of experts in a particular field to which that candidate belongs.

(Example of a screen when a potential respondent accepts a question and presents an answer)
FIG. 10 shows an example of a screen displayed when a candidate answerer checks the information of a question received from a user and presents an answer in the service provided by the server 20. In FIG.

Answer input URL 1001 indicates a URL for accessing a screen for a potential answerer to input an answer to a question. In some cases, information on the date and time when the potential answerer accessed the screen may be displayed.

The question text search field 1002 indicates a field for each of the candidate answerers to search for questions waiting for an answer. In some cases, even if the candidate answerer is not identified by the server 20 as a candidate answerer for a question based on the content of the question acquired from the user, the candidate answerer may search for questions waiting for an answer and answer the question. In some cases, the server 20 may update the information in the candidate answerer information database 282 based on the content of the question that the candidate answerer searched for and answered. (For example, when a candidate answerer answers a question outside the specialty field stored in the server 20, the specialty field may be added to the candidate answerer's information.)

This allows potential respondents to answer questions other than those based on their own field of expertise, and as a result, they can update information such as their own field of expertise. This is expected to encourage more responses from potential respondents, as they will have a higher chance of earning more rewards.

The question waiting for answer display column 1003 indicates a column for displaying information on a question waiting for answer that is presented to the candidate answerer. Specifically, the terminal device 10 of the candidate answerer may display information on the question to be answered by the candidate answerer, which is identified by the server 20 based on the question from the user acquired, in the column. In one aspect, the terminal device 10 of the candidate answerer may simultaneously display information such as the date the question was received, the deadline for answering, and the answering status by other candidate answerers in the column, and present it to the candidate answerer. In another aspect, the terminal device 10 of the candidate answerer may display priority information identified by the server 20 based on the user evaluation, to encourage the candidate answerer to give a priority answer.

This allows potential respondents to answer questions while checking various information about each question (such as the answer deadline and the status of answers by other potential respondents). This allows potential respondents to prioritize answering questions that are more likely to earn them rewards.

The recommendation display 1004 is a screen that displays questions that are presented to the candidate answerer and are waiting for an answer, and that have something worth noting. Specifically, it displays information such as unanswered questions, questions that have a small number of answered answers, and questions that should be answered with priority. In one aspect, when the candidate answerer answers the question for which the recommendation display 1004 is displayed, the server 20 may change the reward value, evaluation value, etc., that is given to the candidate answerer compared to answers to other questions.

This will increase the likelihood of potential respondents receiving rewards, which is expected to encourage more responses from potential respondents.

The latest answer history column 1005 indicates a column for displaying information about the latest question among the questions answered by the candidate answerer. Specifically, various information may be displayed, such as the content of the question answered by the candidate answerer, the date the question was received, the date the question was answered, and the ranking of the answer when it was presented. In addition, in a certain situation, when an answer is evaluated by a user as the optimal answer in the column (e.g., an evaluation called the best answer), the terminal device 10 of the candidate answerer may display a specific indication (e.g., a graphic indication such as a star) next to the ranking on the screen.

This allows potential respondents to know the ranking of their answers to the most recent questions, the evaluation they received, and so on, which is expected to maintain and increase the motivation of potential respondents.

The registration information column 1006 is a column for displaying information that the candidate answerer has registered in the service provided by the server 20. Specifically, the terminal device 10 of the candidate answerer may display in the column information such as the candidate answerer's information acquired by referring to the candidate answerer information database 282, past answer history, and introduction status to external networks.

The offer request status confirmation field 1007 indicates a field for displaying the introduction status of the answerer candidate to an external network. Specifically, the answerer's terminal device 10 may display information in this field such as how many more questions the answerer needs to answer in order to increase the answerer's evaluation and be introduced to a specific external network. In one aspect, the answerer's terminal device 10 may display information regarding the conditions under which the answerer candidate will be introduced to an external network, and if the answerer candidate is not satisfied with the conditions, a separate entry field for negotiating the conditions may be displayed.

This allows potential respondents to not only provide answers, etc., in the services provided by server 20, but also to increase their name recognition on external networks, which is expected to encourage more responses from potential respondents.

<Additional Notes>
The matters explained in the above embodiments will be supplemented below.

<Appendix 1>
A program executed by a computer having a processor 29, the program causing the processor 29 to execute the following steps: accepting input of first information, which is a question, based on an input operation from a first user (S751); identifying candidate answerers for the question of the first information by performing a specific process based on the input first information in response to the input of the first information; and presenting the identified candidate answerers to the first user without waiting for completion of input of the first information (S752).

<Appendix 2>
A program as described in Appendix 1, in which in the identification step, as a identification process, a candidate respondent to the question of the first information is identified based on the first information input and the second information stored in a memory unit, the second information indicating the question and the content of the answer to the question.

<Appendix 3>
The program described in Appendix 2, in which in the identification step, as a identification process, in response to the input of first information, without waiting for completion of the input of the first information, identifies the content of the question of the first information based on the first information and the second information, and identifies candidate answerers based on the identified content of the question and third information, which is information related to candidate answerers.

<Appendix 4>
The program according to appendix 1, in which, in the step of specifying, at least one piece of first tag information is added to the input first information as a specifying process, and answerer candidates for the question sentence of the first information are specified based on the first tag information added to the first information and third information that is information related to the answerer candidates (past question information database 283).

<Appendix 5>
The program described in Appendix 4, in which second tag information on at least one of the field, region, language, industry, and information on the company to which the candidate respondent belongs is associated with the candidate respondent as the third information, and in the identifying step, a tag on at least one of the field, region, language, and industry is added to the input first information as the first tag information, thereby identifying the candidate respondent based on the first information and the third information. (Candidate respondent information database 282)

<Appendix 6>
The program described in Appendix 5 further causes the processor 29 to execute a step of associating information related to the question to which the answerer candidate has answered as second tag information, when the answerer candidate has answered a question regarding second tag information that is not associated with the answerer candidate.

<Appendix 7>
The program according to any one of appendices 3 to 6, in which the third information associates information on the candidate answerer with information on the network to which the candidate answerer belongs, and the program causes the processor 29 to execute a step of identifying the candidate answerer or the information on the network based on the first information and the information on the network, and presenting the identified result to the first user (candidate answerer information database 282).

<Appendix 8>
A program described in any of Appendices 1 to 7, which causes the processor 29 to execute a step of identifying and presenting a specific evaluation value based on the track record of answers provided by candidate answerers to the first information, identifying an order in which the candidate answerers will be presented to the first user based on the evaluation values, and presenting the candidate answerers to the first user based on the identified order.

<Appendix 9>
The program described in any one of appendices 1 to 8 causes the processor 29 to execute the steps of: in the receiving step, presenting options regarding the disclosure of the question text of the first information and the answer content to the question text; and in the presenting step, identifying answerer candidates based on information of the option selected by the first user, and presenting the identified results to the first user. (Past question information database 283)

<Appendix 10>
The program further causes the processor 29 to execute a step of identifying candidate answerers to whom the first information is to be presented and a specific period during which the candidate answerers can preferentially respond to the first information based on the evaluation value, and presenting the first information to the candidate answerers based on the identified results. (Candidate answerer information database 282)

<Appendix 11>
The program described in any one of appendices 1 to 10 causes the processor 29 to execute the steps of acquiring information on one or more of the time required for the candidate answerer to submit an answer to the first information, the order in which the candidate answerer submitted the answer, etc., and identifying information on the remuneration to be paid to the candidate answerer based on the acquired information, and presenting the identified information on the remuneration to the candidate answerer. (Past answer information database 284)

<Appendix 12>
The program according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the program is associated with the external network 30, and the program causes the processor 29 to execute a step of presenting the third information to a user of the external network 30 based on the evaluation value. (External network information database 285)

Reference Signs List 10 Terminal device, 20 Server, 30 External network, 281 User information database, 282 Answerer candidate information database, 283 Past question information database, 284 Past answer information database, 285 External network information database, 2041 Transmission/reception module, 2042 Operation determination module, 2043 Screen generation module, 2044 User information database acquisition module, 2045 Answerer candidate information database acquisition module, 2046 Past question information database acquisition module, 2047 External network information acquisition module.

Claims (9)

A program for operating a computer having a processor and a memory, the program causing the processor to:
receiving an input of a question to be answered by a respondent from a first user who is a questioner;
Identifying, from among a plurality of second users, candidate answerers who will answer the received question, according to information related to each of the plurality of second users;
presenting the question to the identified second user and receiving an answer to the question from the identified second user;
presenting a result of the answer given by the second user to the first user;
A program, in the step of identifying candidate respondents, which identifies candidate respondents who will answer the question according to information related to each of the multiple second users, the information being the language used by the second users. tag information related to the question is added to the question inputted from the first user;
The program according to claim 1 , further comprising : identifying the candidate answerers based on the tag information assigned to the question and information related to each of the second users. The program according to claim 1 or 2, wherein in the step of identifying candidate respondents, the candidate respondents who will answer the question are identified according to at least one of industry information or company information of the second users as information related to each of the second users. By adding the tag information to the question,
The program according to claim 2 , further comprising: identifying the candidate answerers based on the tag information assigned to the question and information related to each of the second users. The tag information is assigned to the question,
analyzing words included in the question and assigning the tag information based on a degree of association between each word and a tag;
and assigning the tag information based on information on the frequency of applications of the words for each field. In the step of identifying candidate respondents,
3. The program according to claim 1, further comprising: identifying the candidate respondent based on information related to the first user and information related to a plurality of the second users. The program according to claim 6, wherein in the step of identifying candidate respondents, the candidate respondents are identified based on at least one of information related to the first user, the industry of the first user who is the questioner, and information on the language used by the first user to ask a question. 1. A method for operating a computer having a processor and a memory, the method comprising:
receiving an input of a question to be answered by a respondent from a first user who is a questioner;
Identifying, from among a plurality of second users, candidate answerers who will answer the received question, according to information related to each of the plurality of second users;
presenting the question to the identified second user and receiving an answer to the question from the identified second user;
presenting a result of the answer given by the second user to the first user;
A method in which, in the step of identifying candidate respondents, the candidate respondents who will answer the question are identified according to information related to each of the multiple second users, the language information used by the second users. An information processing device including a control unit and a storage unit,
receiving an input of a question to be answered by a respondent from a first user who is a questioner;
Identifying, from among a plurality of second users, candidate answerers who will answer the received question, according to information related to each of the plurality of second users;
presenting the question to the identified second user and receiving an answer to the question from the identified second user;
presenting a result of the answer given by the second user to the first user;
An information processing device, in the step of identifying candidate respondents, which identifies candidate respondents who will answer the question based on information related to each of the multiple second users, the information being the language used by the second users.