Meet the cliolator

For Active History, Sean Kheraj asks Google Home "What was the expulsion of the Acadians?" "What was the conscription plebiscite of 1942?" and other questions about Canadian history, and gets pretty good answers, at least on the facts.

Sean assures us "The Google Home is not going to replace historians." (Sure, that's what they told the Lancashire craft weavers.)  More to the point, "It is an example of how advanced algorithms and search engines can influence research practice and history education."  And:

We need more high quality historical research on the web. Voice assistants like Google Home and the Amazon Echo rely entirely upon what they can find on the open web. As a result, they pull from Wikipedia and Canadian Encyclopedia, popular online sources that are open to search engines. If historians want to ensure that broad public audiences have access to the best possible information, they should contribute to these sources and make more of their own research open and available online.

Hmm.  What question could someone ask Google Home for which the answer would start, "According to Christopher Moore's History News..."  A prize for the best entry.. or maybe any!

Update, December 4:  I think we have a winner!  Russ Chamberlayne writes:

"What question could someone ask Google Home for which the answer would start, 'According to Christopher Moore's History News...'?"

How do a) the Tour de France or b) Ontario vehicle licence plates fit into history?

Google Home would have lots of options to explain the Tour, I think, but the licence plates? That could do it.