mordant wit

When you need a quick fact at the office, you can always lift your head above "the cubes" and broadcast your request to your fellow workers -- or you can reach for your cell phone and send a message to Cellphedia.

Inspired by Wikipedia, the all-volunteer, online community encyclopedia, and Dodgeball, a cell phone-based social networking service, Cellphedia allows its members to broadcast questions to its community and receive answers, all through a mobile phone.

Registration for the service is free at the Cellphedia Web site. After registering, members choose areas that they're interested in -- art, architecture, food, music, etc. A member can ask a question in any area, but the questions go to people who have chosen the area as one that interests them.

Questions and answers are sent and received using SMS text messaging on a cell phone. A compilation of questions and answers sent through the service is maintained at the Cellphedia Web site.

Cellphedia is the cerebral offspring of Limor Garcia. She created the site as part of her graduate thesis at New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program. So far, money isn't in the picture, but Garcia said she might have to look for funding sources if the service scales up. "The more I work on this, the more I realize that as it grows, it might be close to impossible for me to do this without some funding because it's going to take up a lot of my time," she said.