Research, yes. Elphaba was very good at that--after all, she'd worked as a scientist's aid for a semester, and spent more time in libraries than she really cared to remember. Be it at Shiz, or her brief stay in the Emerald City, or even her own collection of books and magic tomes. She knew research incredibly well.
And that was the thing--Elphaba didn't really need a computer to learn things. Sure, it may have been faster, but she'd always been patient.
"I'll keep that in mind," she said to the formally dressed man. "You can...drop by the apartments sometime. I'm in the directory there." It was odd to invite somebody over to her place. Incredibly odd. But it wasn't like she had any alternative.