Taking Measure of Mechanical Turk

Yesterday the Christian Science Monitor published an article about Amazon's Mechanical Turk. The piece goes into considerably more depth than the usual, gee-whiz-what-will-the-geeks-think-of-next MSM take on the Turk. For one, the writer, Gregory Lamb, actually bothers to talk to a few Turkers.

Chuck Freiman, a paralegal in Charlotte, N.C., spends two or three hours a week on the Turk. To him it's a hobby, not a job. "It's not like I have to get dressed up and go to work or anything," says Mr. Freiman, who brought in about $25 last month. As long as he can make a little money, he says, "I'll be doing it."

The motivation of individual Turkers is easily one of the most fascinating aspects of the MT phenomenon. Given that even the lowest-paying HITs (that's "human intelligence tasks" for the unitiated) get snapped as quickly as they appear, you have to wonder what keeps Turkers coming back for more. Lamb contrasts the Turk with Yahoo Answers, in which contributors work for free. Tomi Poutanen, product manager of Yahoo's social search businesses, points out that Yahoo Answers volunteers are simply taking part in the reputation economy. "A person who has built a following as a Yahoo gardening expert, for example, might develop that into a gardening business." 

But unlike Yahoo, Amazon isn't offering much in the way of whuffie. I mean, does anyone really want to be an expert in filling out marketing research surveys? Yech. As far as hobbies go, Mechanical Turk makes rolling pennies sound like a heart-pounding thrillride.

Lamb, the CSM writer, quotes me as saying the service is both "rather depressing" and "rather brilliant." While I wouldn't have objected if Lamb had spent a few more column inches showing how I reconcile those views, I won't deny I described the Turk as possessing both attributes. What are we to make of a Web site that facilitates works of profound imagination, like the Sheep Market, and yet also gives us a snapshot of a depressing future in which legions of click-slaves toil away at identifying duplicate Web pages for less than minimum wage. Amazon says it hit on the idea for Mechanical Turk when it realized that there were some tasks that even the smartest computers couldn't perform. I've got an alternate theory: Maybe the computers just didn't want to.

Comments

[Alan]

What with Wuffie and all that social capitol implies, the next step one might imagine, would be computers moving into realms that anticipate Intelligence. And you are right. Only humans, who appear to have a very limited social/historical memory, would fall, as in Eden, for the obvious when offering to become “click-slaves.” Even the dumbest of what might be offered by a future generation of whatever it is that will store and process information would even consider such a relationship! Whilst drones slave on and the few who can even imagine a future that sparkles, there are always going to be the those Mephistophelestic forces, that will endlessly enslave, especially those who are too greedy, destined to be rich, enslaved by their own wealth and a desire for material possessions with little interest in the ethical questions that arise out of a phenomena like crowdsourcing! Alan.

[tien]

I was surprised to see your comment in CSM the other day; "depressing" is a little strong, no? When I lived in Shanghai, I visited a factory where hundreds of young women (same haircut, same clothes, same grim expressions) sat in perfect rows inches away from each other, assembling tiny circuit boards under buzzing fluorescent lights. 10 hour shifts, 6 days a week. Now THAT's depressing.

Sitting at home, doing surveys for (a little) cash while watching TV? Hardly :)

[Jeff Howe]

I'm going to try to have my cake and eat it too.
@Alan, I thought that was terribly well put, and strikes right at the heart of what worries me about not just what's happening on Mechanical Turk (to be clear, I don't fault MT itself, which I do think is rather brilliant, just the way in which it's being used) but in other crowdsourcing plays that have begun to emerge and seem to be attempting a piecemeal-work model. Now, that said:
@Tien. Who can possibly deny the truth of your statement, and I echoed it recently in a discussion about crowdsourcing at horsepigcow.com. To clarify, I find "piecemeal crowdsourcing" (my term for MT-style menial CS labor) depressing in the context of all the exciting ways one could take advantage of the new form of production. It just seems the least imaginative use. But it pales against not just Chinese sweatshops but true iniquities of all kinds. Thanks for comments!

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Does it cost money to publish a HIT on Mechanical Turk?
I am wanting to post a HIT on Mechanical Turk, but I don't know if I have to pay Amazon any money for this service. Ant help would be much appreciated. The site says you have to prepay your account for those who accept your HITs, but I am already aware of that concept. Thank you for your help.

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I participate in mechanical turk both as a requester and a worker. You do have to pay amazon a fee to publish a hit but it's not very much. The hit I published I was paying 2 cent to every person who accepted my HIT and I wanted three hundred people to be able to do my HIT so that was 6 dollars I had to prepay for that part and an additional $1.50 to publish my HIT. All together I only had to prepay $7.50 That wasn't too much at all.

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I do think is rather brilliant, just the way in which it's being used) but in other crowdsourcing plays that have begun to emerge and seem to be attempting a piecemeal-work model. Now, that said:
@Tien. Who can possibly deny the truth of your statement, and I echoed it recently in a discussion about crowdsourcing at horsepigcow.com

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