Amazon Mechanical Turk- Human Power to earn money
There are some tasks that humans are generally better than computers though clever software techniques mean that computers are catching up. For example trying to spot a lost human on a map, post reviews, or devise new quiz questions.
Amazon, the popular online bookstore (and also the people behind a9.com- the search engine) have set up their “Mechanical Turk” (named after a chess playing automaton that had a hidden human inside) so that people can complete tasks and earn small amounts of money, typically 5 to 20 cents per task.
Amazon themselves seem to be using their service to find UPC codes for various manufacturers which makes sense. Some of this work is dull and repetitive but if you need cash, you know that this isn’t a scam.
Some of the tasks require qualifications for example being able to do a Java test (which has none qualified) or take photos in the Seattle area. (14 qualified for that).
Posted: September 24th, 2007 under collaborative, web.
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