Amazon Mechanical Turk After I had done last year with the professional web services from Amazon, I had my chance last time the Amazon Mechanical Turk
viewed service.
Explanation: Web services are interfaces that are intended for the exchange of data between the computer system, such as when making a website advertising for Amazon Products want, then you can put in the code calls to the Amazon Web Services, which to query product information from the Amazon system and saves the agency's own performance.
The actual information processing is usually an automatic, here, ultimately query the database, if you prefer a needed item price.
The remarkable thing about Amazon Mechanical Turk is that the processing of information here is such that it is provided in the rule of people. Known example is the inverse Turing test to protect against spambots or Erntebots, where one is an image recognition task that can be provided almost exclusively by men.
The name Mechanical Turk indicated to the old chess machine down by no mechanism put to play chess but a small chess players. And so it is with Amazon Mechanical Turk, because people will slave away, but the whole is packaged in web services, so that the processing can be done automatically.
The associated web interface is nice, I've watched only once the part that was intended for human workers (Workers). The part of the employers I have not yet looked at.
The tasks are called HIT (Human Intelligence Task - task for human intelligence).
First impression: Many jobs for a few U.S. cents, or cents. I think a math tutoring job for about 15 U.S. dollars was the highest paid, and I could not say now how long you must work for it.
Well, you see really the BWLer on, as they dream of the benefits of outsourcing. Of the few cents can not live in North America or Europe one. The depressed a bit. Where the potential employees in the country where an attractive salary may be, after all, English can be and an Internet connection, including device must provide some way. If it's so really there? Or is speculated to welfare recipients, who must earn a gift certificate at the district over? Also not pretty.
As a platform the whole thing is quite sophisticated, The system monitors and manages the results and the behavior of the workers. How many tasks can be answered, whether the authority will accept the results. This allows the customers the quality and reliability of the working estimate. Appears at first look good technically if this is always compatible with our labor, I'd be happy to discuss times with a trainer. We see the need for somewhere, but it is also very Orwellian.
I found interesting was the qualification system. It should ensure that tasks that certain skills or attributes (eg country of residence) need only be performed by qualified persons can. These skills can be acquired through testing, or they are assigned (eg, after analysis of the labor data). Now
themselves with the tasks, since Amazon lists noble tasks (
link), but I've actually seen more untrustworthy. Of any blocked ads (come out in the task text to visit a great website is where a more or less serious offer is made) to Anzeigenbetrügerereien (Locate the five hidden numbers on my website), where advertising clicks to be generated.
As regards payment, I am not so convinced. You need to achieve a certain minimum volume in order to even to be paid. And it may, the question remains whether a client by rejecting an application result to acquire this without paying for it. The existence of numerous sites around the topic of Mechanical Turk, which provide tools for employers here watching, because it can be raised fears.
Again a technically interesting system, certainly an innovation in the labor market, but whether I can use personally ever seriously, I can not answer yet.
I realize now that the issue of random fits the present day work. This is a new labor market, with many aspects. It reminds of the old horror pictures of monotonous factory work, where the workers are also only brought even if they can not conveniently be replaced by machines. Globalization is in there. Surveillance in the workplace. But even outside organization to excesses (here payment practices) are facing. Take advantage of social systems. It could also be a chance to simply to provide labor and employee.
