Microwork is a series of many small tasks which together comprise a large, unified project completed by many people over the Internet. Microwork is considered the smallest unit of work in a virtual assembly line. It is most often used to describe tasks for which no efficient algorithm has been devised and require human intelligence to complete reliably. The term was developed in 2008 by Leila Chirayath Janah of Samasource.
Microtasking Microtasking is the process of splitting a large job into small tasks that can be distributed, over the Internet, to many people. Since the inception of microwork, many online services have been developed that specialize in different types of microtasking. Most of them rely on a large, voluntary workforce composed of Internet users from around the world. Typical tasks offered are repetitive but not so simple that they can be automated. Good candidates for microtasks have the following characteristics:
They are large volume tasks They can be broken down into tasks that are done independently They require human judgement It may also be known as ubiquitous human computing or human-based computation when focused on computational tasks that are too complex for distributed computing. Microtasks are distinguished from macrotasks, which typically can be done independently. They require a fixed amount of time and they require a specialized skill. The wage paid can range from a few cents per task to hundreds of dollars per project.
Examples Amazon Mechanical Turk and Toloka are examples of microwork platforms that allow workers to choose and perform simple tasks online, reporting directly through the platform to receive payments in exchange. A task can be as complex as algorithm writing or as simple as labelling photos or videos, describing products, or transcribing scanned documents. Employers submit tasks and set their own payments, which are often pennies for each task. Amazon Mechanical Turk, a crowdsourcing project initiated by Amazon, soon became a service to contract individuals to finish tasks that computers are unable to accomplish. The founder of Amazon Jeff Bezos told The New York Times in 2007: “Normally, a human makes a request of a computer, and the computer does the computation of the task. But artificial artificial intelligences like Mechanical Turk invert all that. The computer has a task that is easy for a human but extraordinarily hard for the computer. So instead of calling a computer service to perform the function, it calls a human.” LiveOps uses a distributed network of people to run a "Cloud Call Center", which is a virtual call center. Contracted workers can answer calls and provide other call center facilities without the need for the physical building or equipment of a traditional call center. The Red Cross used this system successfully during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, to process 17,000+ calls without having to open or hire staff for a call center. InnoCentive allows businesses to post problems and offer payment for answers. These questions are often far less simple than tasks posted on services like Mechanical Turk, and the payments are accordingly higher. For example: "Think you can find a way to prevent orange juice stored in see-through bottles from turning brown? There may be $20,000 in it for you." Galaxy Zoo is a scientific effort to use online crowdsourcing to classify a very large number of galaxies from astronomical images. In 2010, the company Internet Eyes launched a service where in return for a potential reward, home viewers would watch live CCTV streams and alert shop owners of potential theft in progress.
Uses Most uses of microtasking services involve processing data, especially online. These include driving traffic to websites, gathering data like email addresses, and labelling or tagging data online. They are also used to accurately translate or transcribe audio clips and pictures, since these are activities that are better suited to humans than computers. These are used both for practical data conversion purposes, but also to improve upon and test the fidelity of machine learning algorithms. Identification of pictures by humans has been used to help in missing persons searches, though to little effect. These services can also be used for social study outreach, providing a way to offer monetary incentives. Companies can also outsource projects to specialists on whom they otherwise would have expended more resources hiring and screening. This method of pay per task is attractive to employers; therefore, companies like Microsoft, AT&T, Yahoo! are currently crowdsourcing some of their work through CrowdFlower, a company that specializes in allocating jobs for foreign and local crowd workers. CrowdFlower alone has completed 450 million completed human intelligence tasks between 2007 and 2012. CrowdFlower operates differently than Amazon Mechanical Turk. Jobs are taken in by the company; then in turn they are allocated to the right workers through a range of channels. They implemented a system called Virtual Play, which allows the users to play free games that would in turn accomplish useful tasks for the company.
Demographics In 2011 an estimated $375 million was contributed by digital crowdsourced labour. As of November 2009, India and the United States together make up roughly 92% of the workers on Amazon Mechanical Turk with the U.S. making up 56% of these. However, the percentage of Indian Turkers quadrupled in only one year from 2008 to 2009. As of 2009, the Indian Turkers are much younger and more educated than their American counterparts, with the average age of Indian workers being 26 and American workers being 35. In addition, 45% of the digital workforce in India have bachelor's degrees and 21% have master's degrees; in contrast only 38% of American Turkers have a bachelor's degree and 17% with a master's degree. Nonetheless, a majority of the digital workforce is educated young adults. The major difference between the American and Indian workforce lies in the gender: 63% of Indian Turkers are male compared to the 37% that makes up American Turkers.
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