Minds for Sale: Difference between revisions

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==Overview==
When most people think of crowdsourcing, wikipedia (hey! look where we are!) is the first thing that comes to mind. What better way to harness the entirety of human knowledge than to outsource its consolidation and summary to the entirety of mankind. The internet has found myriad ways like this to capture the collective power of its users, but this process of crowdsourcing, while powerful, raises several serious concerns.
Sites like [https://www.mturk.com/ Amazon's Mechanical Turk] indicate a disturbing trend in cyberspace towards treating people like behaviorist creatures who, for small rewards, accomplish potentially biased tasks without awareness of their moral valence.  From more obviously sinister examples like Texas allowing people to virtually police the Mexican border through open access webcams to seemingly unproblematic tasks like committing, filming and posting a random act of kindness for a reward of fifty cents, these forms of transaction raise major concerns about this nascent but extremely powerful industry and what it means to treat human minds as an entirely accountable resource.
==Recommended Readings==
==Background Readings==
==Navigation==
==Navigation==
Back to [[Main Page]]
Back to [[Main Page]]
[[Category:Examples and Case Studies]]
[[Category:Examples and Case Studies]]

Revision as of 11:27, 7 July 2011

iLaw Wiki Navigation
Pillar Themes of iLaw
Open Systems/Access · Online Liberty and FOE
The Changing Internet: Cybersecurity · Intellectual Property
Digital Humanities · Cooperation · Privacy
Cross-sectional Themes of iLaw
The History of the Internet
The Global Internet · Interoperability
The Study of the Internet: New Methods for New Technologies
The Future of the Internet
Case Studies
Digital Libraries, Archives, and Rights Registries
Exploring the Arab Spring · Minds for Sale
User Innovation · Mutual Aid
Misc
Program Schedule · Program Logistics
Evening Events · Student Projects · Participation
Old iLaw Videos · Mid-Point Check-in

Overview

When most people think of crowdsourcing, wikipedia (hey! look where we are!) is the first thing that comes to mind. What better way to harness the entirety of human knowledge than to outsource its consolidation and summary to the entirety of mankind. The internet has found myriad ways like this to capture the collective power of its users, but this process of crowdsourcing, while powerful, raises several serious concerns.

Sites like Amazon's Mechanical Turk indicate a disturbing trend in cyberspace towards treating people like behaviorist creatures who, for small rewards, accomplish potentially biased tasks without awareness of their moral valence. From more obviously sinister examples like Texas allowing people to virtually police the Mexican border through open access webcams to seemingly unproblematic tasks like committing, filming and posting a random act of kindness for a reward of fifty cents, these forms of transaction raise major concerns about this nascent but extremely powerful industry and what it means to treat human minds as an entirely accountable resource.

Recommended Readings

Background Readings

Navigation

Back to Main Page