Minds for Sale - Revision history

David: /* Related Case Examples */

2011-09-12T17:08:56Z

Related Case Examples

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:08, 12 September 2011
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	*[[Herdict]]		*[[Herdict]]

			==Student Reflections==

			''By Steven and Yael''

			Professor Jonathan Zittrain began the Minds for Sale session describing an experiment by an NYU researcher, which showed that strangers may be willing to help out with a task even if they’re not paid for it. (Specifically, strangers helped the experimenter’s robots reach point B, from point A, in New York City.) Zittrain described a pyramid of tasks, whereby, for very difficult tasks (at the top of they pyramid), one would need to put up a large amount of money to elicit a stranger to complete the task. For very simple tasks, a large number of people would be willing to perform the tasks for very little money. An example of an emerging platform toward the top end of the pyramid is X PRIZE Foundation, which offers prize money for teams who complete projects for the benefit of humanity. Further down the pyramid is Innocentive- where firms can solicit workers to perform complicated engineering tasks for prize money. Further still, is Liveops, where firms can solicit “contractors” to perform tasks from home, via the phone- like taking drive through orders for fast food restaurants, potentially thousands of mile away. Zittrain described Amazon’s Mechanical Turk as a forum toward the bottom of the pyramid. During the session, students posted an MTurk request for Turkers to post questions or answers on a question tool board. ILaw participants were able to watch Turkers complete the task, entering questions and answers to the question forum, in real time.

			One underlying concern that Professor Zittrain expressed is that MTurk and similar sites could be used to solicit questionably ethical tasks. For example, companies can pay for Turkers to post positive reviews about a particular product, pretending that they actually own the product. A separate concern was exemplified by an organization that paid individuals to write letters to their senators, opposing certain legislation. Zittrain suggested that we might lose our ability to accurately gage public sentiment on political or social issues, when companies or organizations can pay individuals to attend town hall meetings or write letters in support or opposition of certain legislation, for example. Moreover, a concern might arise even if Turkers are paid to do kind acts for others. If such MTurk requests became widespread, we might be left wondering every time somebody was kind to us whether they were doing it because they were paid.

			Another potentially worrisome issue that Zittrain noted is that children can be solicited to “work” when they think they are “playing” games on the computer. Even if the work they are doing is not morally questionable, many iLaw participants expressed concern that children can be exploited to perform work. There seemed to be a spectrum of viewpoints on this issue, but the class on a whole was even more greatly opposed to children doing work via games, when the work was morally questionable. The class began to discuss, but did not resolve, the factors that make it more or less acceptable or reprehensible for children to perform work via games. A final concern that Zittrain expressed was that with the proliferation of easy “tasks” that people can perform, for money (or points) from their homes, people will lose their leisure time.

	[[Category:Case Studies]]		[[Category:Case Studies]]

David: /* Overview */

2011-09-05T20:04:13Z

Overview

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	==Overview==		==Overview==
	'''Friday, 10:00-11:00am'''<br>		'''Friday, 10:00-11:00am'''<br>
	''Lead: Jonathan Zittrain''		''Lead'': [http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/jzittrain Jonathan Zittrain]

	In this presentation, Jonathan Zittrain will outline his current work on the concepts of ubiquitous human computing and distributed work. Encompassing phenomena from gamification, CAPTCHAs and Mechanical Turk to the X Prize, he will examine the consequences of crowdsourcing, economically, legally and socially, review the development and present state of the practice, and invite the audience to think ahead to its possible futures.		In this presentation, Jonathan Zittrain will outline his current work on the concepts of ubiquitous human computing and distributed work. Encompassing phenomena from gamification, CAPTCHAs and Mechanical Turk to the X Prize, he will examine the consequences of crowdsourcing, economically, legally and socially, review the development and present state of the practice, and invite the audience to think ahead to its possible futures.

David: /* Navigation */

2011-08-24T21:23:06Z

Navigation

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	*[[Herdict]]		*[[Herdict]]

	~~==Navigation==~~
	~~Back to [[Main Page]]~~
	[[Category:Case Studies]]		[[Category:Case Studies]]

David: /* Overview */

2011-08-24T21:22:55Z

Overview

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:22, 24 August 2011
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	{{Ilawsidebar}}		{{Ilawsidebar}}
	==Overview==		==Overview==
	'''~~[http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/ilaw/2011/Program_Schedule#~~Friday~~.2C_September_9.2C_2011 Friday]~~, 10:00-11:00am'''<br>		'''Friday, 10:00-11:00am'''<br>
	''Lead: Jonathan Zittrain''		''Lead: Jonathan Zittrain''

BenNH: /* Overview */

2011-08-04T04:29:52Z

Overview

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	{{Ilawsidebar}}		{{Ilawsidebar}}
	==Overview==		==Overview==
	'''[http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/ilaw/2011/Program_Schedule#Friday.2C_September_9.2C_2011 Friday], 10:00 to 11:00'''<br>		'''[http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/ilaw/2011/Program_Schedule#Friday.2C_September_9.2C_2011 Friday], 10:00-11:00am'''<br>
	''Lead: Jonathan Zittrain''		''Lead: Jonathan Zittrain''

BenNH: /* Overview */

2011-08-03T19:48:29Z

Overview

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	''Lead: Jonathan Zittrain''		''Lead: Jonathan Zittrain''

	~~When most people think of crowdsourcing~~, the ~~positive example of Wikipedia is the first thing that comes to mind; what better way to harness the entirety~~ of human ~~knowledge than to outsource its summary~~ and ~~consolidation to all of mankind~~. ~~The internet has found myriad ways to capture the collective productivity of its users~~, ~~but this powerful process--known as crowdsourcing--raises several serious concerns.~~		In this presentation, Jonathan Zittrain will outline his current work on the concepts of ubiquitous human computing and distributed work. Encompassing phenomena from gamification, CAPTCHAs and Mechanical Turk to the X Prize, he will examine the consequences of crowdsourcing, economically, legally and socially, review the development and present state of the practice, and invite the audience to think ahead to its possible futures.

	~~Sites like [https://www.mturk.com/ Amazon's~~ Mechanical Turk~~] indicate a disturbing trend in cyberspace towards treating people as if they were higher functioning machines that~~, ~~for small rewards, accomplish 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 practice~~ and ~~what it means~~ to ~~treat human minds as an entirely accountable resource~~.

	==Relevant Models==		==Relevant Models==

BenNH: /* Overview */

2011-08-03T16:05:49Z

Overview

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:05, 3 August 2011
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	''Lead: Jonathan Zittrain''		''Lead: Jonathan Zittrain''

	When most people think of crowdsourcing, ~~wikipedia~~ 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 to capture the collective ~~power~~ of its users, but ~~the~~ process of crowdsourcing~~, while powerful,~~ raises several serious concerns.		When most people think of crowdsourcing, the positive example of Wikipedia is the first thing that comes to mind; what better way to harness the entirety of human knowledge than to outsource its summary and consolidation to all of mankind. The internet has found myriad ways to capture the collective productivity of its users, but this powerful process--known as crowdsourcing--raises several serious concerns.

	Sites like [https://www.mturk.com/ Amazon's Mechanical Turk] indicate a disturbing trend in cyberspace towards treating people as if they were higher functioning machines that, for small rewards, accomplish 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 practice, and what it means to treat human minds as an entirely accountable resource.		Sites like [https://www.mturk.com/ Amazon's Mechanical Turk] indicate a disturbing trend in cyberspace towards treating people as if they were higher functioning machines that, for small rewards, accomplish 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 practice and what it means to treat human minds as an entirely accountable resource.

	==Relevant Models==		==Relevant Models==

BenNH: /* Overview */

2011-08-03T16:03:09Z

Overview

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:03, 3 August 2011
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	{{Ilawsidebar}}		{{Ilawsidebar}}
	==Overview==		==Overview==
	'''Friday, 10:00 to 11:00'''<br>		'''[http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/ilaw/2011/Program_Schedule#Friday.2C_September_9.2C_2011 Friday], 10:00 to 11:00'''<br>
	''Lead: Jonathan Zittrain''		''Lead: Jonathan Zittrain''

BenNH: /* Overview */

2011-08-03T16:02:17Z

Overview

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:02, 3 August 2011
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	''Lead: Jonathan Zittrain''		''Lead: Jonathan Zittrain''

	When most people think of crowdsourcing, wikipedia 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.		When most people think of crowdsourcing, wikipedia 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 to capture the collective power of its users, but the 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.		Sites like [https://www.mturk.com/ Amazon's Mechanical Turk] indicate a disturbing trend in cyberspace towards treating people as if they were higher functioning machines that, for small rewards, accomplish 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 practice, and what it means to treat human minds as an entirely accountable resource.

	==Relevant Models==		==Relevant Models==

WikiSysop: /* Related Case Examples */

2011-08-02T19:22:16Z

Related Case Examples

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:22, 2 August 2011
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	==Related Case Examples==		==Related Case Examples==
	*[[~~Case Study:~~ Herdict]]		*[[Herdict]]

	==Navigation==		==Navigation==
	Back to [[Main Page]]		Back to [[Main Page]]
	[[Category:Case Studies]]		[[Category:Case Studies]]