Comments on: In the briefing room: Smartsourcing with the Mechanical Turk http://www.basexblog.com/2009/03/19/in-the-briefing-room-smartsourcing-with-the-mechanical-turk/ Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:54:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Mark Turrell http://www.basexblog.com/2009/03/19/in-the-briefing-room-smartsourcing-with-the-mechanical-turk/comment-page-1/#comment-219 Mark Turrell Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:48:30 +0000 http://www.basexblog.com/?p=664#comment-219 Jon Spira just alerted me to the post - made a blog entry on my blog at http://markturrell.wordpress.com/2009/03/23/smartsourcing-ill-give-you-200-if-you-tell-me-what-it-is/ It is definitely a concept that will be more and more interesting to look at as we enter a brave new world of social-computing enabled employment. I was trying to say 'work', but I believe that with the current economic situation being what it is, people will try to be gainfully employed, whatever that will mean in practice. Great topic to highlight - nice piece. Thanks, Mark Jon Spira just alerted me to the post – made a blog entry on my blog at http://markturrell.wordpress.com/2009/03/23/smartsourcing-ill-give-you-200-if-you-tell-me-what-it-is/

It is definitely a concept that will be more and more interesting to look at as we enter a brave new world of social-computing enabled employment. I was trying to say ‘work’, but I believe that with the current economic situation being what it is, people will try to be gainfully employed, whatever that will mean in practice.

Great topic to highlight – nice piece. Thanks, Mark

]]> By: pligg.com http://www.basexblog.com/2009/03/19/in-the-briefing-room-smartsourcing-with-the-mechanical-turk/comment-page-1/#comment-218 pligg.com Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:03:42 +0000 http://www.basexblog.com/?p=664#comment-218 <strong>Smartsheet: Smartsourcing with the Mechanical Turk...</strong> Smartsheet Smartsourcing is a new offering that provides on-demand access to virtual workers who can be employed on a task-by-task basis. Amazon.com originally developed the Mechanical Turk for use in projects for the company’s e-commerce site. It ... Smartsheet: Smartsourcing with the Mechanical Turk…

Smartsheet Smartsourcing is a new offering that provides on-demand access to virtual workers who can be employed on a task-by-task basis.

Amazon.com originally developed the Mechanical Turk for use in projects for the company’s e-commerce site. It …

]]> By: Brent Frei http://www.basexblog.com/2009/03/19/in-the-briefing-room-smartsourcing-with-the-mechanical-turk/comment-page-1/#comment-206 Brent Frei Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:45:06 +0000 http://www.basexblog.com/?p=664#comment-206 Cody, you are correct in the range of utility we're seeing from customers using this feature within Smartsheet. There has been a particularly high concentration of data gathering jobs submitted for things like building lists, filling out additional information in existing lists, and data cleansing (i.e. - get me the names of everyone that blogs about athletic equipment in the U.S., and/or fill out specific content about each blogger listed, then assemble data about their blog that helps characterize their audience). We've written a brief explanation of how to get even more out of this kind of research by utilizing a couple more of our features in the following blog post: http://www.smartsheet.com/blog/brent-frei/smartsourcing-how-obtain-high-quality-lists-through-mechanical-turk As with any first of a kind service (virual worker access from within a general work management tool) it's been an bit of an evangelical sale. Customers spend a little time getting their mind around a capability that hasn't existed anywhere before. Tell someone that they can submit a list of 1,000 company names for 5 cents a piece and get the names and contact details for any particular exec at those firms within a few hours, and they simply disbelieve its possible. Or, that they can spend a dime to get a reporter's email address, or 25 cents to have a list of reference sites assembled on a topic (offload the busy work embedded in typical projects like a product launch). Two minutes to set up a request and 50 cents is quickly replacing 'do it yourself' for the busy work within our customer ranks. Here's a nice example use along that line - http://www.womengrowbusiness.com/2009/03/entrepreneurial-shock-online-project-collaboration/ -Brent Frei Cody, you are correct in the range of utility we’re seeing from customers using this feature within Smartsheet. There has been a particularly high concentration of data gathering jobs submitted for things like building lists, filling out additional information in existing lists, and data cleansing (i.e. – get me the names of everyone that blogs about athletic equipment in the U.S., and/or fill out specific content about each blogger listed, then assemble data about their blog that helps characterize their audience). We’ve written a brief explanation of how to get even more out of this kind of research by utilizing a couple more of our features in the following blog post:

http://www.smartsheet.com/blog/brent-frei/smartsourcing-how-obtain-high-quality-lists-through-mechanical-turk

As with any first of a kind service (virual worker access from within a general work management tool) it’s been an bit of an evangelical sale. Customers spend a little time getting their mind around a capability that hasn’t existed anywhere before. Tell someone that they can submit a list of 1,000 company names for 5 cents a piece and get the names and contact details for any particular exec at those firms within a few hours, and they simply disbelieve its possible. Or, that they can spend a dime to get a reporter’s email address, or 25 cents to have a list of reference sites assembled on a topic (offload the busy work embedded in typical projects like a product launch). Two minutes to set up a request and 50 cents is quickly replacing ‘do it yourself’ for the busy work within our customer ranks. Here’s a nice example use along that line – http://www.womengrowbusiness.com/2009/03/entrepreneurial-shock-online-project-collaboration/

-Brent Frei

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