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After looking over the tasks in the Mechanical Turk, I really wondered about the motivation of Turkers. They sure aren't doing it for the money. I suppose it

After looking over the tasks in the Mechanical Turk, I really wondered about the motivation of Turkers. They sure aren't doing it for the money. I suppose it gives people an outlet for the remarkably common desire to help others. The pricing must function primarily for signalling the difficulty of the task. It's a very surprising and interesting phenomenon to me.

gcv 18y ago
You're on to something, but I think there might be another factor at play: love of using the Internet. It sounds a bit silly, but I think people love going to sites and search engines and finding information. To make it more interesting, they prefer to do it (1) when the work has a point, (2) the work has low commitment, and (3) it gives a sense of accomplishment.
- mechanical_fish 18y ago
  I think people love going to sites and search engines and finding information. Yes, it's an online game! A game that, unlike most games, actually means something to other people! If I had a cent for every minute that mankind has spent mindlessly playing Tetris or Windows Solitare, I'd be rich. Mechanical Turk is an instantiation of that principle. The money that's exchanged serves as a social signal from the world that your thumb-twiddling is inherently valuable. It's like Clay Shirky's essay on why micropayments don't work, only in reverse. Micropayments don't work because even a tiny payment has big psychological consequences: It sets off our decision-making circuits ("should I really pay for this?") and our reciprocity circuits ("I paid for this, and it didn't make me happy, so you still owe me!"). The result is that we feel a micropayment as a consequential cost, even when the amount involved is tiny. Apply this in reverse and you get the Turk: Give someone a penny for a task and they feel rewarded, even though the reward is tiny.
fallentimes 18y ago
Or maybe they don't mind the work and get paid to work while working (e.g. they're doing Mechanical Turk stuff while at another job).
- jcl 18y ago
  Or maybe they are doing Mechanical Turk stuff while playing (on the phone, listening to music, "watching" a TV show, IM-ing), and Mechanical Turk lets them justify the use of their time as "productive".
JoelSutherland 18y ago
A great salon article that explains some of the motivation. I believe this was posted a while back: http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2006/07/24/turks/ http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2006/07/24/turks/
rms 18y ago
Most turkers don't cash out with cash -- they cash out with stereos and plasma TVs from Amazon.com
- mynameishere 18y ago
  lulz. Bezos is a genius. Also: I wonder if a lot of the turkers aren't the same people so accustomed to being scammed by "stay-at-home" work offers in local newspaper classifieds.

gcv 18y ago

You're on to something, but I think there might be another factor at play: love of using the Internet. It sounds a bit silly, but I think people love going to sites and search engines and finding information. To make it more interesting, they prefer to do it (1) when the work has a point, (2) the work has low commitment, and (3) it gives a sense of accomplishment.

mechanical_fish 18y ago
I think people love going to sites and search engines and finding information. Yes, it's an online game! A game that, unlike most games, actually means something to other people! If I had a cent for every minute that mankind has spent mindlessly playing Tetris or Windows Solitare, I'd be rich. Mechanical Turk is an instantiation of that principle. The money that's exchanged serves as a social signal from the world that your thumb-twiddling is inherently valuable. It's like Clay Shirky's essay on why micropayments don't work, only in reverse. Micropayments don't work because even a tiny payment has big psychological consequences: It sets off our decision-making circuits ("should I really pay for this?") and our reciprocity circuits ("I paid for this, and it didn't make me happy, so you still owe me!"). The result is that we feel a micropayment as a consequential cost, even when the amount involved is tiny. Apply this in reverse and you get the Turk: Give someone a penny for a task and they feel rewarded, even though the reward is tiny.

fallentimes 18y ago

Or maybe they don't mind the work and get paid to work while working (e.g. they're doing Mechanical Turk stuff while at another job).

jcl 18y ago
Or maybe they are doing Mechanical Turk stuff while playing (on the phone, listening to music, "watching" a TV show, IM-ing), and Mechanical Turk lets them justify the use of their time as "productive".

JoelSutherland 18y ago

A great salon article that explains some of the motivation. I believe this was posted a while back: http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2006/07/24/turks/ http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2006/07/24/turks/

rms 18y ago

Most turkers don't cash out with cash -- they cash out with stereos and plasma TVs from Amazon.com

mynameishere 18y ago
lulz. Bezos is a genius. Also: I wonder if a lot of the turkers aren't the same people so accustomed to being scammed by "stay-at-home" work offers in local newspaper classifieds.