5 ms·

+1. I've spent 5x the amount of time trying to understand this than I would for anyone else-- because I think Joshua is brilliant. But I'm still flummoxed. I

+1. I've spent 5x the amount of time trying to understand this than I would for anyone else-- because I think Joshua is brilliant. But I'm still flummoxed. Is it like mechanical turk? Tasty Labs could really benefit from a designer, methinks. Not just to make it pretty, but to empathize with/advocate for their audience.

joshu 14y ago
Agreed. We are circling in on better explanations. (FWIW it took a few YEARS before I was able to explain tagging and group behavior on delicious cogently. This process is not surprising.) So, yes, it's a bit like mechanical turk. Hopefully some of the usage will be driven by participatory urges rather than getting 5c per transaction (though we will probably empower that sort of payment, and more. Offers etc.)
- Alex3917 14y ago
  Suggested description: "Human.io lets you to script with humans as easily as you would script with software. It does for the digital economy what the assembly line did for the industrial economy. The software allows you to dynamically assemble ad hoc armies of virtual workers, who are then assigned to complete tasks in the real world using the sensors and input devices on their phones: GPS, camera, microphone, and so on. Let's say you want to X. Human.io lets you..." Still not perfect, but I think it's a little more clear than what you have.
  - paulrademacher 14y ago
    > Human.io lets you to script with humans as easily as you would script with software That was our thinking when we first started working on human.io. If GMaps lets you invoke methods on a map, and Twilio on a phone, what would it mean to invoke methods on a person?
    - Alex3917 14y ago
      "That was our thinking when we first started working on human.io." I think it's important to have that first, otherwise you are burying the lead. Although I can see why you wouldn't want to prematurely niche yourself, I don't think the pitch about engaging your users is especially compelling. "what would it mean to invoke methods on a person?" I mean ultimately you want to be selling the benefits and not the features, so I think being able to communicate the implications of that statement are much more important than being able to come up with a snappy analogy for the statement itself. If you're really committed to staying neutral on usage though, we already have the term HCI for human-computer interaction. So maybe you could describe it as an HCI programming language or something.
      - joshu 14y ago
        FWIW you use whatever language you want on your end. It's more like a HCI RPC or something. With humans on the far end.
  - jyu 14y ago
    Going along this, Human.io, "the Human API" enables you to recruit a virtual army's phones, GPS, camera, microphone, etc. Sample human API tasks: 1. photo scavenger hunt 2. parking garage availability 3. male to female ratio in a club 4. collect blind auction bids
    - joshu 14y ago
      So do you think we should BUILD more examples or just talk about them?
      - _pius 14y ago
        Why not both?
        ricardobeat 14y ago
        (V)(°,,°)(V)
        joshu 14y ago
        :D
      - benmccann 14y ago
        I'd start by placing the ones that you do have more prominently on your site. Right now they're below the fold and are the very last thing on the page. However, to me they're far more descriptive of what the product is than a picture showing that you connect a mobile phone to a server. I also want to know why you're different. I can already connect a mobile phone to a server. Why are you better? Also, one thing that confuses the hell out of me is that the picture says "Create and instantly deploy mobile apps" and then later on you have text that says "The end-users (the humans in human.io) use our iOS and Android app". So which is it? Do I create a new app or do they use your app? I think what this may be is mechanical turk for mobile devices. That actually seems pretty cool. In any case, good luck!
      - jyu 14y ago
  - joshu 14y ago
    This is good stuff. Thank you.
- webwright 14y ago
  Holy crap, storytelling is way harder than people think. I just did YC this summer and on rehearsal day, it was pretty breathtaking just how few of the companies made any sense to me after a 2min pitch. These are handpicked-geniusfolk-by-YC and they still can't explain their idea to a room full of strangers. It was similarly amazing to see PG whip these pitches into shape over a week or two. So if I were to give advice, I would say to have coffee with PG and give him your pitch. He's magical. Regardless, grats on the launch!
  - joshu 14y ago
    PG is too busy for us. Having been to more than a few demo days myself, I think this is a much broader thing than YC cos tend to do.
- johns 14y ago
  Hire a dedicated storyteller like Twilio did with Danielle. If you want any help doing that, feel free to email me johnsheehan gmail

joshu 14y ago

Agreed. We are circling in on better explanations. (FWIW it took a few YEARS before I was able to explain tagging and group behavior on delicious cogently. This process is not surprising.) So, yes, it's a bit like mechanical turk. Hopefully some of the usage will be driven by participatory urges rather than getting 5c per transaction (though we will probably empower that sort of payment, and more. Offers etc.)

Alex3917 14y ago
Suggested description: "Human.io lets you to script with humans as easily as you would script with software. It does for the digital economy what the assembly line did for the industrial economy. The software allows you to dynamically assemble ad hoc armies of virtual workers, who are then assigned to complete tasks in the real world using the sensors and input devices on their phones: GPS, camera, microphone, and so on. Let's say you want to X. Human.io lets you..." Still not perfect, but I think it's a little more clear than what you have.
- paulrademacher 14y ago
  > Human.io lets you to script with humans as easily as you would script with software That was our thinking when we first started working on human.io. If GMaps lets you invoke methods on a map, and Twilio on a phone, what would it mean to invoke methods on a person?
  - Alex3917 14y ago
    "That was our thinking when we first started working on human.io." I think it's important to have that first, otherwise you are burying the lead. Although I can see why you wouldn't want to prematurely niche yourself, I don't think the pitch about engaging your users is especially compelling. "what would it mean to invoke methods on a person?" I mean ultimately you want to be selling the benefits and not the features, so I think being able to communicate the implications of that statement are much more important than being able to come up with a snappy analogy for the statement itself. If you're really committed to staying neutral on usage though, we already have the term HCI for human-computer interaction. So maybe you could describe it as an HCI programming language or something.
    - joshu 14y ago
      FWIW you use whatever language you want on your end. It's more like a HCI RPC or something. With humans on the far end.
- jyu 14y ago
  Going along this, Human.io, "the Human API" enables you to recruit a virtual army's phones, GPS, camera, microphone, etc. Sample human API tasks: 1. photo scavenger hunt 2. parking garage availability 3. male to female ratio in a club 4. collect blind auction bids
  - joshu 14y ago
    So do you think we should BUILD more examples or just talk about them?
    - _pius 14y ago
      Why not both?
      - ricardobeat 14y ago
        (V)(°,,°)(V)
        joshu 14y ago
        :D
    - benmccann 14y ago
      I'd start by placing the ones that you do have more prominently on your site. Right now they're below the fold and are the very last thing on the page. However, to me they're far more descriptive of what the product is than a picture showing that you connect a mobile phone to a server. I also want to know why you're different. I can already connect a mobile phone to a server. Why are you better? Also, one thing that confuses the hell out of me is that the picture says "Create and instantly deploy mobile apps" and then later on you have text that says "The end-users (the humans in human.io) use our iOS and Android app". So which is it? Do I create a new app or do they use your app? I think what this may be is mechanical turk for mobile devices. That actually seems pretty cool. In any case, good luck!
    - jyu 14y ago
- joshu 14y ago
  This is good stuff. Thank you.
webwright 14y ago
Holy crap, storytelling is way harder than people think. I just did YC this summer and on rehearsal day, it was pretty breathtaking just how few of the companies made any sense to me after a 2min pitch. These are handpicked-geniusfolk-by-YC and they still can't explain their idea to a room full of strangers. It was similarly amazing to see PG whip these pitches into shape over a week or two. So if I were to give advice, I would say to have coffee with PG and give him your pitch. He's magical. Regardless, grats on the launch!
- joshu 14y ago
  PG is too busy for us. Having been to more than a few demo days myself, I think this is a much broader thing than YC cos tend to do.
johns 14y ago
Hire a dedicated storyteller like Twilio did with Danielle. If you want any help doing that, feel free to email me johnsheehan gmail