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Ask HN: Help use Google Doodle to find Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

10 points by pitt1980 13y ago

Finding Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is a problem google could solve by crowdsourcing the search on the google doodle They could use an algorithm to generate different satellite images through the possible search images as the google doodle, they could put a toggle button, 'anything look like a plane or wreckage here?' Yes/no. For every yes, show it to more people, see if they agree I’m sure google has better algorithm experts to figure out what the best images to show are than I can figure out, but google can find that plane I've already submitted this to google via email at proposals@google.com as suggested on http://www.google.com/doodles/about I suspect there are people on HN who are fewer degrees of seperation from who figures out the google doodle than I am though If you happen to be one of those people, who might be able to send a personal email, or send a text, or make a phone call to someone who could advocate for that being the google doodle, I would appreciate that needless to say, if google was able to help solve this mystery, I would imagine that would be pretty good publicity for the company Thanks for your consideration

camillomiller 13y ago
That's an interesting idea but I guess the problem here is about setting a precedent. Why is it ok for that plane and not many other uses (e.g. Amber alerts)? They just wouldn't want to go there
- pitt1980 13y ago
  That's a fair point I haven't worked out what the right counter to it is in my head, google could solve this case though
- Houshalter 13y ago
  It's their website, they should be able to do what they want with it. Nothing about them would obligate them to assist in every instance. There is no slippery slope. Also, maybe they should consider doing amber alerts and stuff like that. But it's independent of this question.
err4nt 13y ago
Google is a website commonly visited by people of all ages. Every doodle I have seen has been whimsical and also safe for children, but putting a doodle searching for wreckage like this would be asking children all over the world when they look at their computer one day, "Do you see 300 dead people in this photo, Yes or No?" I can't see Google finding this an acceptable use of their brand, even though their homepage does command a lot of eyeballs. Perhaps Google CAN use their influence to help the search, but I don't think it will be with a doodle. Is there any more appropriate Google-owned venue where this would be more acceptable?
- pitt1980 13y ago
  also a fair point, I appreciate your serious consideration a link from the home page might drive considerable eyeballs
- esdailycom 13y ago
  Another thing - a script to do this could take at least 2-3 days to code. Things could change pretty drastically by then. Of course, we might be able to reuse the code for another unfortunate time.
- AbhishekBiswal 13y ago
  "Search Plane Wreckage" as a Doodle? A link should work.
pizza 13y ago
It's a well-intentioned idea, but another thing I see wrong with it is that there are, what, 200 million square miles the plane could be in? Of which we'd only expect one to contain the plane (..hopefully..). You're just going to get too much noise/too many trolls to observe a 5.0e-9 event precisely (sure, you could weight the 'yes' pictures to show up more often, but wouldn't that just give more power to the trolls, and thereby obscure further the chance of seeing the actual plane picture?)
- Houshalter 13y ago
  You'd just show people the pictures multiple times, and take the one with the most yeses. Discard the results (or weight them a lower amount) of people that just press the button over and over again, or stuff like that.

10 points by pitt1980 13y ago

camillomiller 13y ago

That's an interesting idea but I guess the problem here is about setting a precedent. Why is it ok for that plane and not many other uses (e.g. Amber alerts)? They just wouldn't want to go there

pitt1980 13y ago
That's a fair point I haven't worked out what the right counter to it is in my head, google could solve this case though
Houshalter 13y ago
It's their website, they should be able to do what they want with it. Nothing about them would obligate them to assist in every instance. There is no slippery slope. Also, maybe they should consider doing amber alerts and stuff like that. But it's independent of this question.

err4nt 13y ago

Google is a website commonly visited by people of all ages. Every doodle I have seen has been whimsical and also safe for children, but putting a doodle searching for wreckage like this would be asking children all over the world when they look at their computer one day, "Do you see 300 dead people in this photo, Yes or No?" I can't see Google finding this an acceptable use of their brand, even though their homepage does command a lot of eyeballs. Perhaps Google CAN use their influence to help the search, but I don't think it will be with a doodle. Is there any more appropriate Google-owned venue where this would be more acceptable?

pitt1980 13y ago
also a fair point, I appreciate your serious consideration a link from the home page might drive considerable eyeballs
esdailycom 13y ago
Another thing - a script to do this could take at least 2-3 days to code. Things could change pretty drastically by then. Of course, we might be able to reuse the code for another unfortunate time.
AbhishekBiswal 13y ago
"Search Plane Wreckage" as a Doodle? A link should work.

pizza 13y ago

It's a well-intentioned idea, but another thing I see wrong with it is that there are, what, 200 million square miles the plane could be in? Of which we'd only expect one to contain the plane (..hopefully..). You're just going to get too much noise/too many trolls to observe a 5.0e-9 event precisely (sure, you could weight the 'yes' pictures to show up more often, but wouldn't that just give more power to the trolls, and thereby obscure further the chance of seeing the actual plane picture?)

Houshalter 13y ago
You'd just show people the pictures multiple times, and take the one with the most yeses. Discard the results (or weight them a lower amount) of people that just press the button over and over again, or stuff like that.