Webupon

From the first you heard of mechanical turk, you wondered.  What is such a thing, and what an odd name?  Maybe you rushed to the Internet.  Maybe you pondered for a day or two.  Maybe you’re still mulling it over.  One thing is definite, once you turk, you’ll run the gamut of opinions and emotions.

I first heard about mturk from my husband, who had heard it mentioned on the radio.  For a week, it never quite left my mind, and I eventually logged onto the site.   With curiosity like the proverbial cat, I scanned through the sign-in page.  Yes, they wanted my personal information, and I was apprehensive.  I felt daring at the moment, however, and could not resist.  After all, they did not want my bank account number, nor my annual household income, and their name was Amazon, a trusted source.  Telling myself that my address and phone number could be found on the white pages, and I had more than one email account if this one went south, I took the plunge. 

Within minutes, I was gazing at hundreds of Human Intelligence Tasks, or HITs.  My suspicion was replaced by a pleasant surprise that I could start earning money so quickly.  In a way, it was comforting that the pay is  low.  You know the phrase, “too good to be true”?  Well, these wages definitely do not apply.  So, it was legitimate.  There were no gimmicks, no ridiculous promises, no unbelievable bribes.  In five minutes, I’d passed through curiosity, suspicion, daring, surprise and comfort. 

For my first task, I listened to some tracks of a CD, and wrote a review.  My favorite HITs are the academic surveys, some writing tasks, and some marketing opinion tasks.  I felt grateful for the opportunity to earn money without paying for childcare, an expense that keeps me from many traditional jobs.  Later, it occurred to me that I was only a busy bee in an electronic sweat shop. 

Some tasks offer merely a penny.  This is fine if they take only five seconds, but others take longer.  You can’t even buy a gumball anymore for a penny.  Still others pay ten, fifteen or twenty cents, but take a half hour.  I wondered, am I being just a little bit unethical by doing tasks that pay so low?  If no one did these lowest paid and time consuming tasks, maybe the requesters would pay better, what the turkers are worth.  By agreeing to the terms and doing the work, was I promoting the unfair pay, and, thus, allowing hundreds of other turkers to be subject to the same conditions?   

Not all tasks pay pitifully low.  Some pay a dollar for twenty minutes, and the work is fun.  Although two or three dollars an hour is lower than minimum wage, you can still accumulate some earnings with HITs like these.  And, there’s no money or time gone to gas and commuting.  Once again, I was grateful and happy. 

Very soon, however, I saw the darker side.  I couldn’t believe how many tasks required my personal info.  These people were just paying me for my email, address, phone number and even birthdate with the ruse of wanting a task performed.  I felt used.  I felt insulted.  They were just buying me and my peace of mind for a pittance.  Were my sanity, privacy, and respect only worth a dime?  I felt indignant.  How dare anyone offer to buy another individual’s privacy.  Some of the HITs are only a vaguely disguised attempt to get this info so that it can be sold to other nefarious entities, and I am sure they sell it for more than they offer its owner.  Although some requesters may honor the private info, others definitely distribute it like a call girl distributes VD.  And their friends are as slimy as you can get.

Truth is,  you won’t be getting that dime promised you for your information when “taking a survey”, or the time it took you to give it to the requester.  You need a specific detail to finish the HIT.  The only way to get that detail is to submit your personal data.  Once you do, you won’t find the detail the requester is asking for.  You then have to return the HIT, or risk a rejection.  If  you think you feel deceited, victimized and scammed now, just head on over to your email account.  Icky spams by the dozen are already piling in. 

That HIT still isn’t the worst you can run across.  Another took the turker, without warning, to an adult site for a supposedly legitimate task.  The HIT looked like any other, but the work sent the turker to pornland, where his or her IP address and hometown are displayed among the smut.  In order to finish the HIT, the turker is required to submit a valid email and join the X-rated site.  Even though a turker immediately returns this HIT, and hightails it out of there, the website now has his or her IP address and city, and the turker has no compensation for, nor did he or she authorize the site taking the IP or city.  The time lost working on this HIT is the least concern about it.  Thankfully, there is a mechanism to report inappropriate HITs. 

Since mechanical turk could be policed a bit better, darker suspicions entered my mind.  Often, a worker has no idea what the requester is going to do with the writings.  What if a requester puts them into an email, and spams hundreds of inboxes in the form of annoying advertising?  I hoped my thoughts were simply running away with me.  There is no indication that this is what is happening, thankfully.  I would have a difficult time living with myself if I had any part to play in unethical doings.

Let’s get back to the happier side of mechanical turk; there is definitely more positive than negative.  Much of the work is worthwhile.  Academic studies further our community knowledge, and turkers have the opportunity to participate and contribute.  Individuals collect a sundry of opinions and information, and it feels good help a guy pick the best playset for his child, or a woman pick her best accessory, or a company pick the best logo, packaging or webpage.  Perhaps the low wages allow businesses to hang in there or get established, as well as give us endless chances to work.  If we were paid better, there would be fewer work opportunities for everyone, and fewer people would be able to earn any money at all. 

In addition, there is much to learn.  Writing skills get honed.  Turkers can try their hand at transcribing audio.  Just reading the titles of the HITs keeps one abreast of new adventures on the internet.  I’d never heard of StumbleUpon, Squidoo, or Digg until mechanical turk.  Indeed, it was mechanical turk that brought me to Triond.  Reading a requester’s well-written online book showed me the world of publishing on demand.  Mechanical turk broadens my outlook and potential.  Thus, hope begins to show its face.  Can I really, eventually, earn enough money from various sources that I don’t have to go off to a mundane job everyday, working from sun up to the time I hit the bed at night?  After all, I don’t need a typical salary, just enough to make a contribution to the household, and garner savings or spending money without paying exorbitant childcare expenses. 

Even though I earned extremely little, my guilt at contributing no income to our family was assuaged.  My overall outlook improved, but the roller coaster continued.  As a turker, it is important to keep your rejections at a minimum.  And, the worker suffers from poor instructions, technical glitches, and bum webpages.  Some requesters do not even have the decency to leave a comment about why the HIT was rejected, although that is better than a snide comment and a rejection after spending an hour going above and beyond, and giving a valid email in the hopes of getting a dime for a HIT.  You’ll get bad stats instead when the webpage does not log in as you might think.  With each rejection, a turker can get discouraged and down.  You lose pay, time, and sometimes private information only to get yourself a worse rejection rate, and fewer HITs available.  Just when you think you’re going to give it up, a bonus shows up for you.  Wow, you’re now elated that someone was impressed with your work, and you dig in with enthusiasm once again.

Indeed, a turker can go from despondency to peaceful content and back in the timespan of a few hours.  You can feel victimized, cheap, worried, indignant, undervalued, angered and disrespected.  Then, you can be elated, comforted, amused, educated, appreciated and hopeful.  You think of all the time you spent without getting paid as you sorted through HITs, attempted ones that had to be returned, or that expired on you.  You know you’re using your own computer, internet subscription and electricity.  Then, you look at your earnings, and broadened outlook, and realize that you didn’t spend any time or money commuting, on childcare, work clothes, or lunches out.  You have little stress, total control over what work you do, no boss, no annual reviews, no abusive work environment, and no lay offs with accompanying out-the-door escorts.  Plus, you downright had fun on a good number of HITs you completed.  Every day brings new tasks and you never know what you’ll be doing next.  After two months, approximately 400 HITs and fifty dollars, I can honestly say I’m very happy I tried mechanical turk.  I wonder what I’ll be writing on Triond about mechanical turk six months and also one year from now.