Tag Archives: China
When knowledge is power
August 2, 2010… living in extreme states like North Korea and Zimbabwe, or major economic powers like Russia and China, do not sleep so soundly.
For your information
In the end, the power of the state stems from its ability to coerce – especially in countries where its legitimacy is challenged. But almost as important is its access to vast amounts of information, and ability to control what information reaches individuals. As we all know, the internet has dramatically increased people’s access to …
Tags: activism China crowdsourcing Darfur democracy Google Maps Guantanamo Bay Internet Neda Soltan North Korea rule of law Simpsons Twitter
activism, China, crowdsourcing, Darfur, democracy, Google Maps, Guantanamo Bay, Internet, Neda Soltan, North Korea, rule of law, Simpsons, Twitter | 4 CommentsHuman Flesh Search Engines: The Most Dangerous Game
August 30, 2010… A tiger in the grass?
A good demonstration of the power of HFS is now known as the South China Tiger Event. In 2007 a tiger species considered long-extinct in the wild was spotted and photographed by a hunter in the Shaanxi province of China. After the pictures were published in Science magazine, skeptical Chinese internet users started a challenge to establish whether they were authentic.
The human searchers who took up the challenge included professionals with backgrounds in …
Tags: China community crowsourcing distributed work engines HFS search South China Tiger Event
China, community, crowsourcing, distributed work, engines, HFS, search, South China Tiger Event | 2 CommentsGetting paid to party: what is the difference between work and play?
July 17, 2010… in front of television audiences of millions. Hundreds of thousands of virtual gold farmers in China, Vietnam and elsewhere are paid an hourly wage to harvest treasures in online games like EverQuest 2. And most recently, companies like CrowdFlower have started to hire gamers and online community members to carry out real chores like categorizing search engine results and verifying links. The catch: these workers are paid in virtual currency.
No wonder some punters are starting to …
Nordic Tech Tour: Our journey gets going
June 18, 2010… with us!
After much thought, our pitch was based on the question “Why outsource to China when you can outsource to Farmville?” It proved popular with the audience (luckily the Chinese trade minister did not attend), and stimulated some lively debate and a lot of subsequent interest (not to mention Microtask’s first trophy for the cabinet!)
Aside from our presentation, it was also fascinating to see other growth company’s pitches, and get a glimpse of what the future …
Faces in the crowd
April 29, 2010… to other countries is an everyday part of life. Most of our goods are made by faceless millions in China, and the person on the other end of the helpline is more likely to be speaking from New Delhi than next-door. Not everyone likes it, but almost everyone understands it: companies tend to make more money if they move operations to countries where inputs like labor are cheaper.
The wealth of nations
Crowdsourcing platforms like Amazon’s Mechanical Turk should presumably take this …
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