Mturk

Amazon.com just launched a beta service called Mechanical Turk. At first glance, it seems like a really cool idea; it harnesses the interactive power of Web 2.0 services and also provides a system for monetizing your work.

The thing is, I can’t think of many things (amazon calls them HITs—Human Intellgience Tasks) that would actually be listed. They give examples of locating things in images, or checking them, but beyond that not much comes to mind.

Fred wonders if adding money incentives will undermine social motivations.

I’m just wondering why they named it Mechanical Turk.

EDIT: From the Amazon information site:

In 1769, Hungarian nobleman Wolfgang von Kempelen astonished Europe by building a mechanical chess-playing automaton that defeated nearly every opponent it faced. A life-sized wooden mannequin, adorned with a fur-trimmed robe and a turban, Kempelen’s “Turk” was seated behind a cabinet and toured Europe confounding such brilliant challengers as Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon Bonaparte. To persuade skeptical audiences, Kempelen would slide open the cabinet’s doors to reveal the intricate set of gears, cogs and springs that powered his invention. He convinced them that he had built a machine that made decisions using artificial intelligence. What they did not know was the secret behind the mechanical Turk: a chess master cleverly concealed inside.