Perspectives on Innovation

Can you identify the picture to the left?  If not, can you at least draw a circle around the round image in the lower half of the frame?  If so, you can become a NASA “Clickworker” and help map the surface of Mars. 

Here’s how it works – volunteers are given a small photo of the surface of the planet Mars, and asked to click the perimeter of visible craters.  The user then submits the information – translated by the system into latitude, longitude, and diameter numbers – to the NASA database. A training example with 7 known craters gives accuracy feedback as each crater is marked.  Upon request, it can give hints, or even demonstrate where to click on the next crater.  A second task, estimating the age of the crater, is a bit more complicated, though the user is given examples and detailed instructions about how this is done.  With several clickworkers marking the same craters, NASA is able to gain a consensus comparable to what might be found by a single expert in the field. 

The project is the second phase of an initiative that was launched in 2001, the results of which are now on the agency’s web site and were published in a paper titled “CAN DISTRIBUTED VOLUNTEERS ACCOMPLISH MASSIVE DATA ANALYSIS TASKS?”.  The stated objectives of the project were to determine:

(1) Are people interested in volunteering their free time for routine scientific work?
(2) Does the public have the training and motivation to produce accurate results in a scientifically important
task?

The answer came quickly – within 4 weeks there were over 800 participants and 90,000 crater marking entries.  This was faster even than the original spacecraft had sent back information.  But what about the results?  An analysis of the data, superimposed onto data collected by NASA scientists, showed some extraneous “noise”, but proved consistent with the scientist’s findings.

Not having much experience working with NASA, I was happy to see that the scientists behind the projecct demonstrated a sense of humor appropriate to the occasion, including the following in the original FAQ:

Q. Is this a big NASA project?

A. No, it’s a tiny little NASA project. The web site and database were created and are being maintained by one engineer working part-tme, advised by two scientists who spend even less time on the project. It’s a pilot study sponsored by the NASA Ames Director’s Discretionary Fund. Depending on what we learn from this, it’s possible that more ambitious projects along these lines will be attempted, once we know the idea works.

Give it a try – and the next time someone asks what you’ve been up to, you can say “I’ve been doing a little work for NASA.” 

I recently learned about a very interesting and ambitious crowdsourcing project called “Star Wars Uncut”.  The goal of the project is to create a user-generated version of the movie Star Wars.  Readers are invited to pick a 15-second scene from the movie, recreate it and send it back to the organizers, who will assemble all of the scenes into a full length recreation of the movie.  The rules are simple – only original videos will be accepted, no music, video must be complete within 30 days and comply with specific formatting and timing guidelines.   The project got so much positive word of mouth publicity that all of the scenes were claimed within 4 days. 

Suspecting that this might be of interest to our Solver demographic, I asked the organizer, Casey Pugh, to provide a bit more information about the project. 

Hi Casey - can you tell us how this project came about?

Sure!  I work at Vimeo, so I’m very familiar with internet video. We have always been thinking about ways to improve our forums and user collaborations. I thought it’d be great if users could collaborate easier on video projects by tasking out jobs like, directing, animating, shooting, etc. I used Star Wars as an example project that people would collaborate on.

Eventually the idea turned into something even simpler; slice the movie into pieces and have each user pick a piece. My first reaction to it was, “woh! that would be pretty fun and hilarious”. I got the idea at least six months ago. Then one day I realized I should just make my own site that uses Vimeo as the medium. This project wasn’t made for Vimeo, it’s just a coincidence that I work there. Anyone can use Vimeo as a crowd-sourcing platform using Vimeo’s API. I hope my site will give some crowdsourcing inspiration to another geek out there.

After only four days all of the scenes were taken – did you have any idea the idea would be so popular?

No idea – the initial release of Star Wars: Uncut was to test the waters to see the level interest from the internet community.  I’m thrilled by the amount of attention it has received and by the pure excitement everyone has to get involved.

What will you do about people who still want to participate but missed their chance to grab one of the available scenes?

This weekend, I will be releasing an upgraded version of Star Wars: Uncut. It will allow a lot more people to join in on the fun. This means there will be multiple versions of each scene where fans will be able to choose their favorite version. Just imagine being able to watch Star Wars a completely different way every time you watch it. I can’t wait.  I’ll spare you the techinical details of how it will work right now, but I would like people to know that they still have a chance to participate!
 
Will you publish more contests like these?

I would like to do the next two Star Wars movies if this one goes well.  I’m very excited about it all and I hope Mr. Lucas won’t be upset about our awesome tribute.

Thanks Casey, and good luck!

Thanks!

In the recently published “Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City”, NYU history professor Greg Grandin tells the story of Henry Ford’s failed attempt to transform the Amazon rainforest into a rubber plantation.

In the late 1920s, demand for Henry Ford’s automobiles was booming.  He had control of every natural resource needed to make a car except rubber, which was controlled by a small cartel of rubber tree plantation owners in Asia.  In 1927 Ford purchased a large parcel of land along the Amazon river, determined to create his own rubber plantation and, at the same time, overlay his vision of the perfect American town on the people of Brazil.  He had the forest cleared and sent in American managers who built Cape Cod style shingled houses, wide streets, golf courses, tennis courts and churches, along with the production facilities needed to harvest a rubber crop.  He proudly called his town “Fordlandia”.

Once the town was built, managers and workers set about planting rubber trees, mass-production style, in tight rows, not understanding that rubber trees need much more space in order to grow.  In doing this, he created the perfect conditions for the explosive growth of bugs and blight that feed off rubber.

The integration of Brazilian workers was even less successful.  The clash between Henry Ford’s puritan ideology and the Brazilian workers was epic.  He provided only American style food and “wholesome” entertainment, including square dances and poetry readings.  He tried to enforce prohibition, which was not the law in Brazil.  Workers rebelled – knife fights were common, and bars and brothels sprouted on the outskirts of town.  The situation finally ended in a standoff between the Brazilian workers and the American managers, who only escaped by fleeing into the river in lifeboats and waiting for the Brazilian military to arrive.

Why did the experiment fail?  Ford’s vision for his new enterprise was conceived with a strictly American perspective.  He never considered the cultural differences between American and Brazilian workers.  He didn’t consult with botanists to determine the colony’s agricultural viability.  He installed American managers who knew nothing about growing rubber or about social engineering.  In the 17 years that Fordlandia struggled to survive, he never once visited the site.  All of which resulted in a multi-million dollar investment that did not yield one drop of rubber.  The project was scrapped in 1945.

The ruins of Fordlandia are now a stop on the Amazon rain forest tour - and a graphic reminder of an epic experiment that was doomed from the start.

Do you ever wonder what your favorite sports team would look like if you had a say in who was running it?  Unlikely crowdsourcer (and Price is Right Host) Drew Carey did.  In fact, as new minority owner of Major League Soccer’s new franchise, the Seattle Sounders, Carey has given season ticket holders just that power.  Every four years (or sooner, if deemed necessary by 20% or more of the ticket holders), these fans will have the opportunity to vote out an underperforming general manager.  They will also be invited to send representatives to a quarterly meeting with the owners.

The plan is a big hit with fans – the club has sold more than 20,000 season tickets so far. They also are expanding the planned capacity at Qwest Field to more than 30,000 for their opener against the Red Bulls to accommodate the demand.

Will this idea spread to other franchises?  Carey hopes so, according to an interview earlier this week:  “I don’t know why anybody would not want this for their team. I think it’s the greatest idea,” said Carey, who still sounds more like a typical frustrated sports fan than a part-owner of a professional team.

“You vote for a president; you vote for mayor. I don’t know why you shouldn’t be able to vote for the general manager of your local sports team.”

The best part of this plan is that it rewards the most loyal fans – a crowdsourcing idea that many can relate to.  What do you think?  Are there teams you’d like to see adopt this practice?   Tell us!

Have you ever had a dispute with someone that you just couldn’t settle and couldn’t get past? Wonder if the world would agree with your perspective? We recently came across SideTaker – a site where you can take your most personal conflicts to the crowd for resolution. Simply post your side of an argument, while your significant other (or friend or roommate or dogsitter) posts theirs. Observers read both, pick a side and provide helpful relationship advice or, more often, mock the posters mercilessly. Ads on the site are heavily slanted toward dating sites, which instantly makes this seem like a feeder system into a larger matchmaking venture. It’s highly entertaining and completely addictive, but is it really crowdsourcing? Can relationship issues be resolved this way? Tell us what you think.