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MTurk + Google News API = press

customerdevlabs.com

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Re: MTurk + Google News API = press

#61

Post by austenallred »

lazyant wrote: post #54
austenallred wrote: post #41

I've mentioned before that I would pay to use this product. If you had the same tool that worked with a blog search API not only would I pay for it, but you could sell it to SEOs all day long. Just need to find a decent blog search API; I haven't had much luck.

can you elaborate how would you use an blog search API? like what post/gets are you looking for, what/which blogs etc?

It could be any range of blogs; it's one of the most effective and least-used means of marketing.

Say I'm a bowtie company that sells to designers; I could look for all the fashion blogs by searching "bowtie" or "necktie," etc. Just generic blog outreach, whether it's little blogs or mommy blogs, would be very useful. Not only do you get some traffic from those blogs, but you get the link juice of some really good links.

It works manually really, really well.

Re: MTurk + Google News API = press

#62

Post by icebraining »

tomgruner wrote: post #27
robrenaud wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not as though Amazon is going and pointing a gun at people's heads and telling them to Turk or die. If it's a bad trade for people to exchange their time for the low wage, they shouldn't take it.

Rob, as a software engineer at google, I would not expect you to to be able to relate to those without opportunities. In fact, there is some evidence that utilizing your brain to solve technical problems can restrict its ability to empathize. Of course amazon has no gun, but that does not mean that poverty in itself is not violent. As you like science and data, here is a read for you: http://www.sciencedaily.com/rele…

The study shows that analytical thinking prevents/reduces empathy in the moments right after engaging in it (few seconds break). It doesn't, as far as I can see, prove anything about long term effects, and in fact, it specifically says that at rest, people naturally switch between the states.

Re: MTurk + Google News API = press

#63

Post by icebraining »

gnaritas wrote: post #31
robrenaud wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not as though Amazon is going and pointing a gun at people's heads and telling them to Turk or die. If it's a bad trade for people to exchange their time for the low wage, they shouldn't take it.

> If it's a bad trade for people to exchange their time for the low wage, they shouldn't take it. They may have little choice. You don't seem to understand what it means to be broke and unskilled.

But isn't that real problem? Not that MTurtk is available, but that people have no better choice?

Attacking low paying jobs satisfies our moral outrage, but it doesn't actually help those wrote are left with nothing. We should concentrate in making sure people don't have to choose MTurk out of desperation, and banning it doesn't achieve that.

This doesn't mean Amazon and companies like it are innocent in this situation, of course, but it bothers me that people concentrate on the cosmetics instead of the systemic problems.

Re: MTurk + Google News API = press

#64

Post by patrickphilips »

tomgruner wrote: post #21

Mechanical turk is abusive. It bypasses the laws that were designed to protect the most vulnerable, and it will take some time for new laws to catch up that can regulate operations like mechanical turk. Just because new services and start ups have out maneuvered the law making system does not make those services ethical. "Workers relying on such low wages and unstable employment are not likely to be able to educate t…

$0.03 per email seems awfully low, and if you do 1 article per minute, you're making $2 an hour, which is definitely not cool.

But how long does it actually take to find one email from an article? Maybe 10-15 seconds? Then you're talking about $7-$10 per hour, which for unskilled work doesn't feel especially exploitative.

The real draw of systems like mechanical turk is not that labor is cheaper (it usually isn't), but that's it's more flexible, i.e. you don't have to hire and train people for any particular task.

Re: MTurk + Google News API = press

#67

Post by lazyant »

austenallred wrote: post #61
lazyant wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

can you elaborate how would you use an blog search API? like what post/gets are you looking for, what/which blogs etc?

It could be any range of blogs; it's one of the most effective and least-used means of marketing. Say I'm a bowtie company that sells to designers; I could look for all the fashion blogs by searching "bowtie" or "necktie," etc. Just generic blog outreach, whether it's little blogs or mommy blogs, would be very useful. Not only do you get some traffic from those blogs, but you get the link juice of some really good li…

thanks!

Re: MTurk + Google News API = press

#68

Post by bcoates »

tomgruner wrote: post #21

Mechanical turk is abusive. It bypasses the laws that were designed to protect the most vulnerable, and it will take some time for new laws to catch up that can regulate operations like mechanical turk. Just because new services and start ups have out maneuvered the law making system does not make those services ethical. "Workers relying on such low wages and unstable employment are not likely to be able to educate t…

Are the small number of people depending on Mechanical Turk for real money actually capable of doing regular minimum wage labor? We already have broad exceptions to minimum wage laws that allow the marginally employable (seriously disabled, mostly) to work for less than customary sums of money while also collecting disability benefits.

Having someone who's medically unable to work or who is primarily a full-time caretaker have a home job that makes them a supplemental income on the side, even at $.25/hr, doesn't sound like an unethical or abusive system to me.

(also, turkers who are doing transcription a lot probably know how to do 4x pitch corrected fast forward on their audio player and have a good enough ear for voice to pick out the odd words)

Re: MTurk + Google News API = press

#69

Post by bcoates »

tomgruner wrote: post #27
robrenaud wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not as though Amazon is going and pointing a gun at people's heads and telling them to Turk or die. If it's a bad trade for people to exchange their time for the low wage, they shouldn't take it.

Rob, as a software engineer at google, I would not expect you to to be able to relate to those without opportunities. In fact, there is some evidence that utilizing your brain to solve technical problems can restrict its ability to empathize. Of course amazon has no gun, but that does not mean that poverty in itself is not violent. As you like science and data, here is a read for you: http://www.sciencedaily.com/rele…

Perhaps he's empathic enough to realize what it's like to have few choices, then have a well-meaning but paternalistic social reformer swoop in and take some of those choices away, pat you on the head, and drive off back to his nice neighborhood.

Re: MTurk + Google News API = press

#70

Post by hrktb »

wehadfun wrote: post #47
tomgruner wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI I am also a programmer and lack of empathy in my own life and relationships has caused me serious problems.

Wow maybe that's why I have some of these problems. Do you have any links to this evidence about solving problems causes lack of empathy

It's just an intuition, but solving problems as a job might make you see every issue or bad situation as something to solve.

Not that it's wrong, but the focus slightly shifts from what the people are feeling to how the problem could or should be solved, and we might take less time or emotional resource to empathize. The situation itself can also be seen less as a tragedy than some sad transitory state waiting to be solved, and we'd be less sorry for someone if somewhere we think it might be just temporary.

I'd too would love to find studies or evidence about this subject.

Edit: A report on the study tomgrunner linked in the sibling comment http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/cwru-era10301...

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