A Field Trial on Mobile Crowdsourcing of News Content Factors Influencing Participation

Abstract. We conducted a five-week field trial on mobile crowdsourcing of hyperlocal news content to 1) understand the readers ’ experiences and 2) explore factors affecting their participation. In the end of the study the participants were surveyed with an online questionnaire (17/104 respondents) and five participants were interviewed. Although respondents and interviewees were enthusiastic about the trial, the activity in the trial was low. Results indicate that participant characteristics (age, gender, participation motivations and hobbyist background in photography) and task characteristics in terms of the subjectively perceived task significance (possible impact on important issues in the environment or on community), task relevance (related to the background and participation motivation), and task engagingness have an effect on the participation. In addition, participation was influenced by the estimated needed effort vs. the expected benefit (monetary benefit or having a possibility to influence), vicinity to the assignment location, enjoyment of the activity, and the monetary reward. To plan and manage the crowdsourcing activity the news publishers need information about the characteristics of the participants, participation patterns and motivations that could be provided by the crowdsourcing platform

Gamification in Crowdsourcing Applications

In recent years, new forms of game and game technologies have emerged in the fields of industry and academia research. In particular, it is evident the growth of seri- ous and pervasive games. In this context, a new trend, called \u201cgamification\u201d has reached and won many sectors, including the business and the marketing domains (Seaborn and Fels, 2015). Such a new trend essentially uses game design and elements with the aim of improving users\u2019 experience and increasing users\u2019 involvement in services and applications which are not games (Deterding et al. 2011). Its goal is explicitly different from the merely users\u2019 entertainment. It is worth noting that gamification is not a new issue, but it can go back to market- ing activities and techniques (i.e. points cards and rewards memberships), usually ex- ploited to engage clients, by creating or enforcing loyalty in a product or in a brand (Zichermann and Linder, 2010). Current technologies, together with the widespread and massive use of social media and mobile devices can be identified as joining causes which are facilitating the diffusion and adoption of gamification techniques in so many and different contexts (Seaborn and Fels, 2015). The first successful example of gamified service has been Foursquare. Starting from such an experience, other several gamified applications were born, exploiting game elements together with interactive design and digital marketing issues (Zichermann and Linder, 2010). At the same time, gamification has been recognized as a key issue to support and incentive massive collaboration from and among users (McGonigal, 2011). The goal of this work is to define Gamification, by summarizing game design ele- ments which characterize it, and by describing how such elements can be exploited in crowdsourcing systems, improving crowd\u2019s experience and involvement. The remainder of the work is organized as follows. The \u201cGamification\u201d section de- scribes the introduction of the term, the game elements which characterize it and pla y- ers\u2019 motivations. The section entitled \u201cGamification in crowdsourcing systems and social media\u201d presents some examples of crowdsourcing applications which benefit from the use of gamification. Finally \u201cConclusion\u201d closes the paper

Connected and Multimodal Passenger Transport Through Big Data Analytics : Case Tampere City Region, Finland.

Passenger transport is becoming more and more connected and multimodal. Instead of just taking a series of vehicles to complete a journey, the passenger is actually interacting with a connected cyber-physical social (CPS) transport system. In this study, we present a case study where big data from various sources is combined and analyzed to support and enhance the transport system in the Tampere region. Different types of static and real-time data sources and transportation related APIs are investigated. The goal is to find ways in which big data and collaborative networks can be used to improve the CPS transport system itself and the passenger satisfaction related to it. The study shows that even though the exploitation of big data does not directly improve the state of the physical transport infrastructure, it helps in utilizing more of its capacity. Secondly, the use of big data makes it more attractive to passengers

Crowdsourcing tools for disaster management: a review of platforms and methods

Recent advances on information technologies and communications, coupled with the advent of the social media applications have fuelled a new landscape of emergency and disaster response systems by enabling affected citizens to generate georeferenced real time information on critical events. The identification and analysis of such events is not straightforward and the application of crowdsourcing methods or automatic tools is needed for that purpose. Whereas crowdsourcing makes emphasis on the resources of people to produce, aggregate, or filter original data, automatic tools make use of information retrieval techniques to analyze publicly available information. This paper reviews a set of online tools and platforms implemented in recent years which are currently being applied in the area of emergency management and proposes a taxonomy for its categorization

The credit crunch: the collapse of Lehman Brothers - and a Hong Kong scheme to handle Lehman claims

Anthony Connerty (Barrister and Chartered Arbitrator) looks at the Lehman collapse - considering the background to the collapse of Lehman Brothers investment bank, claims related to the collapse, an example of a credit crunch claim, a criminal prosecution and a Hong Kong mediation and arbitration scheme aimed at dealing speedily with Lehman Brothers-related claims. Versions of this article have been published in Hong Kong in the January 2010 edition of Asian Dispute Review and in London in the July 9, 2010 edition of New Law Journal. Published in Amicus Curiae – Journal of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. The Journal is produced by SALS at the IALS (Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London)

How Can Facebook Use in Education Be Realized as Crowdsourcing of Learning? an Exploration of Junior, Senior and Graduates Working Together

The popularity of Facebook makes it a particularly interesting platform to explore within an educational setting. In this article, we report on the use of Facebook to support a Media Studies A-level course that involved current and former students using a closed Facebook group. At the time of the study, the group included 106 graduates, and 21 junior and senior students who were the main participants of the study. We employed qualitative content analysis of focus-group and individual interview data to examine how Facebook was realized and used by juniors and seniors brought together to work as a group. Researchers perceived the emerging perceptions of the participants and self-reported interactions to be closely linked to the crowdsourcing model as presented in fields outside education. The study demonstrates how a Facebook group of mixed juniors, seniors and graduates can stimulate collective intelligence; it acts as an aggregator of subject-specific content that is created and disseminated by the online community and builds on a corpus of knowledge that is shared among group members and evolves organically. The work elaborates on a crowdsourcing model of Facebook use in secondary education, and equips practitioners with new knowledge to maximize the educational potential of Facebook with today’s learners