Supplementary income generation through Micro-Tasks

Supplementary income generation through Micro-Tasks Internal Guide External Guide Prof. Anirudha Joshi (IDC, IIT Bombay) Aishwarya Ratan, Bill Thies (Technology for Emerging Markets Group, Microsoft Research India) Shashank Khanna I M Des. Interaction Design 2008-10

Overview Introduction User Study Research Design Exploration

Micro-Tasks Micro-Tasks / HITs / HPUs

Micro-Task Model

Micro-Task Model $ X Rs X Rs X Rs X Rs X Rs

Micro-Task for Developing Economies Earn Access Availability Arbitration

Micro-Tasks Websites

Type of Micro-Tasks to create and correct texts, translate, tag photos and videos, categorize products, search the Internet, collect data and more

Users Profession: Support Staff, Unemployed, Driver, Housekeeping Education: Schooling, Read/Write local language Income: Up to 8000 pm Digital Literacy: Some basic course in computers/ peer to peer learning Resources: Access to PC with internet Time Available: Off duty hours

Users Hope Foundation Kelsa + (MSR) Image 1: Bill Thies, Image 2: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/k

User Studies

User Studies Information Micro-Tasks?

User Studies Information Register Able to create account Skills

User Studies Information Register Select Task Task Information?

User Studies Information Register Select Task Do Task Instructions

User Studies Information Register Select Task Do Task Training

User Studies Information Register Select Task Do Task Mental Model

User Studies Information Register Select Task Do Task Method

User Studies Information Register Select Task Do Task Human Intelligence

User Studies Information Register Select Task Do Task Cultural Context

User Studies Information Register Select Task Do Task Account Results

Research Study Information Register Select Task Do Task Account Enable?

Process Research Study 10 Introduction Screen Capture Analysis

Selected Tasks Research Study

Interventions Tests Draw Bounding Box I 30 Minutes I $ 0.05 Original English Max Answers: 20

Interventions Tests Draw Bounding Box I 30 Minutes I $ 0.05 Original English 0.00 0.00 Average Median Max Answers: 20

Interventions Tests Draw Bounding Box I 30 Minutes I $ 0.05 Original English Original Kannada 0.00 0.00 Average Median Max Answers: 20

Interventions Tests Draw Bounding Box I 30 Minutes I $ 0.05 Original English Original Kannada Average 0.00 0.00 Median 0.00 0.00 Max Answers: 20

Interventions Tests Draw Bounding Box I 30 Minutes I $ 0.05 Original English Original Kannada Kannada Video Instructions Average 0.00 0.00 Median 0.00 0.00 Max Answers: 20

Interventions Tests Draw Bounding Box I 30 Minutes I $ 0.05 Original English Original Kannada Kannada Video Instructions Average 0.00 0.00 6.40 Median 0.00 0.00 7.00 Max Answers: 20

Interventions Tests Draw Bounding Box I 30 Minutes I $ 0.05 Original English Original Kannada Kannada Video Instructions New Kannada Text Instructions Average 0.00 0.00 6.40 Median 0.00 0.00 7.00 Max Answers: 20

Interventions Tests Draw Bounding Box I 30 Minutes I $ 0.05 Original English Original Kannada Kannada Video Instructions New Kannada Text Instructions New Kannada Video Instructions Average 0.00 0.00 6.40 Median 0.00 0.00 7.00 13.0 0 14.5 0 Max Answers: 20

Interventions Tests Which type of box contain more dots? I 5 Minutes I $ 0.05 Original Original Kannada Kannada Video Instructions New Kannada Text Instructions New Kannada Video Instructions Average 1.30 1.00 2.67 2.90 2.60 Median 1.00 0.50 3.00 3.00 3.00 Max Answers: 3

Projected Income Draw Bounding Box I 30 Minutes I $ 0.05 $ Payment per hour: 0.483 Rupee Payment per hour: 21.745 Baseline Hour Income: 21.178 Baseline Monthly Income: 3388.636 (Entire Group) 5964 (Employed Workers) If spend 1 Hour a day, 30 Hours in a Month: 652.34 Increment in Monthly Earnings: 19.25% (Entire Group) 10.94% (Employed Workers) New Kannada Text Instructions

Projected Income Which type of box contain more dots? I 5 Minutes I $ 0.05 $ Payment per hour: 1.90 Rupee Payment per hour: 85.63 Baseline Hour Income: 21.178 Baseline Monthly Income: 3388.636 (Entire Group) 5964 (Employed Workers) If spend 1 Hour a day, 30 Hours in a Month: 2568.842 Increment in Monthly Earnings: 75.81% (Entire Group) 43.07% (Employed Workers) New Kannada Text Instructions

Findings There are tasks on Mturk that, if understood, people can complete and be paid for. Different types of tasks require different skills; some are more accessible than others (e.g., web search + typing too hard) But, the Mturk website as it is not usable (by low-income, 7-14 years of education) Language localization of website as-is does not help But, changing UI and simplifying / clarifying instructions does enable site to be usable and people to be paid Video instructions do not significantly improve task completion over improved UI+text Cultural context also influences ability to complete tasks (e.g., some kinds of Western lamps not recognized)

Design Information Register Select Task Do Task Account Enabled

Design Information Register Select Task Do Task Account Enabled Inform Engage Acquire Enable Manage

Design

Design Home page Start/ श र कर Account Registration Next/ अगल Personal Details Next/ अगल Skill Preferences + Language Bar + Introduction Video + Worker/Requestor sections + Change language option + Account Details + Address Details + Bank Details + Skill preference form Next/ अगल Sign In/ स इन इन User Dashboard Task On Task Details सम प त कर / Start/ रद द कर श र कर + Task Status + Task History + Task completion + Task status bar with timer + Task status bar + Task Instructions + Task Training See details/ द ख Preferred Tasks + Skill selection dashboard + Details of tasks + Search for tasks

Design

Design Prototype Design

Usability Evaluation Future Directions

Acknowledgements My Sincere Thanks to: Bill Thies, Aishwarya Ratan, Ed Cutrell, Indrani Medhi, MSRI Interns Prof. Aniruddha Joshi, Prof Ravi Poovaiah Mr Joseph, Mr Augustine (Hope Foundation) Aniket Sarangdhar, Mandar Sarnaik, Aniruddha Kadam Support staff at MSR