Paper Reading #15: Soylent: a word processor with a crowd inside

Comments:

TBD

Reference Information:

Title: Soylent: a word processor with a crowd inside

Authors: Michael S. Bernstein, Greg Little, Robert C. Miller, David R. Karger, David Crowell, and Katrina Panovich of Massachusettes Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA; Björn Hartmann of University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; and Mark S. Ackerman of University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Presentation Venue: UIST '10 Proceedings of the 23nd annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology

Summary:

The researchers of this paper are experimenting with a concept they refer to as crowdsourcing. They are working on methods with which to integrate this type of input into user interfaces in applications such as those used by writers. Their focus is on the writing and editing aspects of the creative process.

They recognized that in numerous situations that call for pragmatic solutions, people will often turn to other human beings for assistance or support. Their solution is called Soylent. It is a word processing application. It has a component the researchers refer to as the Mechanical Turk. They also utilize a technique referred to as the Find-Fix-Verify crowd programming pattern.

Discussion:

I saw the title of this paper and instantly thought of our good friend Charlton Heston. I kept thinking, "It's people!" Although I'm not sure exactly was is "green" about this particular solution. At any rate, I digress. The solution seems like an interesting one. As someone who fancies themselves to be at least an amateur writer, I often crave feedback of the constructively critical sort. This application sounds like it could possibly integrate such a module.

It would be neat to have a shared experience with the application that ones work could have some instant feedback from other individuals. I feel it would help to craft an idea and be a potential solution to writer's block that often plagues authors from time to time. I would be interested to see where this research leads in the future, as I think that some of the solutions to encounter could have a positive impact on the work I would like to do on a personal level.