Dear AMT community, We are a new requester, operating from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA (USA). Our AMT name is "Virginia Tech Cloud Interpretation Group". We need your help finding clouds and cloud shadows in satellite images via a simple "click and select procedure." This will then feed into research on forest health and climate change. We believe that humans - like you busy turkers out there - are better at this task than computers. We trust you will prove us right! Over the next few weeks we will post the first set of HITs under the heading "Find clouds and cloud shadows in satellite images." Each HIT includes the following tasks: Read & sign a brief consent form (university policy...) Short set of instructions (description of task and graphical interface) Three satellite images with varying cloud patterns - go chase clouds! A short exit survey to get your feedback and help us improve the HIT over time. Compensation may vary, but starts at $0.50 for this first round. We will honor any serious effort and payment will be swift. For research purposes, only one HIT can be completed per worker during this initial phase. However, there will be many additional HITs of this type in 2014, with multiple HITs per worker encouraged. So your initial investment in a bit of training & learning will pay off if you stick with us. We are looking forward to working with all of you, and to a fruitful exchange of opinion and information at this Forum. With kind regards, The VT Cloud Interpretation Group
Thank you for taking the time to post on here about your upcomming hits. I look forwards to trying them
Hi, thanks for joining! There are a lot of users here who complete high-volume satellite image tagging tasks - I don't think you will have any trouble building a qualified workforce. Thanks also for setting out the background and framework for this HIT, especially your rejection policy. What qualifications do you plan on using for this HIT?
Thank you! We will announce here after we post HITs and please keep an eye on it. We're also looking forward to working with you!
Thank you for your inquiry. There are no required qualifications in this initial phase of the project. We simply would like to receive as may completions and as much feedback as possible in these first few weeks. We may revise this for the second round (early 2014), depending on what we learn from round 1.
Wow this looks like a really interesting idea! I'd definitely love to be a part of doing these projects.... mapping/satellite/etc really is something i've found i love to do! is there any way you can let certain people know that the hits will be coming up, so that people with a vetted interest would be able to grab the hits as they're posted? Just wondering, because i really really want to be a part of this.
New HITs are available now! Dear Turkers, We just post a batch of new HITs on Mechanical Turk this morning! You can find the HITs by simply searching for “clouds” or “Virginia Tech Cloud Interpretation Group". Come and join us for chasing the clouds and it is lot of fun!
For now we will keep in touch with Turkers in this forum and another forum called "Turker Nation". So please stop by often and we will announce here when we post new HITs! And you may want to try "turkalert". Hope this helps! Go chasing clouds!
Dear Turkers, You may see a blank screen when doing the HIT, please stop blocking and the content will be displayed. If you use Google Chrome, you need to click on the “shield” symbol in the right hand corner of the address bar and select “load unsafe script”. If you use Firefox, you need to click on the partially shaded lock symbol before the URL and select stop blocking. Thanks!
I had completed one hit..it was very interesting..waiting to do more hits..really very nice to work this hit.
I just completed one hit. I have done same kind of Imaginary Satellite Objects findings with other requester. Anyways waiting for your large batches!!!
Dear Turkers, Thank you for your attention and your valuable input! As a new requester, this is our first run and we really need your feedback and suggestions to improve the training session, interface, and the whole procedures for future application. Please be aware that: 1. No qualifications needed; 2. The training session is a 1 page instruction sheet that takes 2-3 minutes to read; 3. We pay everyone who completes the HIT, no criterion! We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or difficulties you have when submitting the HIT. We will fix it and really appreciate your input! Best, The VT Cloud Interpretation Group
Really enjoyed this HIT, just wish I knew if I had done it correctly. Is there a way to include a more interactive training grid - one where I would be told if my choices were right or wrong? Or maybe simply more examples? So I could refer back to them if I am unsure? Thanks!
Thank you very much for your suggestions! We will definitely work on the training session to make it easier to understand and be useful. Please pay attention to our additional HITs in 2014! The VT Cloud Interpretation Group
Dear Turkers, The “Virginia Tech Cloud Interpretation Group" has posted another set of HITs for finding clouds and cloud shadows in satellite images. The wage is $1.00 per completed HIT. As before, no pre-qualifications are needed, every honest effort will be rewarded with swift payment, and only one HIT can be completed by a given worker. If you already participated in the first round of this effort (Nov.15-Dec.2, 2013), please be patient and wait until early 2014 for more HITs of this kind. For further details regarding the contents of this HIT please see our original BLOG at http://mturkforum.com/showthread.php?11008-New-HITs-on-identifying-clouds-and-cloud-shadows-in-satellite-images. We are looking forward to working with you. Best, The Virginia Tech Cloud Interpretation Group
Sorry for the difficulty you had. Did you click on the shield symbol in the address bar and “allow unsafe script to load”? Thanks, The VT Cloud Interpretation Group
Just did one of your HITs with no problems. I left some suggestions within the comment box so I won't repeat them here. Thanks.