M. Six Silberman

Who are the crowdworkers?: shifting demographics in mechanical turk

Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is a crowdsourcing system in which tasks are distributed to a population of thousands of anonymous workers for completion. This system is increasingly popular with researchers and developers. Here we extend previous studies of the demographics and usage behaviors of MTurk workers. We describe how the worker population has changed over time, shifting from a primarily moderate-income, U.S.-based workforce towards an increasingly international group with a significant population of young, well-educated Indian workers. This change in population points to how workers may treat Turking as a full-time job, which they rely on to make ends meet.

Turkopticon: interrupting worker invisibility in amazon mechanical turk

As HCI researchers have explored the possibilities of human computation, they have paid less attention to ethics and values of crowdwork. This paper offers an analysis of Amazon Mechanical Turk, a popular human computation system, as a site of technically mediated worker-employer relations. We argue that human computation currently relies on worker invisibility. We then present Turkopticon, an activist system that allows workers to publicize and evaluate their relationships with employers. As a common infrastructure, Turkopticon also enables workers to engage one another in mutual aid. We conclude by discussing the potentials and challenges of sustaining activist technologies that intervene in large, existing socio-technical systems.

When the implication is not to design (technology)

As HCI is applied in increasingly diverse contexts, it is important to consider situations in which computational or information technologies may be less appropriate. This paper presents a series of questions that can help researchers, designers, and practitioners articulate a technologys appropriateness or inappropriateness. Use of these questions is demonstrated via examples from the literature. The paper concludes with specific arguments for improving the conduct of HCI. This paper provides a means for understanding and articulating the limits of HCI technologies, an important but heretofore under-explored contribution to the field.

Ethics and tactics of professional crowdwork

Paid crowd workers are not just an API call---but all too often, they are treated like one.

Collapse informatics: augmenting the sustainability & ICT4D discourse in HCI

Research in many fields argues that contemporary global industrial civilization will not persist indefinitely in its current form, and may, like many past human societies, eventually collapse. Arguments in environmental studies, anthropology, and other fields indicate that this transformation could begin within the next half-century. While imminent collapse is far from certain, it is prudent to consider now how to develop sociotechnical systems for use in these scenarios. We introduce the notion of collapse informatics---the study, design, and development of sociotechnical systems in the abundant present for use in a future of scarcity---as a complement to ICT4D and mitigation-oriented sustainable HCI. We draw on a variety of literatures to offer a set of relevant concepts and articulate the relationships among them to orient and evaluate collapse informatics work. Observing that collapse informatics poses a unique class of cross-cultural design problems, we sketch the design space of collapse informatics and provide a variety of example projects. We explore points of connection and distinction between collapse informatics and sustainable HCI, ICT4D, and crisis informatics. Finally, we discuss next steps and comment on the potential value of collapse informatics work even in the event that collapse never occurs.

Next steps for sustainable HCI

In this forum we highlight innovative thought, design, and research in the area of interaction design and sustainability, illustrating the diversity of approaches across HCI communities. ---Lisa Nathan and Samuel Mann, Editors

Collapse informatics and practice: Theory, method, and design

What happens if efforts to achieve sustainability fail? Research in many fields argues that contemporary global industrial civilization will not persist indefinitely in its current form, and may, like many past human societies, eventually collapse. Arguments in environmental studies, anthropology, and other fields indicate that this transformation could begin within the next half-century. While imminent collapse is far from certain, it is prudent to consider now how to develop sociotechnical systems for use in these scenarios. We introduce the notion of collapse informatics—the study, design, and development of sociotechnical systems in the abundant present for use in a future of scarcity. We sketch the design space of collapse informatics and a variety of example projects. We ask how notions of practice—theorized as collective activity in the “here and now”—can shift to the future since collapse has yet to occur.

Examining appropriation, re-use, and maintenance for sustainability

Within the past few years, the field of HCI has increasingly addressed the issue of environmental sustainability, primarily identifying the challenges and developing an agenda for designing for sustainability. Yet, the most difficult task remains, how do we develop realistic solutions when the digital ethos is based upon short-lived computing products that come and go at rapid pace. By examining appropriation, re-use, and maintenance practices, this workshop aims to identify sustainable interaction design challenges and directions in re-utilizing used or obsolete computing products for prolonged use.

What have we learned?: a SIGCHI HCI & sustainability community workshop

The role and influence of HCI research in addressing the challenges of sustainability remains unclear despite ongoing interest. Sustainability-oriented paper authors, workshop participants, SIG attendees, and panelists have made ambitious predictions about the contributions of the CHI community and identified critical directions for the field. But have lessons from the past decade of HCI & Sustainability research been taken substantively into practice, within and beyond the CHI community? Have they had a significant positive influence on the vitality of the worlds ecosystems? If not, how can we re-orient? This workshop is a venue for taking concrete action to integrate what we have learned about sustainability - from within and beyond HCI - into a common framework to guide the community toward more influential contributions and more rigorous evaluations of HCI & Sustainability research.

What if sustainability doesn't work out?

12-month average temperatures since record keeping began in 1895 [3,4]. Figure 1 details the key predictions regarding global change made by the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climage Change [5]. In his keynote at the National Academies symposium, John Holdren, head of the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy and chief science advisor to the nation, described a need for both mitigation—the reduction of the magnitude of change—and adaptation—the mobilization of responses to change [6]. Holdren offered that many more projects are currently In a recent NSF-funded National Academies symposium on Science, Innovation, and Partnerships for Sustainability Solutions, there was a great deal of discussion about global change. To offer a few concrete examples of the kind of problems that may result from global change: Sea-level rise could displace tens or even hundreds of millions of people by the end of this century [1]; similar numbers of people could be subjected to increased water stress [2]; and shifting climatic zones could cause many farms to cease to be viable with current crop choices and farming techniques. As we write this, the U.S. is experiencfocusing on mitigation than adaptation. Researchers around the world and across widely disparate fields are exploring ways to mitigate environmental problems. Mitigation is a key focus for many industrialized nations seeking to enable their citizenry to maintain or improve their lifestyles. Nevertheless, despite the significant efforts to mitigate global change being exerted across many elements of human civilizations, it is not clear that these efforts are sufficient to place humanity on a path that avoids the grave consequences of this change. If, as increasingly seems likely, humanity is unable to prevent draWhat If Sustainability Doesn’t Work Out?