social turkers:

crowdsourced dating

MTurk options:

Avg MTurk interaction rating: 2.8

This guy is cute. Though not usually one to get super nervous around guys, the added preoccupation of getting the system up and running at the start of our time together makes me bumbling and awkward. I can see how nervous I may seem and it adds to my embarrassed lack of suaveness. Surprisingly, he doesn’t seem to pick up on this too much, or if he does, he lets it go in a casual, smooth way. The workers are not so forgiving, ‘The woman seems apprehensive, guarded and not terribly interested in the man. It could just be nerves but she appears to be uncomfortable. The amount of times she goes for her beverage shows me she’s nervous also.’ I am constantly surprised by how much they are able to perceive from a few minutes observation of a low fidelity video stream. It is almost as if because they are not physically present, they are able to observe more objectively and see the obvious that might go unnoticed by the participants wrapped up in the interaction.

One aspect of this project that is particularly interesting to me is the experience for the workers, it is sort of a performance for them in a way. On Wikipedia, the search for “artificial artificial intelligence” redirects to the page about Amazon Mechanical Turk. I am interested in this idea of these workers logging on expecting to do a series of very mechanical tasks that a computer would ideally do, but are instead confronted with the request for a very human reaction. Some of their responses are amazing.

‘But I imagine that even the most affective interactions leave those involved with distaste, weakened and hungry. I said “buying items” because I would want my character to have a history/a past… Not to say that she doesn’t, and in fact I find myself relating to both characters, but the problem of the actor is negligible when a theater-goer is asleep, or when we do not understand the accents, or when we understand each character independently.’

Many of the workers are very excited about the task, and leave their unsolicited emails and contact info asking that I send them updates as the project progresses. In some weird way, I’ve almost started to feel like they are my friends watching and helping me along on each date. They are the only ones that really know what I’m doing, they are my confidantes, my collaborators.

I get through the rest of the date with only minor stumbles as instructions sometimes clash with what I’m wanting to say and do.

(more…)

MTurk options:

Avg MTurk interaction rating: 2.25

After the previous night, I offer more money in an effort to attract more workers. As usual, I get to the bar a little early to make sure everything is running smoothly. Once I’m there, he texts me saying he will be a little late, so I sit at an empty table and wait. A pair of older guys approach and accuse me of stealing their table, then “offer” to share it with me. They sit down and start hitting on me in an extremely aggressive and insulting way, but I don’t want to leave the table because it offers a good amount of space for positioning my camera. I start the streaming and figure I might as well let the workers weigh in on the situation. The instructions are helpful only in passing the time, “smile”, “laugh”, “agree” they say. But the descriptions that I view later are interesting — even in the dark and noise of the bar, a lot of them seem to pick up on the aggressive and confrontational attitude of the men.

After 20 mins of sitting there while the men calling me cold and a bitch and a tease, my date finally arrives with a friend of his. They join us at the table and the two of them sit down unnecessarily close on either side of me, sandwiching me in uncomfortably tightly. I’m a bit surprised he would bring his friend along on a date, but figured he decided to make it more of a friendly thing, and decide to go along with it. I try to bring his friend into our conversation, but the friend barely responds, staring straight ahead while trying to fondle my purse. The other men are still at our table whispering together and laughing and pointing and staring at me.

Meanwhile, my date is telling me about how he likes making videos where he goes out in public and fucks with unsuspecting people. I start to wonder if this is what’s happening right now, the situation seems a little too excessive to be real. I feel annoyed and resentful thinking about the possibility that he could be messing with me like this. I wonder how it is different than what I am doing. Maybe I am a bitch. These nonstop dates with strangers and workers are really starting to wear on me. It’s late and I’m suddenly completely tired and I make some bad excuse and flee.

(more…)

MTurk options:

Avg MTurk interaction rating: 3.0

I set up my MTurk task as usual, and head to a dive bar for our date. The options are extended further this time, giving the workers more ways to control me. The guy is all over the map and difficult to carry on a conversation with, and I feel relief in knowing I have help and don’t have to handle this on my own. However, I quickly notice that the instructions aren’t coming in with the same frequency as normal. I realize too late that weekend nights require higher pay to attract workers and I hadn’t offered enough to keep them constantly working for me tonight. I suddenly feel very alone. It is just me and him sitting awkwardly in this bar surrounded by people that know each other well, laughing together and carrying on casual conversation. I hadn’t realized how much I had begun to rely on this system for a sense of security and as a guide for my actions and words.

The prompts and directions previously had made the strange setup of online dating feel like a game or performance, but now without them, it just feels sort of sad and pathetic. Is this really the best we can do? I keep the conversation going, but weirdly, now more than ever, it feels like I’m just going through motions and reciting lines. Does he feel the same? Are we all just hoping we’ll stumble across the one that makes us feel more than this? Doesn’t it take a little effort?

(more…)

MTurk options:

Avg MTurk interaction rating: 2.6

I had set up the system this evening to check every 5 minutes, average the responses of the workers over that time period, and text me the top voted action. It made me into less of a random, turrets inflicted person, and more like an avatar. I could work the directions into the interaction more naturally.

It starts off with a lot of “back”, “stay” and “sidestep” instructions, and things stay polite and surface. I ask him about his work, his family, his favorite spots in Portland, and I’m starting to run out of small talk topics, when I get the instruction “advance”. I move a little closer to him and he seems to respond. A few “advance”‘s later and we are talking about past relationships. He tells me he asked me out because I had such a high match percentage on the site, and I realize that he’s one of those people that’s really hopeful about finding love through these things. He’s a very nice, earnest guy. He’s not at all my type.

He suggests we leave the bar and walk a little. “Stay” was my last instruction and I say maybe in a bit. Too quickly, another “advance” comes and I say how about that walk. He ignores my apparent indecisiveness and leads me out toward the street. Another “advance” and we are making casual contact. I wonder what to do if I’m pushed further, is this wrong? I think of the times in the past when I have kissed a guy without really thinking or wanting to, and decide at least in this case I have honestly chosen to give up my agency and act based on the decisions of the workers, and in this way I’m not being false. “Advance” and we are kissing. “Back”, thank god, and I am walking home completely unsure of what to feel.

(more…)

MTurk options:

Avg MTurk interaction rating: 3.5

There is that moment every night, walking alone through the dark in an unfamiliar part of town to some unknown location that I just pray has 4G coverage to meet up with some guy whose name I barely remember, pockets full of devices, where I feel a little scared and wonder what exactly I’m doing and whether I actually am a crazy person. Luckily, there are enough details to distract me. I am starting to get a handle on the logistics of the system. I pause before walking in the door, hit start on my Amazon MTurk batch job, fire up the streaming app, make sure the camera is well-positioned in my purse, reapply lipstick.

I recognize him immediately when I sit down, the kind of guy I would normally walk the other direction from. But I thought, what is this if not a chance to get to know people that I wouldn’t normally? He looks me up and down and orders me a drink without asking what I want. ‘Thank you’, the workers tell me to say. My number #2 reason for doing this project and #2 biggest fear is loss of control. But who is really in control? Me, as the one using this unknowing guy for my project? Him, because I need his participation, because I need him to like me enough to stay and interact? The workers, because they are determining my words and actions? I am spewing random phrases and questions supplied by workers, I sound like an idiot, he doesn’t really seem to notice.

It seems that $0.20 wasn’t enough, I think $0.25 is a sort of cut off when workers are searching for jobs.