Fossett's 'Mechanical Turk' search: Good idea?

[athon]

...or a waste of time?

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/news/2007/11/fossett_search

I still can't help but think it has huge potential, but how would it be managed to get rid of the kinks?

Athon

[malaka]

Did the effort turn up ANYTHING new or exciting?

[Dan O.]

I looked at it early on and couldn't stay interested because the system was poorly designed and there was little or no feedback. I would have much preferred to see Google take on the task. In fact, I immediately switched to scanning in Google Earth when I found that someone had put up a KML file of the high resolution image but since there was no easy way to report sightings I gave it up.

The process is workable if it's done right. Images need to be properly lined up so the geographic coordinates can be matched and allow flash comparisons of before and after images. There needs to be training runs so the users will know what to be looking for and learn if they are capable of performing the task adequately. And there needs to be feedback for both personal performance and overall system progress.