Give work iPhone app
Doleres labs, one of the blogs i follow recently posted about their new iPhone app they have launched called Give Work. The app was launched together with Sama Source, an organisation that routes ‘micro-work’ via computers and mobiles to the poverty striken refugees and people in Africa.
Microwork for the next billion – We bring dignified, computer-based work to women, youth, and refugees living in poverty
Dolores Labs writes:
We have been working with Samasource for a while now — they are a fantastic local non-profit that brings computer based work to people in Africa. We send tasks to one of their hardest to employ groups: a Kenyan refugee camp.
The people are extremely motivated, speak fluent English and even have high speed internet. But sometimes there are downtime issues (due to floods, satellite failure, etc.) and sometimes there are data quality issues (due to cultural misunderstandings), which makes it hard for them to compete for traditional outsourcing work. Fortunately, our dynamic routing and quality control technology can resolve these problems gracefully.
When you complete a task on your iPhone, your work is paired with the work of someone in Kenya. iPhone users results are used for quality control
You can outsource your work for this using Crowd Flower , On the order page you need to select Samasource and Iphone.
Though, what are your thoughts on the service? As an African, do you find it insulting that the work needs to be ‘verified’ by people in the ‘first-world’? I think though offering work and training to people will always be a benefit!
Popularity: 6% [?]
Interesting idea. Lets see if it takes off.
It isn’t supposed to be insulting at all. As Lukas says due to cultural differences and other issues, checks need to happen. CrowdFlower checks all the work done through the system, whether done by Africans, Americans or Martians.
Likewise, if I was hired by an African frim, as a cultural outsider some of my work might need to be double checked by a cultural insider to make sure it meets expectations. That isn’t an insult, that is a business need to make sure your product is successful in a new, foreign marketplace.
It isn’t supposed to be insulting at all. As Lukas says due to cultural differences and other issues, checks need to happen. CrowdFlower checks all the work done through the system, whether done by Africans, Americans or Martians.
Likewise, if I was hired by an African firm, as a cultural outsider some of my work might need to be double checked by a cultural insider to make sure it meets expectations. That isn’t an insult, that is a business need to make sure your product is successful in a new, foreign marketplace.
Hi Ismail, great post, thanks! : ) We just did a video interview featuring Leila of Samasource and Lukas of CrowdFlower. We hope your readers enjoy it (link below) ; ) Lukas explains in this vid that CrowdFlower has to check the quality of all their outsourced services in all places – it’s a business need as Jess points out above. It just so happens that with “GiveWork” the employees are in Kenya instead of in the U.S. or another place. The initial results sound really promising – Leila tells us in this video that the Samasource/CrowdFlower partnership is employing 300 refugees. Cool!
http://bit.ly/2uHtOm