LABELING IMAGES LUIS VON AHN CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY

9 BILLION MAN-HOURS OF SOLITAIRE WERE PLAYED IN 2003 EMPIRE STATE BUILDING 7 MILLION MAN-HOURS (6. 8 HOURS OF SOLITAIRE) PANAMA CANAL 20 MILLION MAN-HOURS (LESS THAN A DAY OF SOLITAIRE)

LABELING IMAGES WITH WORDS FACE MAN SUPER SEXY STILL A COMPLETELY OPEN PROBLEM

IMAGE SEARCH ON THE WEB USES FILENAMES AND HTML TEXT

ACCESSIBILITY LESS THAN 10% OF THE WEB IS ACCESSIBLE TO THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED REASON: MOST IMAGES DON’T HAVE A CAPTION

DESIDERATA A METHOD THAT CAN LABEL ALL IMAGES ON THE WEB FAST AND CHEAP

CLEVER HUMAN LABELING THE ESP GAME COULD LABEL ALL IMAGES ON THE WEB IN 30 DAYS!

THE ESP GAME TWO-PLAYER ONLINE GAME PARTNERS DON’T KNOW EACH OTHER AND CAN’T COMMUNICATE OBJECT OF THE GAME: TYPE THE SAME WORD THE ONLY THING IN COMMON IS AN IMAGE

THE ESP GAME PLAYER 1 PLAYER 2 GUESSING: CAR GUESSING: BOY GUESSING: HAT GUESSING: CAR GUESSING: KID SUCCESS! YOU AGREE ON CAR

© 2004 Carnegie Mellon University, all rights reserved. Patent Pending.

THE ESP GAME IS FUN 3. 2 MILLION LABELS WITH 22, 000 PLAYERS MANY PEOPLE PLAY OVER 20 HOURS A WEEK

LABELING THE ENTIRE WEB 5000 PEOPLE PLAYING SIMULTANEOUSLY CAN LABEL ALL IMAGES ON GOOGLE IN 30 DAYS! INDIVIDUAL GAMES IN YAHOO! AND MSN AVERAGE OVER 10, 000 PLAYERS AT A TIME

A FEW MILLION LABELS CAN IMPROVE IMAGE SEARCH CAN BE USED TO IMPROVE COMPUTER VISION

WHAT ABOUT CHEATING? IF A PAIR PLAYS TOO FAST, WE DON’T RECORD THE WORDS THEY AGREE ON

WHAT ABOUT CHEATING? WE GIVE PLAYERS TEST IMAGES FOR WHICH WE KNOW ALL THE COMMON LABELS: WE ONLY STORE A PLAYER’S GUESSES IF THEY SUCCESSFULLY LABEL THE TEST IMAGES

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SAMPLE LABELS SADDAM MR. WILSON MAN FACE COMING SOON: MEET YOUR SOULMOUSTACHE MATE THROUGH THE GAME! BUSH PRESIDENT DUMB YUCK

ESP GAME GIVES ITS PLAYERS A “ THE WEIRD AND BEAUTIFUL SENSE OF ANONYMOUS INTIMACY. ON THE ONE HAND, YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO YOUR PARTNER IS. ON THE OTHER HAND, THE TWO OF YOU ARE BRINGING YOUR MINDS TOGETHER IN A WAY THAT LOVERS WOULD ENVY. ”

“ ” FUN TRYNG TO GUESS WHAT “ IT’S OTHERS THINK. YOU HAVE TO STEP OUTSIDE OF YOURSELF TO MATCH ” “ IT’S FAST-PACED ” “ HELPS ME LEARN ENGLISH ” MAKES ME THINK

BLOGS OTHER CROWNING ACHEIVEMENTS, “ INI HAVEN'T PLAYED IN AT LEAST A WEEK (PROBABLY LONGER), AND I AM STILL ON THE TOP TEN LIST OF PLAYERS ON THE ESP GAME. NUMBER EIGHT IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY. GOD, MY LIFE IS SAD. ”

“ THERE ARE MANY FASCINATING THINGS ABOUT THE ESP GAME: HOW IT USES A GAME STRUCTURE TO BUILD AN INDEX OF IMAGES ON THE WEB WHAT WORDS BECOME TABOO FROM FREQUENT USE HOW INTERESTING SOME OF THE IMAGES PULLED RANDOMLY FROM THE WEB ARE BUT BY FAR THE MOST INTRIGUING ASPECT OF THE GAME IS HOW OFTEN YOUR RANDOM, UNKNOWN PARTNER IS A COMPLETE IDIOT. ”

REUSING HUMAN CYCLES

WWW. ESPGAME. ORG

SPEAKER’S ENTERTAINMENT MORE SPECIAL THANKS TO PROVIDED BY ADITYA UDI MANBER AKELLA HOMESTARRUNNER. COM JOSH MONI BENALOH NAOR GUY LENORE BLELLOCH RAMM WARDROBE PROVIDED BY CHUCK LENORE ROSENBERG BLUM THE GAP RONI MANUEL ROSENFELD BLUM ANDREW DAVID STORK BORTZ THIS WORKCHAWLA HAS BEEN LATANYA SHUCHI SWEENEY ANDSHINGO WILL PARTIALLY LAURABE UCHIHASHI DABBISH SUPPORTED BY MANUELA BILL GATES VELOSO MANUEL BLUM NICK HOPPER THE ALADDIN CENTER SCOTT HUDSON MICROSOFT RESEARCH TAKEO KANADE STEVEN KATZ JOHN LANGFORD JITENDRA MALIK

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