Some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity today, such as how to respond to climate change or govern the internet, are too complex for any individual or small group to completely understand by themselves, but a lot of people each know a piece of the problem or solution. This is somewhat like a billion-piece jigsaw puzzle where somebody threw away the box and mailed each piece to a different person. Attempts are now being made to build platforms where people can bring their pieces and assemble them into solutions. This thesis examines such platforms, how people use and perceive them and their content, and how certain design decisions such as the exposure of discussion behind collaboratively produced content can affect those perceptions. Through a set of studies ranging from qualitative interviews to controlled experiments with hundreds or thousands of participants, this thesis adds to our understanding of how humans use and perceive content on such platforms, including when primary content is presented alongside related content or discussion, so that we can better understand how to design these systems to better achieve their users’ intended goals. The research integrates insights from computer science and social psychology with latent variable modeling techniques in order to increase our understanding of what people are trying to accomplish on an example platform designed to support large-scale collaboration around a complex issue, and experimentally explores how people perceive the content they find on such sites. Data and projects used in this thesis come from a diversity of sources including Wikipedia, the President’s SAVE award ideation contest (facilitated through the IdeaScale ideation platform), and the MIT Climate CoLab.

This work deals with communicating issues in public space from citizens to municipalities. The main objective is the creation of a system for reporting those issues using smartphone. The first chapter contains the analysis of existing foreign and domestic projects focused on issues mapping. The second chapter focuses on analysis and design of a new system. The third chapter discuses variants of technologies available for each part of the system. The fourth chapter describes choice of technologies and development of individual parts of the system.

Ingeniera Civil en Computación / Hoy en Chile, el currículo nacional para estudiantes sordos considera como idea básica de integración en la sociedad, el desarrollo pleno tanto de la Lengua de Señas chilena como del Español escrito, entendiendo la primera como una herramienta vehicular de comunicación y acceso al currículo, y la segunda, como herramienta básica para acceder a las exigencias académicas de la incorporación futura a los sistemas de educación superior o laboral. Entre las tareas pendientes en cuanto a la integración de la cultura sorda se refiere, es fundamental aumentar el acceso a la educación. En este contexto se desarrolló la aplicación web llamada Diccionario Multimedia INDESOR , herramienta colaborativa que enseña y facilita el aprendizaje de ambas lenguas, tanto para sordos como para oyentes, y que busca además reforzar el desarrollo de las habilidades de lectura y escritura en niños con déficit auditivo pertenecientes al primer y segundo ciclo de enseñanza básica. Esta aplicación consiste en un diccionario de libre acceso, que por cada palabra contiene su definición y un video de la seña que la representa. En torno a ésta, se creó una comunidad virtual de estudiantes, apoderados y profesionales del Instituto de la Sordera INDESOR, cuya capacidad de autogestión permite la mantención de información actualizada y de calidad dentro del sitio. Los usuarios sordos y oyentes de esta comunidad son los encargados de subir, descargar y evaluar el material del diccionario, mientras que los usuarios expertos (profesionales del INDESOR) se encargan de la aprobación o rechazo del mismo. Estas interacciones están equilibradas de tal forma de asegurar el crecimiento en volumen de la base de datos, imponiendo un modelo de puntaje intuitivo para los usuarios de la aplicación. El resultado de este trabajo, la creación de una plataforma web con cerca de 500 palabras, con una dinámica de interacción que permite a usuarios sordos y oyentes participar activamente dentro del sitio, cuyo potencial de crecimiento va en aumento. Así, desde la base de un diccionario, se genera un nuevo enfoque para el desarrollo de habilidades de comunicación, tanto para la comunidad sorda como para su entorno educativo.

Discogs  is  a crowdsourced  online  discography  that  has  become  one  the  largest music databases   and   marketplace   used   by   collectors   and   enthusiasts. To   learn   about   what motivates Discogs community users to contribute, the answers provided by the respondents(n=135)   to an   online   survey with   Likert-scaled   items   measuring different types   of motivations  and  some  open-ended  questions were analysed.  The  results  suggested that Discogs contributors are primarily driven by altruistic reasons (intrinsic motivation) followed by  pragmatism  (extrinsic  motivation).   While  sellers  contributed to  the  database mostly  to sell in the Marketplace, they were equally motivated by intrinsic factors, with similar rates to respondents who  did  not  have  economic  interests  in  the  website. Open-ended  questions indicated  that  conflicts  with  other  users  could  decrease  the  motivation  to  contribute.  In addition,   respondents   revealed   that during   their   trajectory   ascontributors,   intrinsic motivation increased over time. Also, experience and expertise were the reasons why some contributors had roles recognised by other members in the Discogs community

Human Computation methods such as crowdsourcing and games with a purpose (GWAP) have each recently drawn considerable attention for their ability to synergize the strengths of people and technology to accomplish tasks that are challenging for either to do well alone. Despite this increased attention, much of this transformation has been focused on a few selected areas of information science. This thesis contributes to the field of human computation as it applies to areas of information science, particularly information retrieval (IR). We begin by discussing the merits and limitations of applying crowdsourcing and game-based approaches to information science. We then develop a framework that examines the value of using crowdsourcing and game mechanisms to each step of an IR model. We identify three areas of the IR model that our framework indicates are likely to benefit from the application of human computation methods: acronym identification and resolution, relevance assessment, and query formulation. We conduct experiments that employ human computation methods, evaluate the benefits of these methods and report our findings. We conclude that employing human computation methods such as crowdsourcing and games, can improve the accuracy of many tasks currently being done by machine methods alone. We demonstrate that the best results can be achieved when human computation methods augment computer-based IR processes, providing an extra level of skills, abilities, and knowledge that computers cannot easily replicate.

Since February 2019, the Kigali-based start-up Digital Umuganda has been coordinating the crowdsourcing of the first openly available voice dataset for Rwanda’s official language Kinyarwanda. This process originated from a pilot project of the Open Resources Incubator (ORI), an emergent service designed by GIZ staff and the author as consultant. ORI aims to facilitate the collective provision of open content, thereby affording previously inaccessible opportunities for local innovation and value creation. It promotes the community-based stewardship of open resources by (inter-)national actors who share responsibilities for their production, distribution and use. ORI’s pilot project cooperates with Mozilla’s team behind Common Voice, a platform to crowdsource open voice data, and has attracted Rwandan public and private actors’ interest in voice technology to improve their products and services.Informed by research on ICTs, datafication and big data in development discourses, and using the ICT4D approach ‘open development’ as its analytical lens, this thesis examines inherent conceptual aspects and socio-technical dynamics of the ORI pilot project. An in-depth analysis of qualitative data gathered through participant observation, interviews and focus groups explores assumed developmental benefits which international and Rwandan actors involved in the project associate with open voice data, power relations manifesting between these actors as well as underlying development paradigms.The analysis shows how the project established a global-local datafication infrastructure sourcing voice data from Rwandan volunteers via technically, legally and socially formalised mechanisms. By placing the dataset in the public domain, the decision as to how it will be used is left to the discretion of intermediaries such as data scientists, IT developers and funders. This arrangement calls into question the basic assumption that the open Kinya-rwanda dataset will yield social impact because its open access is insufficient to direct its usage towards socially beneficial, rather than solely profit-oriented, purposes. In view of this, the thesis proposes the joint negotiation of a ‘stewardship agreement’ to define how value created from the open voice data will benefit its community and Rwanda at large.

<p>Istraživanje omogućuje potpunije razumevanje trenutnih potencijala i problema participacije u urbanom planiranju, uz ukazivanje na inovativne alate i kanale, kao i razvojne pravce koji mogu pružiti odgovore na probleme sa kojima se suočavamo. Tokom istraživanja ukazuje se na osnovne prednosti i nedostatke prakse, kao i šanse koje mogu doneti novi pristupi i tehnološki trendovi, poput angažovanja mase internet korisnika (eng. crowdsourcing) i lanca blokova (eng. blockchain).</p> / <p>The research provides a deeper understanding of the current participation<br />potentials and problems in urban planning while pointing to innovative tools<br />and channels, as well as future development directions that can provide<br />answers to the problems we face today. The research highlights the main<br />advantages and disadvantages of current practice, as well as the chances<br />that new approaches and technological trends such as crowdsourcing and<br />blockchain can bring in the participatory planning.</p>

Städer och infrastruktur är i ständig utveckling och arbetet att uppdatera befintlig och äldre data blir ett mödosamt och dyrt arbete. Lantmäteriet undersöker möjligheter att effektivisera samhällsprocessen med hjälp av 3D-data. Det är framförallt en lösning på en mer effektiv detaljplanering och byggprocess som önskas. Vi föreslår en metod där en äldre georeferering hos en 3D-modell utnyttjas för att uppdatera modellen med nytt objekt. Detta betyder att georefereringen ärvs från det äldre objektet. Syftet med studien är att utföra tester och avgöra om lägesosäkerhet som Lantmäteriet ställer som krav vid utförande av detaljmätning ka nuppnås. Kommer det nya objektet att ärva den äldre georefereringen, och vilken avvikelse går det att uppnå i relation mellan nytt objekt och äldre modell? Det nya objektet fotograferas med olika kameror för att simulera en imaginär men realistisk situation, där bilder har samlats in genom crowdsourcing och microtasks. En modell skapades över hus 45 Högskolan Gävle med hjälp av äldre bilder som fotograferats med en UAS. Fotograferingen skedde på 70 m flyghöjd, där även snedbilder har tagits med en lägre flyghöjd runt byggnaden. I programmet Agisoft PhotoScan användes bilderna för att skapa 3D-punktmoln och 3D-bildmodeller. Studien visar att nya objekt kan ärva georeferering från en äldre modell. Ett snitt från båda hörnen visar ett resultat över testmätningar visar en sammanlagd avvikelse i plan på 0,051 m och 0,041 m i höjd. Lantmäteriet ställer krav för detaljmätning med fyra standardnivåer. Där standardnivå 2 har som krav att en lägesosäkerhet på som mest 0,1 m ska kunna garanteras, en nivå som används för kommunaldetaljplanering och vid detaljplanering av tätort. Två olika tekniker används för att utföra mätningar, direkt i 3D-bildsmodell och direkt i 3D-punktmoln, mätningarna utförs även i 2D och i 3D. Det stora problemet med metoden är arbetstiden är väldigt stor, och att Agisoft PhotoScan har begränsningar och direkta problem när det ska användas för att utföra mätningar i en 3D-bildmodell.

Tato práce se zabývá technologiemi velkých dat v kontextu měření parametrů sítě. Popisuje téma velkých dat a jejich využití, představuje základní parametry sítě, jejich měření a metody zhodnocení. Vyhodnocuje RTR NetTest aplikaci, testovací proceduru a měřené parametry. Byla vytvořena skupina nástrojů pro posouzení základních kvantitativních parametrů mobilní sítě na základě dat z databáze RTR. Rozbor denního efektu shrnuje časovou proměnlivost sítě. Chování v prostoru je posouzeno binováním a shlukovou analýzou, současně se srovnáním řízeného testování a crowdsourcingu.

This master thesis is oriented on a problem of creating video and image annotations. This problem is solved by crowdsourcing approach. Crowdsourcing games were designed and implemented to make solution of this problem . It was proven by testing that these games are capable of creating high quality annotations. Launching these games on a larger scale could create large database of annotated videos and images.