ClickWorkers was a small, experimental NASA project (run from November 2000 to September 2001) that showed that public volunteers (clickworkers), many working for a few minutes here and there and others choosing to work longer, can do some routine science analysis that would normally be done by a scientist or graduate student working for months on end.
The web site and database were created and are being maintained by one engineer working part-time, advised by two scientists who spend even less time on the project. It's a pilot study sponsored by the NASA Ames Director's Discretionary Fund .
How it Works
There are many scientific tasks that require human perception and common sense, but may not require a lot of scientific training. Identifying craters on Mars is something almost anyone can do, and classifying them by age is only a little harder.
In the first stage of this pilot project, clickworkers processed Mars images from Viking Orbiter that had already been analyzed by NASA. The goal was to answer two meta-science questions:
- Is the public ready, willing, and able to help science?
- Does this new way of powering science analysis produce results that are just as good as the traditional way?
In February 2001 clickworkers started processing new images from Mars Global Surveyor, surveying small craters never before catalogued. Their analysis might potentially be useful for scientists, although there are no specific plans for using it yet.
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