| | 82 | ==== Registration and training of workers ==== |
| | 83 | |
| | 84 | Basic registration is already available, and there is support for volunteer signup that we |
| | 85 | can customize. Administrators can list skills they're interested in and volunteers can say |
| | 86 | what skills they have. We'll need to add whatever fields we want for performance tracking. |
| | 87 | |
| | 88 | There are several parts to training: |
| | 89 | * Instruction in using the HIT system. This will be "our" part of the training. |
| | 90 | * Preliminary instruction in performing the specific task, and online help info for reference |
| | 91 | while performing tasks: This will be the responsibility of whoever defines the task. |
| | 92 | But we can assist by providing sample training procedures to go with our sample tasks, |
| | 93 | a way to direct workers to any external training, and a means of providing help info |
| | 94 | via the task form. |
| | 95 | * Worker practice on actual tasks: This would be built in to the task queue. |
| | 96 | |
| | 97 | (Larger-scale volunteer training is outside the scope of this project.) |
| | 98 | |
| 159 | | ==== Registration and training of workers ==== |
| 160 | | |
| 161 | | Basic registration is already available, and there is support for volunteer signup that we |
| 162 | | can customize. Administrators can list skills they're interested in and volunteers can say |
| 163 | | what skills they have. We'll need to add whatever fields we want for performance tracking. |
| 164 | | |
| 165 | | There are several parts to training: |
| 166 | | * Instruction in using the HIT system. This will be "our" part of the training. |
| 167 | | * Preliminary instruction in performing the specific task, and online help info for reference |
| 168 | | while performing tasks: This will be the responsibility of whoever defines the task. |
| 169 | | But we can assist by providing sample training procedures to go with our sample tasks, |
| 170 | | a way to direct workers to any external training, and a means of providing help info |
| 171 | | via the task form. |
| 172 | | * Worker practice on actual tasks: This would be built in to the task queue. |
| 173 | | |
| 174 | | (Larger-scale volunteer training is outside the scope of this project.) |
| 175 | | |
| | 177 | |
| | 178 | Caution: Yer humble author is embarking on a <fanatic expostulation>. |
| | 179 | |
| | 180 | One might expect the purpose of providing feedback to be performance improvement, |
| | 181 | and certainly that's desired. But some common means of supplying feedback are a bad |
| | 182 | model. A productive worker is not one who's in the dumps from being told their work |
| | 183 | quality is lousy and they're a bad person for having done it poorly, and they're not |
| | 184 | as good as that other person over there. Rather, a productive worker is an engaged |
| | 185 | and enthusiastic worker who feels good about what they're doing. |
| | 186 | (I'd like to say, a productive worker is a happy and secure worker -- because this |
| | 187 | is true -- but we're expecting people to be doing this work during disasters. |
| | 188 | "Happy" is an unlikely state when one has been watching a video feed of the tsunami |
| | 189 | roaring into Minamisanriku.) Besides just performance improvement, we want to keep |
| | 190 | our trained workers working, and coming back day after day, and they won't come back |
| | 191 | as readily if they're made to feel unworthy, and they won't perform as well if |
| | 192 | they're only there because of grim determination to help. |
| | 193 | |
| | 194 | What to do? Well, fortunately, this is a well studied problem, and -- regardless of |
| | 195 | how well this isn't done in most employment settings -- this is pretty much a solved |
| | 196 | problem. The context in which it's been studied, and the solutions, come from the |
| | 197 | game industry. |
| | 198 | |
| | 199 | The underlying principle is to deliver rewards -- little jolts of self-satisfaction |
| | 200 | that let people feel good about themselves and what they're doing. With that, people |
| | 201 | will absorb the "constructive feedback" as training that lets them get better and so |
| | 202 | get more rewards. They'll do this even if they know they're being jollied along, and |
| | 203 | rather enjoy that too. Think of your friends, or your kids (or -- admit it -- yourself) |
| | 204 | spending far too long playing, oh, say, WoW or Angry Birds or Sudoku or Rabids Go Home |
| | 205 | or... This isn't a huge industry because people get some material goods or practical |
| | 206 | benefit out of it. And people are playing avidly without even a Good Cause to motivate |
| | 207 | them. So, if we take a page from the game industry's playbook on how to get people |
| | 208 | revved up and wanting to improve, and on top of that have the icing of Doing Good, |
| | 209 | we should have a hit, not just HITs. |
| | 210 | |
| | 211 | Ok, so, what do we actually do here? Since the effectiveness of a game's rewards goes |
| | 212 | straight to the company's bottom line, they may not give out such details as actual |
| | 213 | reward pacing and effectiveness of various types of rewards. Yes, yes, there are actual |
| | 214 | references on this topic. But surely the best methods are proprietary. Fortunately, |
| | 215 | they're also on display -- extracting them just might take a little research. Now |
| | 216 | tell me -- where have you heard a better excuse for playing games? |
| | 217 | |
| | 218 | </fanatic expostulation> |
