LABELING IMAGES

1. LUIS VON AHN LABELING IMAGES CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY

2. 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)

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

4. USES FILENAMES AND HTML TEXT IMAGE SEARCH ON THE WEB

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

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

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

8. 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

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

10. © 2004 Carnegie Mellon University, all rights reserved. Patent Pending.

11. THE ESP GAME IS FUN 3.2 MILLION LABELS WITH 22,000 PLAYERS MANY PEOPLE PLAY OVER 20 HOURS A WEEK

12. 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

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

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

15. 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 WHAT ABOUT CHEATING?

16. SEARCH RESULTS

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

18. “ THE ESP GAME GIVES ITS PLAYERS A 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. THE ESP GAME GIVES ITS PLAYERS A WEIRD AND BEAUTIFUL SENSE OF ANONYMOUS INTIMACY. ” THE ESP GAME GIVES ITS PLAYERS A WEIRD AND BEAUTIFUL SENSE OF ANONYMOUS INTIMACY. ON THE ONE HAND, YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO YOUR PARTNER IS.

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

20. “ IN OTHER CROWNING ACHEIVEMENTS, I 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. BLOGS

21. BUT BY FAR THE MOST INTRIGUING ASPECT OF THE GAME IS HOW OFTEN YOUR RANDOM, UNKNOWN PARTNER IS A COMPLETE IDIOT. ” “ 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

22. REUSING HUMAN CYCLES

24. WWW.ESPGAME.ORG

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

27. SEARCH FOR FUNNY

28. THE CHOLESTEROL POLICE