Accept/Skip Keys

ver. 1.0.0

last updated: 05/31/08

This script has been downloaded times.

Description:

Adds hot keys to HIT preview pages allowing you to Accept and Skip HITs by pressing "A" or "S" respectively. (The keys can be changed if desired - see below.)

Instructions:

You must have Firefox, with the Greasemonkey extension installed.

Keyboard shortcuts can be changed via the "Change skip/accept hot keys" menu option. The two selections should be separated by a space. You can choose any letter, number or include ctrl+ or alt+.

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Disclaimer:
Our scripts are provided "as-is". We always aim to provide a well-tested and useful script that aids in your Turking and causes no adverse effects. Given the huge variety of configurations on which our scripts might be used we can never guarantee that something won't go wrong. We take no responsibility for any inconvenience, increased rejection rate, blocking by a requester, loss of income or damage or any other problem that use of our scripts might cause. We recommend that you only use HIT-specific scripts on HITs that you're very familiar with. When you use HIT-specific scripts, treat it as if you were starting a new type of HIT with a new Requester - try doing a few, then wait to be sure that they're getting accepted.

Are These Items Different Improved

ver. 1.0.1

last updated: 04/08/08

Update 04/08/08 (ver. 1.0.1):Bug fixed. When you use keyboard shortcut to make your selection with the auto-submit off, you can now hit 'enter' to submit the hit.

This script has been downloaded times.

Description:

Provides general cleanup and streamlining to the "Are these items different" HITs. Allows keyboard shortcut for radio buttons and provides option to auto-submit.

Screenshot of HIT with script installed.

On the standard Items HITs, the two items and their descriptions are arranged vertically with the radio buttons at the bottom. This requires a fair amount of scrolling for this quick-decision HIT. This script streamlines the HIT for quicker comparison and submission.

The Layout: The radio buttons are moved to the top of the HIT, and the items are placed side-by-side.

The blue box that describes the HIT has been streamlined to be as short as we could make it. (We removed the qualification information, and put the rest of the text on one line.)

The instructions are hidden using the show/hide scriptlet. Amazon has 6-8 different versions of the instructions, so it will take viewing quite a few HITs before you get all the instructions accepted into the routine. Once you've reviewed the instructions, click "Don't show me about this change again."

View of the instructions warning.

Selecting radio buttons: User can choose the radio button with a keyboard shortcut. The default shortcuts are: "s" selects the "These items are exact duplicates" button, and the "x" selects "These items are different." radio button. You can customize the keyboard shortcuts under the "User Script Commands" menu, using "Change hot keys." To change the hot keys, separate your two selections by a space. The first selection is the "exact duplicates", and the second is the "different." You can choose letters, numbers, and include ctrl and alt with them by adding a "+." So, for example, if you would like y for same and n for different, you type: "y n" Or, if you'd like ctrl+y and alt+n, you type:"ctrl+y alt+n". If you input an incorrect combination, the input dialog box will reappear.

Auto-submit option: The ultimate in speed. User can choose to have the HIT automatically submitted upon pressing "s" or "x", or the user-defined keyboard shortcuts. Note: this is an advanced feature. You must be very confident in your selection abilities to use this feature successfully. When I first gave it a try, I made several errors before getting used to the selection process.

To turn the auto-submit on, right-click on the Greasemonkey icon, then choose the "User Script Commands" menu option, and choose "Toggle auto submit." The state of the auto-submit toggle is shown at the top of the HIT.

Note: When the auto-submit is on, manually selecting the radio button with a mouse click does not automatically submit the HIT.

Other Notes:

If you're really looking to speed up your Turking, open two tabs in one window with active Items HITs running in each window, with the "Automatically accept next HIT" selected. While you are working on one HIT, the other is loading. With this script and the auto-submit on, you should be able to type, e.g.: x, ctrl+PageDown, x, ctrl+PageDown, s, ctrl+PageDown, etc. Both ctrl+tab and ctrl+PageDown move to the next tab in Firefox. Lickety split!

Instructions:

You must have Firefox, with the Greasemonkey extension installed.

User can choose to have selection automatically submitted via the "User Script Commands", choosing "Toggle auto submit." The state of the auto submit is stated at the top of the HIT.

Keyboard shortcuts can be changed via the "Change hot keys" menu option. The two selections should be separated by a space. You can choose any letter, number or include ctrl+ or alt+. Your new selection will be printed immediately after the radio button.

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Disclaimer:
Our scripts are provided "as-is". We always aim to provide a well-tested and useful script that aids in your Turking and causes no adverse effects. Given the huge variety of configurations on which our scripts might be used we can never guarantee that something won't go wrong. We take no responsibility for any inconvenience, increased rejection rate, blocking by a requester, loss of income or damage or any other problem that use of our scripts might cause. We recommend that you only use HIT-specific scripts on HITs that you're very familiar with. When you use HIT-specific scripts, treat it as if you were starting a new type of HIT with a new Requester - try doing a few, then wait to be sure that they're getting accepted.

GeorgeTag Image Tagging Improved

ver. 1.2.2

last updated: 06/25/08

Update 06/25/08 (ver 1.2.2): Fixed to conform to Georgetag's new name TagCow.

Update 4/8/08 (ver. 1.2): Added capability for user-defined skip image keyboard shortcut, through a "User Script Commands" Greasemonkey option.

Update 4/7/08 (ver. 1.1.2): Fixed to work with new Georgetag group, titled "Image Tagging - Describe what you see. Earn a volume BONUS! Click here to see how."

Update 4/4/08 (ver. 1.1): Fixes 2 bugs and adds 2 features. Click here to see new features.

Update 4/3/08 (ver. 1.0.1): Requester changed the instructions and title of the HIT. New version works with both the old and the new instructions.

This script has been downloaded times.

Description:

Does 5 things to the "Image Tagging" HITs by georgetag:

1. Places the 3 input fields next to each image (rather than below)
   
2. When "Does Not Contain Text" radio button is selected, the "text found in image" field is automatically filled in with "no text"
   
3. All images can be scaled based on a user-supplied percentage, to optimize the layout on your screen
   
4. Once text/no text radio button is selected, cursor is placed in appropriate text box.
   
5. Scroll through images using a ALT+w, or a user-defined keyboard shortcut.

Screenshot of HIT with script installed. Click on image for full-size version.

The requester georgetag, has uploaded a massive dump of image tagging HITs. They are offering a bonus based on the number of approved HITs, so we wanted to simply speed up the throughput of working on these HITs.

This script increases the efficiency of the Turker workflow by rearranging the layout and removing the reduncancy of the "no text" radio button/text field.

1. Rearranging the layout of the hit: Currently in these HITs, each image and its associated 3 input fields are are aligned vertically. We have created a 2x5 table, so that the 3 fields for a given image appear to the right of the image. This arrangement not only reduces the amount of scrolling, but it also allows you to see the tag text field and the image together on the screen.
   
2. Auto-filling of "no text": These Image Tagging HITs have a redundancy input, which is a time-waster for workers. Even when you click the radio button for "Does Not Contain Text", you must also fill out the second text field with "no text." This script automatically fills in the "text found in image" field with "no text" when the "Does Not Contain Text" radio button is clicked.
   
3. Resizing of Images:If you don't like the standard size of the images, you can resize all the images by a given percentage. I find that 75% makes the height of the image the same as the input boxes, but you might have a different preference. To set the scale, right click on the Greasemonkey face in the bottom toolbar, Select "User Script Commands", you will see a text box pop out that says "Image Tagging image size (currently 100%)". If you click that text, a pop-up window appears, and you can enter the image scale as a percentage. For example, to scale all images at 50%, enter "50" in this box. The image scale will take effect the next HIT you view.
   
4. New Feature 1: Refocusing of text boxes when radio buttons are checked. When you click the "Contains Text" radio button, the cursor is automatically placed in the "Enter ALL text found in image" field. When you select "no text", the cursor is automatically placed in the "tags" text box. No more clicking around! Select and start typing! (Don't forget, the TAB will jump to the next selection as well.)
   
5. New Feature 2: Click ALT+w to jump to the next photo. (No more scrolling!) The ALT+w jump iterates through the photos, and once you get to the end, it will put you back at the beginning. Note: the first ALT+w takes you to the second image (since the first was already in view). However, if you forget and scroll the page yourself, the script will only jump to what it thinks is the next image. For example, say you do the first two images using ALT+w, then keep going to the 4th by manually scrolling, the next ALT+w will take you to the 3rd image. It's hard to describe, so you will have to play around with the feature.
   
6. User-defined skip image keyboard shortcut. You can change the keyboard shortcut to be a more convenient combination. See Instructions below for directions.

Other important notes:

The Image Zoom add-on is a helpful extension for these HITs. If you set a small image scale, you can use Image Zoom (on right-click) to zoom in and out of each image for inspection.

Please note that this script was made on-the-fly, and will cease working if the Requester changes the HIT. In addition, we have only tested the script on Firefox ver. 2.0.0.13 and Greasemonkey 0.7.20080121.0. If you find bugs, please let us know, and we'll try to sort out what's going on, time permitting.

So you are aware, we have already had HITs approved by the requester for which we used this script.

Instructions:

You must have Firefox, with the Greasemonkey extension installed.

Image scale can be set via the Greasemonkey "User Script Commands." The image scale defaults at 100%.

You can change the skip image keyboard shortcut. From the User Script Commands menu in Greasemonkey, choose "Image Tagging change skip key." In the dialog box, you can type in your choice. The format is "ctrl" or "alt" or both ("ctrl+alt"), then the "+" key, then a letter or number. (Any character that requires the shift key won't work, but capital letters are ok.) Examples are: ctrl+k, or alt+z, or ctrl+alt+q. If you input an invalid choice, the dialog box will reappear. The new choice appears in the header of the HIT, and the default remains alt+w.

---

Disclaimer:
Our scripts are provided "as-is". We always aim to provide a well-tested and useful script that aids in your Turking and causes no adverse effects. Given the huge variety of configurations on which our scripts might be used we can never guarantee that something won't go wrong. We take no responsibility for any inconvenience, increased rejection rate, blocking by a requester, loss of income or damage or any other problem that use of our scripts might cause. We recommend that you only use HIT-specific scripts on HITs that you're very familiar with. When you use HIT-specific scripts, treat it as if you were starting a new type of HIT with a new Requester - try doing a few, then wait to be sure that they're getting accepted.

The six categories of HITs

There are numerous Requesters on mTurk. However, only a few types of HITs appear over and over again.

I have categorized HITs into 6 categories:

1. Decision: In these HITs, the worker is asked to make a judgment call or to take a poll. Decision HITs usually contain radio buttons or a check list and are quick to perform. Examples of decision HITs are: Amazon's Are these items different, Powerset's Evaluate Search Results, and Content Review's Review User Submitted Images.


2. Research: For research HITs, the worker must search for information, generally on the web. The response is typically a URL, copied reference material, or data. Examples of research HITs are Amazon's NowNow Research Questions, Unspun's Find a URL/Amazon product identifier, and ClayValet's Find a product group of HITs.


3. Image Tagging: Workers interact with the picture in some way. Usually the worker is marking a set of specific features in the image. The two most common Requesters in this sub-type are Geospatial Vision (marking road features) and True Yardage (marking features on golf courses).
   


4. Transcription: Workers are asked to transcribe text from an audio or video file. HITs that ask workers to transcribe text from an image are also included.
   


5. Create: Generally a more involved HIT, these HITs require the worker to create some original content. There are many types of creation HITs. Some ask you to write an article or rewrite a sentence (e.g. ContentSpooling, Paul Pullen), create trivia questions (e.g. UQsoft), or draw something (e.g. draw).
   


6. Traffic Generator: These HITs usually are trying to generate traffic to their website. They might ask the worker to click through some links. Sometimes they require the worker to comment on a blog. Other traffic generator HITs want workers to post links back to their own websites.

These six categories of HITs encompass just about every HIT you encounter on mTurk. I'm sure there are some oddballs out there as well that don't fit these five. I just can't think of any!

You might argue that a few HITs straddle more than one category. For example, rewriting sentences generally means the Requester is using workers for Search Engine Optimization (such as ContentSpooling). Although this has the end result of traffic generation, the actual work performed is mostly a creative process for the worker. Likewise, you could argue that asking a worker to generate a list of tags for an image is a creative process -- as is crafting a response for NowNow questions. However, the former is mostly an image-based process with minimal effort and the latter takes tremendous amounts of research.

In the list of Requesters and HITs, the categories are based on the major type of work a Turker is asked to perform.