Note:  you must work entirely alone on this bonus project.  Do not share your notes with others!  Also, you will self-report a timesheet recording the hours you worked on this project.  This is on honor code, which we take seriously.  Finally, be sure to have fun with this.  It’s bonus, after all.  It should be fun.

1.  View the Lecture

View the lecture "Human Computation" by Luis von Ahn.  To receive credit, you must take clear notes, probably about 2 pages worth for the talk.  The notes need not be in complete sentences, or neatly formatted -- they are just notes.  But they must show that you listened and that you understood all the important ideas in the talk.  Note that you do not need to view the Q+A period, so you only need to view about the first 40 minutes of the talk.  Here is the link:

     Human Computation
     by Luis von Ahn
     http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8246463980976635143 

2.  Read these 3 papers

 * Human or Computer? Take This Test, The New York Times.
   http://tinyurl.com/2v6v56

 * For Certain Tasks, the Cortex Still Beats the CPU, Wired Magazine.
   http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/15-07/ff_humancomp

 * Telling Humans and Computers Apart Automatically. In CACM.
   http://www.captcha.net/captcha_cacm.pdf

3.  Play the Games

Play the following games (here, and here alone, you may work with a partner).  You must invest at least 20 minutes in each game, and you can receive credit for playing each game up to 2 hours total (for all 3 combined).

   Peekaboom:  http://www.peekaboom.org/

   Phetch:  http://www.peekaboom.org/phetch/

   ESP:  http://www.espgame.org/

4.  Write a Paper

Write a 3-to-5-page paper citing the 4 sources above (3 papers and a video lecture), plus at least 3 more well-chosen online sources.  This paper should include the key information from the sources above, describing the problems being solved and the approaches to solve them, in a concise summary, as well as a reflection of your personal experiences playing the games in step 3.  Provide details that could only be obtained by actually playing the games.  Be clear, concise, and on-topic.  Finally, at some point you should include some editorial remarks -- what do you think of this approach?  What are its plusses and minuses, from a consumer's perspective?  Is this a good idea?  How could it be improved?  Write persuasively.

5.  WHAT TO TURN IN

a)  A Timesheet
A timesheet recording when and for how long you worked on this project.  Do not exceed 10 hours total in any case.
You will receive 1 point of bonus on the next quiz for each hour invested, up to 10 points max.  Report this on honor code.  Note that you must submit parts b and/or c to receive any bonus credit for your timesheet.  If you submit only one of parts b or c, and not both, then the maximum credit is 5 hours, not 10.

b)  Your Notes
Your notes from step 1.  You will receive from 5-to-10 points of bonus on the next quiz, depending on the quality of the notes (but 5 points minimum, assuming it adheres to the problem description). 

c)  Your Essay
Your essay from step 4.  You will receive from 20-to-30 points of bonus on the next quiz, depending on the quality of the paper (but 25 points minimum, assuming it adheres to the problem description).

This means that if you do this entire bonus project adhering to the problem descriptions, then you will earn a minimum of 25 points of bonus and a maximum of 50 points of bonus on the next quiz.  That's a lot of bonus!!!!