Google Image Labeler

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Google Image Labeler is a feature, in form of a game, of Google Image Search that allows the user to label random images to help improve the quality of Google's image search results.

Contents 1 History 2 Rules 3 Abuse 4 References 5 External links

History

On August 31, 2006 ^{[1] [2] [3]} Google launched this service, as a beta.

Luis von Ahn developed the ESP Game ^[4], a game in which two people are simultaneously given an image of the same picture, with no way to communicate. The ESP Game has been licensed by Google in the form of the Google Image Labeler.

Rules

The user will be randomly paired with a partner who is online and using the feature. Users can be registered players who accumulate a total score over all games played, or guests who just play for one game.

Over a 90-second period, the user and his/her partner will be shown the same set of images and asked to provide as many labels as possible to describe each image you see. When the user's label matches the partner's label, both will earn points and move on to the next image until time runs out. It is possible to pass on an image but both users must agree to do this.

Labels that have been agreed on by many previous users show on a red forbidden list and cannot be used in that round.

After the 90 second time expires, the user can see the user name of the opponent, their score (with which both are credited), their cumulative score to date and a view of the images they have matched or agreed to pass in that round.

The images themselves then link to the websites where those images were found and can be explored for more information and to satisfy curiosity.

All the opponents label attempts can be revealed to understand what their perceptions of the images were.

The game keeps the high scores of registered users and these are displayed both for the day and for "all time". The highest all time scorer for many months was wordgirl but has since been replaced by FairlandOK.

Google is betting on users' competitiveness to rack up high scores to swell the number of images ranked.

This is not designed simply for fun. Though the feature is enjoyable for the users, it is also a clever way for Google to ensure that its keywords are matched to correct images. Each matched word will help Google to build a accurate database used when using the Google Image Search.

Some users complain that the rules are difficult to decipher. Nowhere is it stated, for example, that a player should press Return after typing a label. Beginners also make the mistake of typing several terms into the first box, not realizing that those words are then all considered, together, as a phrase. The "pass" option is also not explained; although it means that the player does not want to rate a word, some players have thought that this button is to be pressed after making a guess. Either of these mistakes can easily result in a zero score.

Abuse

Less than a month after the launch the game began to be abused ^[5]. It appears as if Google is getting spammed with standard words from the following list: abrasives, accretion, bequeathing, calamus, carcinoma, congenita, diphosphonate, entrepreneurialism, forbearance and googley. Although these words often appear as partner responses at the end of a round, some say it is unlikely that these are actual responses from players of the game.^{[citation needed]} Because players can see the responses of their partner at the end of each round, they learn that other players often use these words. They may then incorporate these words into their answers for entertainment and a sense of social belonging.

References

1. ^ Digg
2. ^ Google Blogoscoped
3. ^ Slashdot
4. ^ Human Computation - Google Video
5. ^ Nas Raja in Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO

External links

• Google Image Labeler Beta