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Microsoft Uses Human Computing Game To Tune Bing

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the wtb-better-rewards dept.

Al writes "Microsoft researchers have come up with a novel way to fine-tune the algorithms behind the company's new search engine, Bing: a game that harnesses human computing power to improve the results. Called Page Hunt, the game (which of course requires Silverlight to run) shows users a web page and asks them to figure out a search query that should produce the page within the first five results. The idea is to better understand user behavior and expectations and ultimately improve its search algorithms. Other human-computing projects have sought to digitize out-of-print text (reCAPTCHA) and image labeling (Google Image Labeler). Can Microsoft use a similar approach to gain the edge over its rival? Or does Google already have the edge with SearchWiki, which lets searchers re-rank its results?"

6 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. Looks like fun by Brian+Gordon · · Score: 5, Funny

    After the success of Page Hunt, Microsoft is developing a sequel called File Reports. Players earn points by filling out real business forms and increasing productivity!

  2. It's a shame... by Tenek · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The game gets boring really quickly the first time you run out of "reasonable" search terms and just tack on some exact quote from the page. "His father dies during the travel" is probably not going to help them very much, but it *will* get you to a specific bio of Paul Gauguin.

  3. Spammers... by nebaz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If users have the ability to tailor search results, won't page rank "fixers" (aka spammers) have an easier time? Or am I missing something?

    --
    Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
  4. Re:So you're anchoring the algorithm... by MozeeToby · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Maybe they can use the real world data to fix this issue

    http://www.bing.com/search?q=why+is+microsoft+word+so+expensive&form=QBLH&qs=n
    http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=why+is+microsoft+word+so+expensive&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g1

    Flooded with blog articles about the same query now, and yes, it looks like there's probably a technological reason (or at least viable excuse) for it, but it still seems pretty shady to me.

  5. Gee, but... by Chris+Pimlott · · Score: 5, Funny

    I sure hope no one tells 4chan about this.

  6. Re:So you're anchoring the algorithm... by Tynin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seems like this would be ripe for abuse. Get a group of people together like the /b/ group on 4chan, have them start labeling mundane links with porn terms, and porn links with mundane terms. I don't think it would work if only a few people did it, but if you had a large enough group I would think you could make a ton of the data they are gathering useless.