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 (1 hr bonus)

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 (1 hr bonus)

Note:  if you do not elect to write the paper (see part 4 below), and you still wish to receive credit for reading these three papers, then you must take clear notes on each paper as described above for the lecture.  These notes are not required if you write the paper.

 * Human or Computer? Take This Test, The New York Times.
   http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9907E5DF163AF933A25751C1A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=

 * 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 (1 hr bonus)

Play the following games (here, and here alone, you may work with a partner).  You must invest at least 20 minutes in each game.

Note:  if you do not elect to write the paper (see part 4 below), and you still wish to receive credit for playing these games, then you must take clear notes on each game as described above for the lecture.  These notes are not required if you write the paper.

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

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

   ESP:  http://www.espgame.org/

4.  Write a Paper (Up to 4 hrs bonus)

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.   Report this on honor code.  Note that the bonus hours you receive are as noted above, and are not tied directly to the timesheet.  The timesheet may be used in marginal cases to help determine the appropriate number of bonus hours.

b)  Your Notes from Step 1 (and 2 and 3, if you are not writing a paper)

c)  Your Essay from Step 4

This means that if you do this entire bonus project and produce a thoughtful and well-written paper, then you will earn up to 7 hours of bonus, which can move your semester grade by 0.7%, which can be quite substantial!