National Institute of Informatics News ISSN 1883-1974 (Print) ISSN 1884-0787 (Online) NII Interview Crowdsourcing Will Change Society 56 Exploring Structure Hidden in Dec. 2015 Real-World Data Using a Game in Quantum Computer Research Crowdsensing Useful in Solving Social Problems Feature Crowdsourcing/Crowdsensing Leveraging the Power of the Crowd in Science This English language edition NII Today corresponds to No. 70 of the Japanese edition NII Interview Crowdsourcing Will Change Society What are its merits, and what challenges will accompany its popularization? Dr. Vili Lehdonvirta (Research Fellow and DPhil Programme Director, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford） Interviewer: Keiichi Murayama (Senior Staff Writer/Editorial Writer, Nikkei Inc.) The worldwide Internet population is ap- Murayama: With crowdsourcing service competition has intensified due to interna- proximately 3.2 billion. The environment providers listing shares in Japan, crowd- tionalization, trade liberalization, and so connecting this vast number of people is sourcing is spreading on a global scale. on. Companies are exploring new forms of changing our economy and society, in- Lehdonvirta: I began researching digital la- employment in order to remain competi- cluding how people are employed and bor, or crowdsourcing, in 2010. There are tive and enhance shareholder value. how they work. Crowdsourcing has be- various types of crowdsourcing, but letʼs Murayama: There are also technological come a global trend that connects busi- talk about crowdsourcing for business factors behind the spread of crowdsourc- nesses who want to outsource work and here. This ranges from outsourcing of rela- ing, perhaps? people who want to take on work via the tively simple work to use in R&D. Lehdonvirta: The speed and quality of the Internet. What influence will crowd- Looking at a time span of several de- Internet has increased. In the past, I have sourcing have on business organizations cades, the whole concept of employment interviewed 127 people who earn their liv- and innovation? I asked Dr. Vili Lehdon- in economically developed countries such ing working online as freelancers. These virta, a Research Fellow at the Oxford In- as Japan, which until now was stable and were workers in developing countries such ternet Institute in the UK. permanent, is crumbling. Employment pe- as the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, riods have shortened, and flexible, contrac- South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria. The Inter- tual employment has increased. Global net and mobile infrastructure are spread- Research Fellow and DPhil Programme Director, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford. PhD (Economic Sociology). Conducting Vili Lehdonvirta research on the social and economic significance of new information technologies, focusing on virtual economies and online work. Visiting Scholar at the Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, University of Tokyo, from 2010 to 2011; Visiting Graduate Student at the Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, from 2006 to 2008. 02 Feature │ Crowdsourcing Will Change Society ing in these countries too, and crowdsourc- smaller as a result. scribed as fair because it is capable of re- ing is becoming possible. However, there are various reasons for ducing discrimination by applying rules to However, there are problems associated the existence of business organizations. In ensure that employees are promoted with crowdsourcing because it easily cross- particular, there are some effects that can- when they acquire the necessary abilities es over national borders. If employment is not occur without the business organiza- and skills, regardless of gender or race. concluded inside a country, the respective tion, for example experiencing an identity Whereas, if this is left to the free market, as government can protect workers by way of and sharing a vision, which can increase in crowdsourcing, there is a risk that dis- the legal system, but this is not the case for motivation. Therefore, I do not think that crimination will occur. In fact, looking at crowdsourcing. It is not easy for a country we will reach a point where all employees the US car dispatch app Uber Technologies, to demand that another country apply the work as freelancers. it appears that black drivers are more likely same labor contracts as it does, and in any Murayama: R&D is a more important opera- to get low ratings. In a taxi company, such case, workers may be anonymous and im- tion as far as business is concerned. Do you discrimination could be controlled by way possible to identify. There is also the poten- think the time will come when crowd- of company rules. The risks of relying on tial for opportunism, such as fraud and sourcing is commonplace in R&D? market forces should not be overlooked. cheating, to become prevalent. Lehdonvirta: The main benefit of using Much more research is needed. Murayama: What should be done? crowdsourcing in R&D is the effect of open (Photography: Yuki Akiyama) Lehdonvirta: At this point, one potential innovation. Conventionally, a companyʼs solution is something called a “reputation ability has been restricted to the abilities of system”. The US Internet auction site eBay the staff employed in the company, but us- was the first to fully introduce this system, ing the Internet, it becomes possible, in and the idea behind it is to maintain quali- principle, to access all abilities. Various ty by having participants evaluate each ways of thinking can be obtained from a other. diverse group of people, compared to a ho- However, although it appears simple mogeneous group. and straightforward at first glance, there One point that requires attention, how- are difficulties. For example, people some- ever, is whether companies are capable of times award, despite their real opinion, the absorbing and making effective use of A Word from the Interviewer highest rating of five stars even though technology and ideas taken in from out- they were not satisfied with the service side. Ideas for boosting productivity by they received because they fear that the 10%, for example, may be realized by mod- other person may retaliate if they give ifying existing equipment or procedures, them a low rating. This is because it is a but more fundamental ideas could require “tit-for-tat”[Literal translation is “give-and- changing the entire business model. take”] system. The problem is how to de- This is not simply a matter of it being rive genuine, rather than collusive, ratings. okay to change everything using open in- Also, it is not easy to start accumulating novation. In addition to winning future ratings from zero and compete with peo- customers through innovation that re- With the ability to serve the diverse needs of individuals in relation to ways of working and ple who already have many reviews and forms their business model, companies the potential to become a driving force for have earned a high rating. The structure is have to serve their existing customers. It is corporate innovation, there is no doubt that crowdsourcing holds great promise. Howev- such that disparities arise between individ- important to strike a balance between cur- er, as Dr. Lehdonvirta: repeatedly emphasizes, uals. There is room for improvement in the rent and future customers. it also conceals new problems and challeng- whole system of crowdsourcing, and we Murayama: In Japan too, values have diver- es. While closely monitoring the situation, we must acquire the knowledge to master need to come up with good rules. sified and various ways of working are now crowdsourcing. Murayama: How will crowdsourcing accepted. Do you think that the addition of change the shape of business? crowdsourcing as an option should be Keiichi Murayama Lehdonvirta: The spread of the Internet has viewed positively? Joined Nikkei Inc. in 1992. Covered telecom- radically changed the structure of employ- Lehdonvirta: It would seem preferable to munications, electronics, automotive, fi- nance, etc., in the Business News Depart- ment costs. It has become easier to imple- have more options, but of course, there are ment. After working in the Silicon Valley ment network-based employment as an complex problems involved. When a com- Bureau and the Electronics News Depart- alternative to the conventional hierarchical pany is referred to as bureaucratic, it cre- ment, became a senior staff writer in April 2012. Has worked concurrently as an editori- system of employment, and it has been ates a negative impression, but in a sense, al writer since April 2015. Currently, his main suggested that companies will become this kind of company could also be de- areas of responsibility are IT and startups. 2015 NII Today │ No.56 03 Exploring Structure Hidden in Real-World Data Aiming to promote value creation and citizen science Asanobu Kitamoto (Associate Professor, Digital Content and Media Sciences Research Division, National Institute of Informatics/ Associate Professor, School of Multidisciplinary Sciences, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies) Weather disaster prevention, participa- an interactive digital archive that enables example, precipitation amounts can be tory monitoring of invasive species, cul- users to create and display virtual exhibi- found using existing sensors. However, ex- tural heritage archives, memories of the tions using images of Silk Road cultural isting sensors cannot give an answer to Great East Japan Earthquake... making heritage to be printed as an original pic- whether precipitation is rain or snow. This use of not only conventional observation ture postcard. information is currently estimated from air data collected by specialists but also data The common theme in all of these proj- temperature at the ground surface. How- collected by the general public will reveal ects is “generating value using real-world ever, if it were possible to gather com- the structure of a previously unseen data”. Real-world data are data that link to ments, such as “Itʼs started snowing” or “Itʼs world. NII Today spoke to Associate Pro- reality, including unstructured data from sleeting”, from the public via social media, fessor Asanobu Kitamoto, who is trying the public.