Motivating participation and improving quality of contribution in ubiquitous crowdsourcing

Abstract

Ubiquitous crowdsourcing, or the crowdsourcing of tasks in settings beyond the desktop, is attracting interest due to the increasing maturity of mobile and ubiquitous technology, such as smartphones and public displays. In this paper we attempt to address a fundamental challenge in ubiquitous crowdsourcing: if people can contribute to crowdsourcing anytime and anyplace, why would they choose to do so? We highlight the role of motivation in ubiquitous crowdsourcing, and its effect on participation and performance. Through a series of field studies we empirically validate various motivational approaches in the context of ubiquitous crowdsourcing, and assess the comparable advantages of ubiquit..