5.4 Crowdsourcing Quiz

A system is being developed to help pet owners locate lost pets. Which of the following best describes a system that uses crowdsourcing?

A

A mobile application and collar that uses GPS technology to determine the pet’s location and transmits the location when the owner refreshes the application

B

A mobile application and collar that uses wireless technology to determine whether the pet is within 100 feet of the owner's phone and transmits a message to the owner when the pet is nearby

C

A mobile application that allows users to report the location of a pet that appears to be lost and upload a photo that is made available to other users of the application

D

A mobile application that transmits a message to all users any time a lost pet is returned to its owner

C

A mobile application that allows users to report the location of a pet that appears to be lost and upload a photo that is made available to other users of the application

Which of the following activities is most likely to be successful as a citizen science project?

A

Collecting pictures of plants from around the world that can be analyzed to look for regional differences in plant growth.

B

Designing and building a robot to help with tasks in a medical laboratory.

C

Sorting scientific records and removing duplicate entries in a database with a large number of entries.

D

Using a simulation to predict the impact of a construction project on local animal populations.

A

Collecting pictures of plants from around the world that can be analyzed to look for regional differences in plant growth.

Which of the following is not an example of crowdsourcing? 

A

An ice-cream chain wants to develop a new flavor. It creates a website and asks users to submit ideas for new flavors and vote for other submitted ideas. The top five choices will be manufactured and tested at select stores.

B

A literature professor works with a computer science professor to develop software to analyze the complete works of William Shakespeare to determine the number of unique words used in Shakespeare’s writing. The professors make the software available on a website for anyone to use to analyze other texts.

C

A national butterfly association recruits volunteers to count butterflies on a given day. The volunteers are assigned a local survey region and record the number of observed butterflies on that day. The results are reported back to the association via an application.

D

A scientist working at a university uses the school’s website to recruit participants to help with an air-quality study. Participants receive air-pollution sensors that they carry with them for one month. The sensors are used to collect air-quality information and are returned to the scientist at the end of the study.

B

A literature professor works with a computer science professor to develop software to analyze the complete works of William Shakespeare to determine the number of unique words used in Shakespeare’s writing. The professors make the software available on a website for anyone to use to analyze other texts.

Which of the following would be the best use of citizen science?

A

An experiment that requires all participants to be working in the same laboratory

B

An experiment that requires expensive equipment to conduct

C

An experiment that requires data measurements to be taken in many different locations

D

An experiment that requires specialized knowledge and training to conduct

C

An experiment that requires data measurements to be taken in many different locations

Which of the following research proposals is most likely to be successful as a citizen science project?

A

Collecting pictures of birds from around the world that can then be analyzed to determine how location affects bird size

B

Monitoring a group of cells in a laboratory to determine how growth rate is affected by exposure to varying temperatures

C

Using a simulation to determine which one from a set of chemicals causes the most significant change to local animal and plant life

D

Using specialized equipment to perform three-dimensional scans of complex proteins found in human cells

A

Collecting pictures of birds from around the world that can then be analyzed to determine how location affects bird size

An online gaming company is introducing several new initiatives to encourage respectful communication between players of online games. Which of the following best describes a solution that uses crowdsourcing?

A

The company allows individual players to endorse fellow players based on courteous interactions. Once a player receives enough endorsements, the player is given free rewards that can be used during gameplay.

B

The company eliminates chat from gameplay and sets the default chat policy to off. Players must actively turn on chat to converse outside of gameplay.

C

The company introduces software that monitors all chats. Inappropriate conversations are identified, and players involved in the conversations are banned from the game.

D

The company updates the acceptable content guidelines to explicitly describe appropriate and inappropriate behavior. All players must electronically sign an agreement to adhere to the guidelines.

A

The company allows individual players to endorse fellow players based on courteous interactions. Once a player receives enough endorsements, the player is given free rewards that can be used during gameplay.

Which two of the following activities can best be described as a citizen science project?

Select two answers.

A

A scientist develops a simulation to study the safety of a proposed bridge design under various weather conditions.

B

A scientist writes a computer program to analyze medical data and posts the program online so that it is freely available for other people to use.

C

A scientist collects photos of debris found on beaches from volunteers who live along coastlines to determine which locations are of most concern.

D

A scientist asks bird-watchers throughout North America to submit audio recordings of birdsongs heard throughout the year to help understand migratory patterns.

C

A scientist collects photos of debris found on beaches from volunteers who live along coastlines to determine which locations are of most concern.

D

A scientist asks bird-watchers throughout North America to submit audio recordings of birdsongs heard throughout the year to help understand migratory patterns.

A mobile application is used to display local traffic conditions. Which of the following features of the application best exemplifies the use of crowdsourcing?

A

Users can save an address to be used at a later time.

B

Users can turn on alerts to be notified about traffic accidents.

C

Users can submit updates on local traffic conditions in real time.

D

Users can use the application to avoid heavily congested areas.

C

Users can submit updates on local traffic conditions in real time.

A small team of wildlife researchers is working on a project that uses motion-activated field cameras to capture images of animals at study sites. The team is considering using a “citizen science” approach to analyze the images.

Which of the following best explains why such an approach is considered useful for this project?

A

Distributed individuals are likely to be more accurate in wildlife identification than the research team.

B

The image analysis is likely to be more consistent if completed by an individual citizen.

C

The image analysis is likely to require complex research methods.

D

The image analysis is likely to take a longer time for the research team than for a distributed group of individuals.

D

The image analysis is likely to take a longer time for the research team than for a distributed group of individuals.

Which of the following applications is most likely to benefit from the use of crowdsourcing?

A

An application that allows users to convert measurement units (e.g., inches to centimeters, ounces to liters)

B

An application that allows users to purchase tickets for a local museum

C

An application that allows users to compress the pictures on their devices to optimize storage space

D

An application that allows users to view descriptions and photographs of local landmarks

D

An application that allows users to view descriptions and photographs of local landmarks

Which of the following are true statements about how the Internet enables crowdsourcing?

I. The Internet can provide crowdsourcing participants access to useful tools, information, and professional knowledge.

II. The speed and reach of the Internet can lower geographic barriers, allowing individuals from different locations to contribute to projects.

III. Using the Internet to distribute solutions across many users allows all computational problems to be solved in reasonable time, even for very large input sizes.

A

I and II only

B

I and III only

C

II and III only

D

I, II, and III

A

I and II only