[RECAP]VIRTUAL:Crowdsource Loving Local Guides Talk

For Local Guides who are new to Google Crowdsource or heard about Google Crowdsource, but don’t know what it is, Connect Moderator @ermest and I hosted last Saturday, June 6th, 2020 a VIRTUAL: Google Crowdsource Newbie Talk. What was supposed to be a 1-hour meet-up became a lively 90-minute meet-up because of the audience energy level and the great questions they asked during and after our presentation.

As active Crowdsourcers, we wanted to share here with the Local Guides Connect Community our recent Google Crowdsource experiences and discuss the significant synergies between being a Local Guide and a Crowdsourcer.

For our Google Meet meet-up, we had a great turnout of 50+ Local Guides, which included countries from North America, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, who have different levels of Crowdsource knowledge and expertise:

  • Newbies – not joined Crowdsource yet
  • Recent Joiners – Crowdsourcers who joined within the last two years
  • Old-Timers & Higher Ups — Long-timers or Higher-Level Crowdsourcers (Level 18!!)

Ermes and I broke down our Crowdsource conversation into easy-to-understand segments:

  1. What is Google Crowdsource?
  2. What are our Google Crowdsource stories?
  3. Why should you, as Local Guides, join Google Crowdsource?
  4. What did we learn as active Google Crowdsourcers that can be applied to make us better Local Guides?
  5. 20 minutes Q&A

As recent Crowdsourcers, to be transparent, we shared we are relatively new to Crowdsource. Our Crowdsource opinions and observations as they relate to being Local Guides come from private discussions we were having during the past six months as we were moving up the Crowdsource levels.

During our now 90-minute meet-up, we did not cover Intro to Crowdsource program information such as points, levels, badges, and benefits. I did add this information at the end of this recap.

What is Google Crowdsource?

To help explain what Google Crowdsource is, I shared an edited Crowdsource presentation I received from Google. It included a Google video that explains beautifully what Crowdsource is and how our contributions are helping to train machine learning to better our communities (aka countries) as a whole.

What are our Google Crowdsource Stories?

For the longest time, I shared I thought Crowdsource was only for Asia and Africa because I only saw Crowdsource activities for years from my Local Guides friends’ (@PavelSarwar @StephenAbraham @U-royFelixA @Sagir) Facebook feeds. Then within the last year, I noticed Local Guides friends (@Jesi @CeciliaRatto) from South America starting to participate. I thought if you are from the U.S., North America, you could not join Crowdsource. I was wrong!

I became an active Crowdsourcer because of what I saw in my Facebook feed and out curiosity. After receiving a Pixel as one of the gifts from Connect Live 2019 last December, I downloaded the app to try it out (Don’t hate me – I am an iOS user) and went to the Crowdsource website. I am now at Level 13.

Ermes’ Crowdsource story is similar to mine. He shared he started because he, too, received a Pixel during Connect Live 2019. He was curious to experience what all the Local Guides excitement was on his Facebook feed and me, talking about Crowdsource. At first, he was reluctant. Then he discovered the possibility to upload his photos and to add as many labels as he can. Ermes is now, officially, as of this week, at Level 11!

Why should you, as Local Guides, join Google Crowdsource?

The synergies of what we do as Local Guides, taking photos for Google Maps, can easily be used for uploading to the Crowdsource app to gain Crowdsource points.

I shared how I can easily upload the same photos I would upload to Google Maps to Crowdsource, in real-time, doing the Smart Camera task or when it is convenient for me, doing Image Capture tasks.

And I can also easily upload additional photos from my phone that I would not necessarily upload to Google Maps, such as objects found around my house or when I am out. For example, a stapler, a cup, a flower, book(s), bicycle, etc. to help provide Google with new photos to help with their machine learning technology.

Ermes said this is what motivates him to be a Crowdsourcer, more than the popular Image Labeling “Yes / No” tasks, because while it takes more time, he enjoys contributing and labeling his photos to the Crowdsource app. It goes back to the concept of why he is a Local Guide. Ermes wants to help his community through his Local Guides reviews and uploading photos to Google Maps. He sees that uploading and labeling his photos to Crowdsource is helping teach machine learning.

What did we learn as active Google Crowdsourcers that can be applied to make us better Local Guides?

Ermes and I shared what we think are the four synergies between being a successful Crowdsourcer and Local Guide:

  1. Smart Camera and Image Capture Tasks. Ermes shared his phone and showed how he is using his same Google Maps photos and uploading them to his Crowdsource app.
  2. Taking photos for Smart Camera Tasks. Ermes shared that he has learned to train his eye to take better pictures because he has to pay more attention to the number of things in them, increasing his awareness of what is around the subject. Many times we only focus on the main subject, not paying too much attention to what is in the background. This can also help his Google Maps photos be clearer or cleaner, have fewer distractions. For example, no people in his photos, a restaurant menu, an accessibility ramp (no one using the ramp), etc.
  3. Labeling for Smart Camera and Image Capture and Start Doing These Crowdsource Tasks. Ermes shared this helps for labeling both his Google Maps and Crowdsource photos. Currently, every Crowdsource task you do earns you one point, whether its Image Label Verification, Sentiment Evaluation, Handwriting Recognition, Smart Camera, or Image Capture. While Image Label Verification is the most popular and easiest-to-do task, Ermes and I believe that Google will eventually give more weight, or more contribution points, to Smart Camera and Image Capture tasks. It takes more work to do; you are providing Google original content, your photos, and adding labels. We believe this is the “secret sauce” that will make you a more valuable Crowdsourcer, a real asset to Google, than just answering “Yes/No” to Image Label Verification tasks. We do this also on Google Maps, when we add the name of a dish, or the name of a product (for example, high heels), feeding in this way the AI. Have you noticed that when you add a label (for example, bottle), Crowdsource has a pop-up to ask you more details (brand, type of product, etc.)?
  4. Have Two Meet-ups in One. I shared for those Local Guides who host in-person meet-ups, such as Food or Coffee Crawls, Accessibility, and Clean the World. Why not also make it a Crowdsource meet-up too? You can suggest everyone take photos of single objects, such as coffee, menus, street signs, vehicles (cars, trucks, motorcycles, scooters, SUVs), etc. while also you can upload the same photos you would upload to Google Maps.

Q&A and Questions Asked During Our Presentation

Our initial 1-hour meet-up, quickly extended an additional 30 minutes, thanks to our attendees. Great questions were asked during the Q&A and also asked in the Meet Message Chat throughout the meet-up.

In my opinion, a successful Local Guides virtual meet-up is when the audience is engaged with the presentation and with each other. Knowledge sharing is happening within, while the speakers are presenting at the same time.

Our Message Chat was on fire, filled with Crowdsource-related questions, throughout the 90 minutes. You could feel and see the audience’s Crowdsource excitement of wanting to learn more!

Here are our responses to the group’s questions:

  • What is the Crowdsource “Invite Code”? How do you use it?

According to Google, the Invite Code was created a month or two ago. Each of us Crowdsourcers has a unique Invite Code.

When you use the “invite code” on the Crowdsource app, you help Google better understand the impact and activities of each community.

If you heard about Crowdsource from a friend or a local event organizer (which is me), and have received an invite code from them, you can enter it under Settings > Invite code > Invite code tab. You can apply multiple invite codes if you receive more than one code.

Applying the invite code allows Google and event organizers to assess the effectiveness of local events. Google will be able to determine which event organizers’ events you attended.

New to Crowdsource? Don’t have the app installed on your device? If you receive an app download link from the event organizer (which is me), installing the app using that link will automatically associate the referrer code with your app.

:arrow_right: For the 50+ Local Guides who attend Ermes and my June 6th VIRTUAL: Google Crowdsource Loving Local Guides Meet-up, please input my Invite Code is 283955 under Settings > Invite code > Invite code tab so Crowdsource can track your attendance.

:arrow_right: Need to download the Crowdsource app? Please use my Invite Link, which includes my Invite Code: https://crowdsource.app.goo.gl/CV1V.

:arrow_right: Please also enter Ermes’s Invite Code: ECD64D in your Crowdsource app.

  • How can we improve our Upvote points? Will Google tell us how to do this?

Improving your Upvote points, be sure you correctly answer the question. For example, in an Image Label Verifications task, if the question is asking you, “Do you see a car? Yes or No,” the image is labeled based on whether the image contains the object rather than on how prominent that object is. For example, an image that includes a car will be labeled “car,” even if the car is small or incidental to the main image. The image is either “Yes” or “No.” On the other hand, if the car is not recognizable, it’s better not to label that image, click SKIP.

Increasing your Upvote points, your task response has to match what the majority of Crowdsourcers’ responses are to that task. If your response is incorrect, you will still receive a contribution point, but you will not gain an Upvote point. It is always better to click SKIP if you are not 100% sure.

Google will not show us how to improve our Upvote points because we are their “crowdsource” for the data they provide us to respond to. Us, Crowdsourcers, are tasks here to help improve their machine learning technology. They give us some tips, like to skip a photo if we are not sure about the label. In this way, Google is telling us that quality is more important than quantity.

  • Blurring and Unblurring Faces

To protect the privacy of people in photos, Crowdsource Image Capture blurs faces in images before uploading. The exception to this is an image that Crowdsource identifies as a potential selfie: this includes all single-person faces taken from an approximate arm’s length distance. NOTE: Blurring and unblurring have no effect on the original copy of the image stored on your device.

Read more here.

  • What is the Streetsmart badge?

The Streetsmart badge was associated with Landmarks task, which has been retired. So if you have not already received a Streetsmart badge, the badge will be grayed out as you will not be able to earn one.

  • What are the Crowdsource Levels and Benefits?

There are 18 Crowdsource Levels. You can see what each of the 18 Levels and the minimum number of points associated with each Level in Achievements > Stats > More. 1 Contribution = 1 point.

*Benefits Highlights:

  • Level 3 (100 Contributions) = Level Badge
  • Level 5 (300 Contributions) = Community Newsletter
  • Level 6 (600 Contributions) = Upvotes and Accuracy Unlocked
  • Level 10 (10,000 Contributions) = Invites to Crowdsource community events in Hangouts
  • Level 13 (60,000 Contributions) = Featured Contributor on the Crowdsource Facebook page (Be sure to “Like” the official Crowdsource page)
  • Level 15 (250,000 Contributions) = Receive your E-certificate of Distinction

*Crowdsource benefits are subject to contributions passing a quality control review.

How to tag or contact Google Crowdsource?

If you made it here and have read our entire VIRTUAL: Meet Google Crowdsource Loving Local Guides recap post, THANK YOU!! We covered a lot of Crowdsource and answered many related questions. We wanted to be sure we capture the meet-up highlights in one spot!

Cheers,

Karen & Ermes


:arrow_right: Next Google Crowdsource Loving Local Guides Meet-up Will be in July

I will be hosting more VIRTUAL: Google Crowdsource Loving Local Guides meet-ups. I have more interesting Crowdsource topics and exciting guests.

Please be sure to comment below if you want to be notified for my next VIRTUAL: Google Crowdsource Loving Local Guides meet-up.

If you have a particular Crowdsource topic you want to cover, please PM me here on Connect.

:arrow_right: My Next Virtual Meetup Will Be Saturday, June 20th

1-on-1 Local Guides Spotlight Interview: Ermes’ 1st time talking publicly about his “Powered by Local Guides” Local Guides Clean the World initiative: VIRTUAL: Local Guides Clean the World Talk via Google Meet. This exclusive Local Guides virtual interview has a maximum capacity of 100 attendees.

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@KarenVChin Hi! It seems a great and a big event to introduce Google Crowdsource with our fellow local Guides. As a Google Crowdsource influencer, I see you all did a appreciate job in this Virtual Meet-Up. I am surprised to see AtoZ description of the program.

Keep inspiring!

Happy Guiding!

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It was really a great, huge, and most informative meet-up for newbies about Google Crowdsource I attend.

Thanks, @ErmesT and @KarenVChin for a great initiative to educate Local guides who are new for CrowdSource by Google, and the most important part of the meet-up was the question “Why we should Contribute for Google Crowd Source”? I really enjoyed to share my knowledge as well.

It was great experience to meet you guys with 50 enthusiastic Local Guides.

Shukriya :pray:

See you In VIRTUAL: Local Guides Clean the World Talkon Next Saturday :slightly_smiling_face: :crossed_fingers:

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@KarenVChin and @ErmesT Thank you so much for this great event. It’s great to hear from you that you follow my social profile. I have started contributing on Crowdsource by Google from a very early stage 2016. I have founded Malaysia, Bangladesh community, and also introduced in Brazil, Pakistan, Nepal, and many more countries.I received a trophy from Google Crowdsource as a Community Leader in 2018. I have posted this achievement in LocalGuides connect and sorry to share that Local Guides removed my post from connect. For that reason, I did not post anything related to crowdsource in Local Guides Connect. Crowdsource also mentioned Me and @SumaiyaZafrin as Crowdsource by Google couple in their last newsletter. We both also selected for the first-ever crowdsource summit 2020. One of my articles about crowdsource was published in the most popular Bangladeshi newspaper in 2018.Enriching mother language on the internet

So many things to share. I am really proud of reading your RECAP. When I was stared only we were few people. Now it’s also a big community.

You may watch my recent RECAP Share your language to the world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18M4FwME-Zo

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@KarenVChin Looks like a very interesting meetup with many attendees. Thanks for sharing this wonderful experience with us. :blush:

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Thank you so much @KarenVChin for hosting the meetup and to invite me to join.

Thank you so much @ShafiulB .

@KashifMisidia , we are happy you enjoyed the meet-up.

We all know your effort with Crowdsource, @PavelSarwar . With this meet-up we wanted to highlight to points of contact between the two program (Crowdsource and Local Guides) from a Local Guide point of view.

Karen an me, we are both Moderators of Connect, the community of Google Local Guides, and we are both curious like cats, so once we had the Pixel in our hands (Thanks Google) we wanted to explore more app.

I am also a photography lover, for me everything related to “photos” need to be tested. Honestly, as I am not interested to receive points and badges, and at first I’ve found quite boring the “yes or no” way to verify the labels. When I started to contribute with the Smart Camera task or with the Image Capture tasks, I discovered:

  • The possibility to teach the AI with my own contents
  • The real meaning of “adding labels to the photos”. In this way I discovered, on my photos, details that I had not noticed when I was taking the photo: a piece of car in the corner, the clouds on the sky, a bird. Small details that we usually don’t pay attention to, focusing only on the main subject of the photo. So I discovered that I had a lot of labels to add on my photos. This changed also my way to contribute on the Label Verification task, and I started to pay attention to the details. I skip a lot of photos, because I don’t want to answer if I am not sure about what I see in the photo
  • The ability to use the content I add in Google Maps also on Google Crowdsource, adding my labels. I normally add a lot of labels, even if this do not give me any extra point and it takes time. I do this because I know that in this way I am adding new contents for others to use them, this gratifies me much more than passively recognizing content suggested by the system

When we start to talk with Karen about Crowdsource, the points of contact between the two programs were not immediately clear, but in a short time we understood the principle. In Google Maps we feed the AI everyday so, why not to try?

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Hey @KarenVChin & @ErmesT thanks for organising such an informative session. Had a lovely time learning and connecting.:smiling_face:

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Wow, @KarenVChin and @ErmesT , thank you for the recap so that I can catch up the whole matterial. I know that reach the machine is very important because now the world is flat, as Thomas Friedman said. And not all people have an opportunity to ubderstand and speak in English. And through crowdsource it is possible to bridging difficulties among nations :wink: . More of that we also have google google as to accelerate this happened.

Meet up in July? Yes, of course, please tag me…

Cheers…

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Hi @KarenVChin Thank you for hosting this meetup it was great to discuss a lot great tips were shared by fellow Local guides who are on higher levels on Crowdsource, I liked the Idea @ErmesT gave for contributing food pictures, (which we usually upload on Google maps) and some articles around us, though it is a small thing but it will be useful in near future, as the AI will easily identify it better.

knowing about the codes was something new, thanks to all attendee who shared their experience about different contributions

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Hello everyone, @KarenVChin , @ErmesT , thanks for this great recap. I have lost a part of the meetup . I have learn more with the recap, now i understand better what is crowdsource.i hope to discover more . I will be happy to attend the next meetup . See you soo

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@KarenVChin Wow what a long and descriptive recap for a meetup. This is the longest recap I ever seen. Very useful for newbies who are new to Crowdsource. It was pleasure to participate this session with other 50+ local guides from different countries. Learnt new things such as invite code which I was not aware before.

My invitation code is 2A6DFB. Anyone who would like can add my code to your account as well. As local guides we always value quality of the contributions over quantity. Thanks @ErmesT and you for organizing this meetup. Looking forward to join with you for other meetups to come.

Here I’m sharing some screenshots taken during the meetup.

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@ShafiulB – It was! @ErmesT and I were happy with the turnout and very happy about the engagement and excitement with the attendees. Lots of Crowdsource information were being shared both from us and with the attendees themselves. It made our 1st VIRTUAL: Google Crowdsource Loving Local Guides Talk that much more fun EVERYONE!

Are you a Crowdsourcer? When did you join and what level are you?

Cheers,

Karen

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@KashifMisidia - thanks for attending, participating, and enjoying @ErmesT and my 1st virtual Crowdsource meetup. The 90 minutes flew by. I didn’t realize how much we covered until I was putting together this recap. There was nothing I could delete to reduce the size of this post.

We appreciate you took the time to read this! See you this Saturday VIRTUAL: Local Guides Clean the World Talk. Ermes has a lot of information to share with all of us.

Cheers,

Karen

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@KarenVChin

Thank you for having us “in your business” for over one hour. You were a very kind and hospitable host.

I remember when the Crowdsource Level 17 Man came up to speak, you laughed, and almost laughed of your chair saying; “Level 17, what?! You should be the one speaking!”

You had a lot of kind words and questions for him. You are very humble, you weren’t all stuck up and acting like someone was trying to steal your shine.

I remember how often you said “Level 13 in 7 months”, it encouraged me that; “I can do it too”. You are the third person telling me about Crowdsource (ErmesT inclusive :see_no_evil: Please ensure he doesn’t see this comment), and I never downloaded the app because it all seemed like "one hell of a hassle I was unwilling to undergo, your explanation and charm did the trick. I wish you the best in all coming Meetups.

P.S.:- I am sorry I am just replying even though I saw the Mention on my “notifications”, I got in here and was looking for my name :see_no_evil: I saved it for later until I met you on Anil’s profile now, I knew I had not paid my Host due respects

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Thanks @PavelSarwar for reading @ErmesT and my recap here. Yes, the Crowdsource community has grown exponentially since you join and started the Malaysia and Bangladesh Crowdsource communities.

I appreciate you sharing your Crowdsource story and your latest virtual Crowdsource Talk here. I am sure many here in the Local Guides Community did not know your full story, how long you have been a Crowdsourcer, and you talk in virtual Crowdsource meetups.

Cheers,

Karen

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You’re welcome @StephenAbraham . It was a great 1st Local Guides Crowdsource virtual meetup for @ErmesT and me. We were blessed with both having an interesting Crowdsource discussion and having a great audience who were both listening and participating.

Cheers,

Karen

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You’re welcome @Marianis . Happy to know you found @ErmesT and my Google Crowdsource Loving Local Guides presentation both interesting and useful. I agree not everyone speaks one language or has the same culture. It is a great time and opportunity to be able to help contribute to machine learning. It is very satisfying we can do both – be amazing Local Guides and Crowdsourcers at the same time.

Definitely have your name marked down for July for the next VIRTUAL: Google Crowdsource Loving Local Guides meetup invite.

Thanks for being supportive!

Karen

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You are welcome @FalguniP . Glad to know you enjoyed and learned a lot during @ErmesT and my Local Guides Crowdsource virtual meetup. I always find it satisfying to learn a tip or trick to help me to become or do something better.

Cheers,

Karen

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You are welcome @Mmessmi ! This recap was created for Local Guides like yourself, heard about Crowdsource, but not quite sure what it is and how as a Local Guide I can join and do both successfully. It took me a while to put together the recap, to be sure I included all of the salient meetup highlights in one post for future reference.

I have your name down for the next VIRTUAL: Google Crowdsource Loving Local Guides meetup next month. I will definitely tag your name for that one. = )

Cheers,

Karen

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You’re welcome @RiyaM ! @ErmesT and I are happy that you attended and enjoyed our 1st Google Crowdsource Local Guides virtual meetup. :grin:

When did you join and what Crowdsource level are you?

Cheers,

Karen

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