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Social whodunnit competition launches in India
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five clues will be sent out very rarely, so each team will need access to many phones to make enough calls to receive all the clues. Vaish estimates that a team will need to make about 500 calls to get the full set. The answers must be sent by text to Microsoft. The researchers are leaving it up to competitors to decide how to collaborate. When a similar
“People who interact with many individuals, such as rickshaw drivers, could do well” experiment was run in 2009 in the US, the winning team –Was it you? Lol!– organised their efforts around a website and email. Neither service is widely available in India, so competitors may rely on social networks that revolve around work or places of study, says Vaish. He points out that This month, people across India will compete by text people who interact with many message to solve a puzzle set by Microsoft individuals, such as rickshaw drivers, could do well. The challenge is also an attempt a fictional event and a set of five Santa Cruz, who is working on Jim Giles to see what motivates people to clues – the who, what, where, when the experiment. “That’s why ONLINE social networks have organise themselves. In the USand why – that describe the event. the culture of the missed call is helped spur protest movements based experiment, the winning To obtain a clue, competitors have so important.” and put politicians in office. But team offered to share the reward to call a number provided by A missed call to the Microsoft the power of these networks is to encourage strangers to Microsoft and hang up after a number triggers a text message built on easy access to platforms contribute. Vaish says it will be single ring. This practice, which to the caller’s mobile phone that like Facebook and Twitter. Now interesting to see whether a tells the recipient they have contains one of the five clues. researchers at Microsoft are similar method prevails in India, missed a call, is commonly used But the system will only send about to test the power of social or if entrants band together using in India as a means of prompting one message to each phone technologies in a tougher setting: someone to ring back. existing social ties. number. To collect the five clues India, where just a tenth of the Language is another factor. People in India try not to needed to win, competitors will population has internet access. India has several hundred waste money on calls, says Rajan have to band together and share Competitors in the Whodunit? languages, including about Vaish, a computer scientist at messages. The key to the Challenge will leverage the 20 that are spoken by at least a the University of California, competition is that some of the power of mobile phones and million people. Each text will be old-fashioned, face-to-face sent in English and in the major contact to solve a puzzle posed language served by the local by a team based at Microsoft mobile phone provider, and India’s love of text messaging has are sent to a GupShup number, Research India in Bangalore. the Microsoft team will pay spawned a huge social network that and the company’s computers do At stake is a prize of 100,000 close attention to the impact few outside the country have heard the rest. CEO Beerud Sheth says rupees, or almost US$2,000, that linguistic barriers have on of. Users of GupShup, launched in GupShup has 60 million users, about twice the country’s average team formation. Some of the 2007, can join groups dedicated putting it on a par with Facebook annual income. The challenge will techniques the competitors to specific interests and exchange in India, and handles up to 2 billion show us how people in developing use could be deployed by city messages. A smartphone or messages a month. The service can countries use technology to governments that want to involve computer is not required — any phone be accessed by smartphone app, collaborate across long distances many people in a search, perhaps that can send a text will do. Requests but the firm’s revenues rest mainly and in time-critical situations. for a fugitive or a missing person. to join a group, or post a message, on the humble text message. The competition, beginning “This will demonstrate the power on 1 February, revolves around of crowd,” says Vaish. n
A social whodunnit
Who needs the internet?
2 February 2013 | NewScientist | 17
For more technology stories, visit newscientist.com/technology
five clues will be sent out very rarely, so each team will need access to many phones to make enough calls to receive all the clues. Vaish estimates that a team will need to make about 500 calls to get the full set. The answers must be sent by text to Microsoft. The researchers are leaving it up to competitors to decide how to collaborate. When a similar
“People who interact with many individuals, such as rickshaw drivers, could do well” experiment was run in 2009 in the US, the winning team –Was it you? Lol!– organised their efforts around a website and email. Neither service is widely available in India, so competitors may rely on social networks that revolve around work or places of study, says Vaish. He points out that This month, people across India will compete by text people who interact with many message to solve a puzzle set by Microsoft individuals, such as rickshaw drivers, could do well. The challenge is also an attempt a fictional event and a set of five Santa Cruz, who is working on Jim Giles to see what motivates people to clues – the who, what, where, when the experiment. “That’s why ONLINE social networks have organise themselves. In the USand why – that describe the event. the culture of the missed call is helped spur protest movements based experiment, the winning To obtain a clue, competitors have so important.” and put politicians in office. But team offered to share the reward to call a number provided by A missed call to the Microsoft the power of these networks is to encourage strangers to Microsoft and hang up after a number triggers a text message built on easy access to platforms contribute. Vaish says it will be single ring. This practice, which to the caller’s mobile phone that like Facebook and Twitter. Now interesting to see whether a tells the recipient they have contains one of the five clues. researchers at Microsoft are similar method prevails in India, missed a call, is commonly used But the system will only send about to test the power of social or if entrants band together using in India as a means of prompting one message to each phone technologies in a tougher setting: someone to ring back. existing social ties. number. To collect the five clues India, where just a tenth of the Language is another factor. People in India try not to needed to win, competitors will population has internet access. India has several hundred waste money on calls, says Rajan have to band together and share Competitors in the Whodunit? languages, including about Vaish, a computer scientist at messages. The key to the Challenge will leverage the 20 that are spoken by at least a the University of California, competition is that some of the power of mobile phones and million people. Each text will be old-fashioned, face-to-face sent in English and in the major contact to solve a puzzle posed language served by the local by a team based at Microsoft mobile phone provider, and India’s love of text messaging has are sent to a GupShup number, Research India in Bangalore. the Microsoft team will pay spawned a huge social network that and the company’s computers do At stake is a prize of 100,000 close attention to the impact few outside the country have heard the rest. CEO Beerud Sheth says rupees, or almost US$2,000, that linguistic barriers have on of. Users of GupShup, launched in GupShup has 60 million users, about twice the country’s average team formation. Some of the 2007, can join groups dedicated putting it on a par with Facebook annual income. The challenge will techniques the competitors to specific interests and exchange in India, and handles up to 2 billion show us how people in developing use could be deployed by city messages. A smartphone or messages a month. The service can countries use technology to governments that want to involve computer is not required — any phone be accessed by smartphone app, collaborate across long distances many people in a search, perhaps that can send a text will do. Requests but the firm’s revenues rest mainly and in time-critical situations. for a fugitive or a missing person. to join a group, or post a message, on the humble text message. The competition, beginning “This will demonstrate the power on 1 February, revolves around of crowd,” says Vaish. n
A social whodunnit
Who needs the internet?
2 February 2013 | NewScientist | 17