#art
In the 2018-2023 version of the installation of the project Human computers, called Zugzwang, visitors are guided in the installation by a synthetic voice within a square of 12 tables. On each table, the history of digital workers and human computers is organized by topics, one per table. At each table, the audio guide asks the visitor to execute a task, with a time limit. At the end of the tour, without knowing it, the visitors have executed the knight's tour problem. Through this process, visitors are able to have a glimpse of Amazon’s warehouses internal management methods.
Each time a new game is created, a channel is opened with Amazon MTurk, where the game is segmented as moves, which are proposed to the workers as ‘Hits’ (tasks). Each move opens a small auction where the fastest ‘Turker’ get the job, and the reward (salary), when the ‘Task’ is completed. But each auction has a time limit. If no one takes the job, it is re-proposed with a higher reward. However, if one accepts quickly the job, the salary offered the next task lowers down. As tasks are usually taken as fast as possible, it lowers the salary for most of the coming tasks, and thus the incomes of workers. This market-in-the-market scheme, through its price mechanics and its impact on Turker’s rewards, underlines the limits set by the platform for workers to organize collectively and actually allows to game the platform.[59]
During a residency in Pact Zollverein, Essen, while working on the project ‘Human Computers’, RYBN subscribed to the Amazon MTurk platform and recorded the movement of the keyboard and the mouse of several tasks, visualizing them using a method inspired by Gilbreth’s chronocyclegraph.