From the Network Solutions FAQ:

Major bummer!

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

Looking for a quick way to rewrite an article and bumped into Human Spinner – Really cool. This saved me the time of going to e-lance or other similar options and wrestling with folks while waiting days for results.

More than a quick re-write, these guys have a system that will chunk down an article into paragraphs or sentences (your choice), then submit these for re-writing and iterative reviewing over at the Amazon Mechanical Turk, where a couple thousand people work on these little tasks. This works remarkably well for what Human Spinner does. Since the pieces of your article go out in parallel, the article gets re-written in a flash – I’m talking a few minutes for a 2,000-word article – much faster than what any single person could do. You could paraphrase an entire book before dinnertime using this chunking idea.

The main aim of HumanSpinner, however, is not simple one-shot re-writing – their aim is to take an article and output “JetSpinner” or ‘spinner’ formatted stuff. You can tell the system how many “alternates” of each sentence or paragraph to get from the workers. This all gets compiled into a document that looks like:

The {quick|fast|speedy} brown fox {jumped over|hopped across|skillfully dodged} the lazy dogs.

With just two alternatives of “quick” and “jumped over”, an article spinner can now generate some nine articles. For an article like mine, the number of “spun” possibilities is enormous – of course not all of them would be significantly different from each other. I’m wild guessing 30% of the total number of possibilities is likely to be sufficiently unique – still a fricking huge number. The system even gives you the option of downloading a zip file on the fly with your article “spun” – So you get a zip file with a thousand (yes, a thousand) different articles in it based on the combinations of content. I didn’t stop to look at how unique the algoritm makes the versions – I was just poking around – but I suppose there’s specialized software for finer control.

I’m not into Article Marketing, content spinning or that stuff – I don’t quite get the full ‘circuit’ there or why I would want to have five billion shitty articles, but I can appreciate what these guys are doing is pretty cool for those that do understand how to work this.

The Bad

My only negative on the system was its non-existent ease of use. There’s a walk-though video which you have to see or nothing in their interface will make sense. I recognize the interface as the type of thing I launched PlayVault with – It had all the levers and buttons exposed to the user, the problem is  users need a “next step” button to guide them, prompts to tell them what they’re supposed to do next and a consolidation of steps into as few as possible. They also hammer you with an offer on the sign-up page, which is very confusing. Just go back to the site, sign in, watch the video you’ll be able to figure it out.

Turking It

I’m a sucker for anything that uses the Amazon Mechanical Turk programatically like this, after all I did my Dissertation for the University of Liverpool based on the system. What they’re doing in the background is submitting those pieces they show you off to the Amazon Mechanical Turk, for the workers there to re-write. I logged into the Amazon Mechanical Turk’s client site and was able to see the HITs that made up the rewrite of my article. They’re paying the workers about 30 cents per paragraph rewrite, which is about 50% of what they charge users of the service -  This doesn’t mean that they’re making out like a bandit; they are not only paying the Amazon fees, I noticed they’re also absorbing some overhead costs of keeping the workers happy. Judging by the speed of completion, the compensation rate for the workers is competitive – otherwise folks just pass up.

The Good

HumanSpinner is really offering a good service at a good price. Technically anyone could go into the Amazon Mechanical Turk and submit these things manually – It would take forever to split the document, submit all the HITs, review and approve and then re-assemble them into the right format. Technically you could build a special-purpose app to do exactly all this – but with the cheap price they’re charging for the use of their system I don’t see why anyone would do that. Their pricing is clearly a cost-plus model, very fair and low cost. Go check them out if this is your boat: Human Spinner.

Human Spinner is one of the services provided by “Spontent“. Looks like they have a similar service for populating a phpBB forum – I’m not trying that one out, but by the looks of the video its also Amazon Mechanical Turk-powered.

Spin This Doc!

Just for fun, I requested a “spun” version of this review… It cost all of $4.00, with chunking by paragraph.
You can see most of the writing is pretty good – You’re definitely not winning a Pulitzer Prize with this one, yet it serves its purpose well.

Spun review:

The Human Spinner tool came as a big boon to me in rewriting articles, efficiently and effectively. Not only did I save time, but also got relieved from the bother of getting the tasks done by freelance writers.

More than a fast rewrite, these men have a system which chunk down the article into sentences or paragraphs (up to you), then make them into a submission for rewriting and iterative reviewing over at mechanical turk, where approximately 2,000 individuals perform these jobs.  This functions amazingly great for what Human Spinner performs.  Because the article pieces go out in parallel, the article’s rewritten in an instant, I am talking about a few minutes for a two thousand word article, a lot more quick than what one individual has the ability to do.  You may paraphrase a whole book prior to dinnertime utilizing this chunking technique.

HumanSpinner’s key goal, nevertheless, it not a basic one time rewrite, their goal is taking an article and outputting “JetSpinner,” or spinner format articles.  You may let the system know the amount of “other choices” for every paragraph or sentence to obtain from these employees.  All of this is put in 1 document which looks like this:

The {quick|fast|speedy} brown fox {jumped over|hopped across|skillfully dodged} the lazy dogs.

With a mere other choices of “fast” and “passed over,” an article spinner may currently approximately 9 articles.  For an article such as the one I’ve written, the amount of “spun” potentials is huge, certainly not each of them would vary much from another.  I am making a crazy guess that thirty percent of the entire amount of potentials is probably adequately individual, still a completely large amount.  This system even provides you the choice for downloading a zip file instantly with the “spun” article, thus you obtain a zip file with a 1000 (yea, 1,000) various articles in it based upon the content mixtures.  I did not halt to peak at the amount of individuality the algorithm creates for the versions, I was merely nosing around, yet I assume there’s a specialized program for greater control.

I am not a fan of content spinning, Article Marketing, etc., I don’t really understand the complete “circuit” there or reasons I’d desire to have 5 billion horrid articles, yet I do appreciate what these people are doing since it’s fairly awesome for individuals who do know ways for using this.

My only disappointment with the system was the difficulty in using it.  If you don’t watch the walk-through video, nothing on their interface will make any sense to you.  It reminds of the kind of thing that I launched PlayVault with.  All the levers and buttons were exposed to the user.  But, users need a “next step” button and some prompts to guide them, and the steps need to be consolidated for minimization.  Also, it’s bewildering how they attack you with an offer on the sign up page.  Well, if you go to the site, log in and look at the video you’ll be alright.

I’m a softy for a thing which utilizes the Mechanical Turk program like this, after all my Dissertation was based on it.  What they do in the background is submitting the articles you see to the Mechanical Turk, for their employees to rewrite.  I logged into Turk’s client website and could see the HITS which created my article rewrite.  They pay workers approximately thirty cents for each rewrite of a paragraph, which is approximately half of what they charge those who utilize the service, this does not mean that they are making a ton of money, they don’t exclusively pay fees to Turk, they additionally must pay a few overhead costs to maintain happy employees.  Judging by how quickly they’re completed, the pay rate for employees is competitive, or else people pass on it.

HumanSpinner is really offering a good service at a good price. Technically anyone could go into the Amazon Mechanical Turk and submit these things manually – It would take forever to split the document, submit all the HITs, review and approve and then re-assemble them into the right format. Technically you could build a special-purpose app to do exactly all this – but with the cheap price they’re charging for the use of their system I don’t see why anyone would do that. Their pricing is clearly a cost-plus model, very fair and low cost. Go check them out if this is your boat: Human Spinner.

 

 

 

 

Watch over my shoulder as I build this blog using Headway in 78 minutes. I know, 78 minutes is not exactly the instant-gratification some people might lead you to believe, but its reality – this is reality, warts and all.

What you’ll see on the video:

1. Starting from scratch with a live site using Headway 1.5
2. Creating a magazine-like layout for the blog
3. Look-and-feel: Modifying fonts, colors, spacing and visual elements
4. Customizing layout and sidebars for special pages like “About”
5. Linking and customizing archives, categories and other pages
6. Re-using sidebars selectively – footers and others
7. Working with tons of sidebars and even more widgets
8. Integrating bbPress as a WordPress widget (yes, a widget)
9. Tweaking the SEO parameters and using the code hooks

You can skip around the video getting a feel for how the theme works or grab some popcorn.

The video has no voiceover, so select your favorite soundtrack or listen to the voices in your head.

This is me building the site and it is largely unscripted – so you’ll see me fight with the layout a bit, get the type of leaf mixed up, fiddle with colors and other errors you’ll do yourself. You want to see the pitfalls and problems – for the finished result just take a screenshot of my site.

The funniest quote from that book: “Time is nature’s way to keep everything from happening at once, and space is nature’s way to keep everything from happening to me“.

The Language Instinct – Pretty good, informative and approachable.  However, somewhat abstract and of limited practical use outside of academia or scientific curiosity. I constantly try to bring whatever I read into practical use in my daily life and work, from family life to social life, organizational behavior and marketing.  Could make very few connections with this title. Still pretty good!