nach oben

2014 | Buch

Kapitel lesen Erstes Kapitel lesen

Dynamic Quality Management for Cloud Labor Services

Methods and Applications for Gaining Reliable Work Results with an On-Demand Workforce

verfasst von: Robert Kern

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buchreihe : Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Einloggen, um Zugang zu erhalten

Über dieses Buch

How can a scalable and efficient quality management mechanism for cloud labor services be designed in a way that it delivers results with a well-defined level of quality to the requester?

Cloud labor services are a specific form of crowdsourcing: A coordination platform serves as an interface between requesters who need to get work done and a large crowd of workers who want to perform work. An early example of such a platform is Amazon’s Web marketplace Mturk, on which service requesters can publish open calls for so-called human intelligence tasks (HITs).

Robert Kern’s work makes a considerable contribution toward solving the quality problem for scalable human work. On the basis of a comprehensive framework of cloud labor, he develops a set of methods to conceptually measure and aggregate the quality of human work results, implements a platform to put those methods to work, and evaluates their application in a number of very compelling, real-world scenarios successfully combining concepts from statistics, information technology, and management. Reading this book will be beneficial to novices in cloud labor services looking for orientation in this new field as well as to advanced researchers and practitioners developing cloud quality concepts.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Introduction

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. Introduction

Abstract

Driven by the advancements of information and communication technology and the acceleration of communication processes, market conditions and demands are changing more and more rapidly today.

Robert Kern

Fundamentals of Cloud Labor Services

Frontmatter

Chapter 2. Cloud Labor Services

Abstract

Despite all endeavors of rationalizing their business processes, organizations still face many types of tasks which cannot be fully automated but which require human intelligence or action to be completed. Cloud labor services provide human workforce on demand as a scalable service in order to meet the needs of organizations that deal with huge but varying workloads of such tasks.

Robert Kern

Chapter 3. Quality Management for Cloud Labor Services

Abstract

According to a 2012 analyst report on cloud labor platforms, the quality of the work results represents a “key disruptive opportunity that crowd labor platforms can exploit and improve” (Turian 2012). This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art of quality management for cloud labor services and provides a gap analysis with regard to the objectives of the book.

Robert Kern

Dynamic Quality Management for Cloud Labor Services

Frontmatter

Chapter 4. Statistical Quality Control

Abstract

The general objective of statistical quality control (SQC) is to make a statement about the quality of multiple items in an efficient way by only assessing a sample of them. This chapter covers aspects of QM and SQC that are needed as a foundation for the actual contribution of the book.

Robert Kern

Chapter 5. Core Model

Abstract

This chapter describes a new model for crowd-based QM for cloud labor services that represents the primary contribution of this book. The objective of the model is to overcome the restrictions of the existing QM approaches for cloud labor services described in Chap. 3 by guaranteeing a certain well-defined long-run average quality for a continuous stream of results, while minimizing the costs in terms of labor work.

Robert Kern

Chapter 6. Model Variations

Abstract

The model variations introduced by this chapter complement the core model presented in the previous chapter by addressing a broader set of relevant cloud labor scenarios. The considerations provide the basis for two of the case studies presented in Chap. 9.

Robert Kern

Evaluation and Case Studies

Frontmatter

Chapter 7. Toolkit Development

Abstract

This chapter introduces a software toolkit that has been developed as a technical foundation for evaluating the QM mechanisms described in the previous chapters. The toolkit allows for performing experiments on top of commercial cloud labor platforms, either based on live experiments or simulations. It specifically supports the CSP/DVM model introduced in Chap. 5 as well as the DVM for multi-labeling introduced in Chap. 6. The chapter is structured as follows: Sect. 7.1 describes the toolkit architecture. Afterwards, Sect. 7.2 explains how real-time experiments can be conducted with the tool whereas Sect. 7.3 addresses the concept of the simulation mode.

Robert Kern

Chapter 8. Evaluation of Core Model

Abstract

The evaluation of the core model has been performed in two complementary ways. First, it has been applied to a model scenario in order to validate its effectiveness and efficiency. Second, the applicability of the model has been provys. First, it has been applied to a moderio in order to validate its effectiveness and efficiency. Second, the applicability of the model has been proven in a business scenario in cooperation with industry partners.

Robert Kern

Chapter 9. Evaluation of Model Variations

Abstract

The model variations developed in Chap. 6 have been evaluated in two separate case studies. While the DVM for multi-labeling was applied to a medical coding business scenario, the model extension for non-deterministic tasks was applied to a product research scenario. In order to investigate the managerial implications of the models from the different perspectives of the basic cloud labor scenario, industry partners from all three sides have been included: A requester, a cloud labor platform and a workforce provider. Section 9.1 covers the medical coding case study while Sect. 9.2 addresses the product research scenario.

Robert Kern

Conclusion

Frontmatter

Chapter 10. Conclusion

Abstract

This chapter provides a summary of the book, its contributions and limitations and provides recommendations for further research. After subsuming the book and its objectives in Sects. 10.1 and 10.2 summarizes the core contributions being made. Section 10.3 finally addresses limitations of the book and provides a number of recommendations for further research.

Robert Kern

Backmatter

Titel: Dynamic Quality Management for Cloud Labor Services
verfasst von: Robert Kern
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-09776-3
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-09775-6
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09776-3