The Harvard Gazette reports on an effort to scan in old ornithology journals using crowdsourcing to convert the hand-written journals into text and then gaming software to verify the accuracy of that transcription - critical when you're talking about possibly obscure scientific names:
First versions of the video games should be ready by early next year, Flanagan said. One is aimed at the more altruistic volunteer, who will want a minimum of gameplay features. The second will have more of those features, such as the ability to track progress, gain points for correct transcriptions, and lose them for incorrect ones.
The challenge, according to Flanagan and TiltFactor game designer Max Seidman, is to create gameplay that is interesting enough to stand by itself and even attract players who might not be interested in natural history, birds, or the broader societal benefit of their high scores.
