CrowdForge

CrowdForge: Crowdsourcing Complex Work (released for non-commercial use creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/)

Getting CrowdForge to run locally:

1. Prerequisites: python, django, boto (tested with python-2.7, django-1.2.5 and boto-1.8d). Known issues with boto-1.9b.

• NOTE: There's a bug in boto-1.8d that you need to tweak. Change connection.py:466 to say

  value = self.connection.get_utf8_value(value)

  (instead of)

  value = self.get_utf8_value(value)

2. Download: go to https://github.com/borismus/CrowdForge and get the tarball.
3. Extract: let's say to ~/crowdforge
4. Configure: tweak settings.py

• specify AWS keys found at URL: https://aws-portal.amazon.com/gp/aws/developer/account/index.html?ie=UTF8&action=access-key
• specify absolute URL to your templates directory

5. Create database: run ./manage.py syncdb, create new account
6. Run server: run ./manage.py runserver
7. Test!
8. Setup cron jobs!

Testing CrowdForge

1. Point browser to localhost:8000/admin (or whatever your production server URL is) and login.
2. Add a new Problem instance. Give it a name and these parameters

• flow: SimpleFlow,
• partition: create article
• map: collect a fact
• reduce: write a paragraph

3. Run ./manage.py poll manually, and a HIT should be created (check the MTurk server)

• expected output:

4. Do a sample HIT from the new HIT group
5. Run ./manage.py poll again, and a Result should be created locally (look in db or check http://localhost:8000/turk/problem/YOUR_PROBLEM_ID)

• expected output: results retrieved [<Result: Result for "Create an Article Ou... #141KMADQXJEYF9EQWEG9UA7S6J5JEW">]

Setting up Cron Jobs

0. Basically, you want to run ./manage.py poll periodically
1. So just tweak your crontab

• crontab -e
• Create a line that says something like "*/15 * * * * /path/to/manage.py poll >> /path/to/crowdforge.log"

Getting CrowdForge deployed on a production server:

1. Get CrowdForge running locally (as per instructions above)
2. Get django and crowdforge running on a public facing server
3. Tweak settings.py:

• specify external URL of your server in settings.py
• switch from sandbox to production
• change the database engine to be mysql or postgresql

4. Resync database
5. Do a test
6. Setup cron jobs

Advanced: Make your own Hit Types

1. Open management console (localhost:8000/admin or whatever)
2. Add a new Hit Type.
3. Specify title, description and body. These fields can all be parametrized, depending on your flow.

Advanced: Make your own flow

1. Open crowdforge/flows.py
2. Create your own subclass of Flow. See SimpleFlow for an example.
3. Don't forget to register your new flow using

register('MyNewFlow', MyNewFlow)