The Unsupported Crowd: Exclusion of Indian Workers in Amazon Mechanical Turk Communities

Amazon Mechanical Turk ("mTurk") has become popular among researchers in recent years, but few have considered how mTurk affects its most socioeconomically vulnerable users. New workers often find themselves lost on mTurk, which is a labour platform like no job they have experienced before. It is fiercely competitive but unregulated. Without help from offsite communities and tools, many prospective workers quit mTurk before their first task is approved. Indian “Turkers” are at an additional disadvantage because language differences and stereotypes prevent them from accessing community resources they need to succeed. This paper presents quantitative data about participation of Indian Turkers in offsite worker communities and interviews with one Indian Turker who has overcome these obstacles to become successful. The paper adds to the growing body of research on the lived experiences of crowd workers. Specifically, it contributes an exploration of the dynamics and consequences of exclusion in online worker communities.