Amazon Mechanical Turk is a marketplace where both requestors and workers meet online. Requestors can offer work packages called HITs, and workers can earn money by performing these HITs. Payout can be anywere from $0.01 to tens of dollars. On average there are over 60,000 HITs available from dozens of requestors.

• Tasks can be sorted in different ways, old to new, high award to low. Find the sorting you like best

• Start off with simple, low-paying HITs, like 'Are these items different?

• Many HIT types are recurring, but not always available . Check back regularly for your favourite tasks.

The name Mechanical Turk comes from "The Turk", a chess-playing automaton of the 18th century, which was made by Wolfgang von Kempelen. It toured Europe beating the likes of Napoleon Bonaparte and Benjamin Franklin. It was later revealed that this 'machine' was not an automaton at all but was in fact a chess master hidden in a special compartment controlling its operations. Likewise, the Mechanical Turk web service allows humans to help the machines of today to perform tasks they aren't yet suited for.

Turker Nation is a forum for workers and requestors to meet and discuss the work at hand. Issues with Hits are discussed here. The site is independant from Amazon, and is not related to Amazon in any way.

www.turkernation.com

"Are these Items Different?"

Simple, often available. Only requires one click, 'Yes' or 'No'. Pays $0.01.

"Answer this poll" from ask500people.

Simple multiple choice, often available, never rejected. Pays $0.01

CastingWords Translate an MP3 file to text. Requires experience, pays a base fee of several dollars depending on difficulty, and pays bonusses for excellent work

Ask a Question Ask a Question that contains some provided keywords, and answer it yourself. Pays $0.10, plus bonus for excellent work.