Wisdom of the crowd

Warning: This exhibit, actually, can be in either the Dice or Digits section since the idea is to count how many objects are in the plexiglass containers but in fact it is difficult to count them so they are estimated.

In the Numbed by numbers exhibit, two exhibits had been created, one with a glass jar filled with candy, in which people were asked to make an estimate of the candy by entering the estimate into a tablet; in this case, the exhibit was paired with a contest in which prizes were awarded to those who came closest.

A second exhibit, placed at the beginning of the exhibit, involved 4 plexiglass cylinders with different objects inside (glasses, straws, caps, and colored spheres), again asked to enter the estimate into a tablet (the pages and files for editing them can be found attached here).

Credit: ISTOCKPHOTO/EASYBUY4U
Credit: ISTOCKPHOTO/EASYBUY4U

How to play

How many candies are in the glass jar? Mathematics tells us that we find the best estimate by appealing to what scholars call “The Intelligence of the Crowd” (or the wisdom of the crowd), a sociological theory that a collection of people can make any estimate better than experts can.
web page for Tablets

Web page for tablet:

Web page to be uploaded to tablet for estimating quantities contained in plexiglass cylinders. It is possible to download the html files and associated database and modify them, in language and number of objects (see instructions below and link DATABASE).

The wisdom of crowd

To edit the web page, download the .zip file "Tablet the wisdom of crowd" in the downloadable material.
How many candies are there? Make your estimate (Italian tablet page)
Click Here

Estimate

To edit the web page, download the .zip file "Tablet Estimate" in the downloadable material.
Estimate objects contained in cylinders (table page in Italian)
Click Here

Galton, F. (1907) Vox Populi. Nature, 75, 450-451.
https://doi.org/10.1038/075450a0

EXHIBIT MATERIAL:
  • n. 1 Vertical pallet 120×200 cm
  • n. 1 Base pallet 120×80 cm.
  • MDF and cardboard stand for tablet or alternatively stand for QR CODE (TAG) with web page link.
  • n. 2 marker (QR code) 15×15 cm on cardboard base.
  • Pallets of various sizes as a base (as desired) and plexiglass cylinders of various sizes used as containers for various materials to be estimated. Instead of tablet can be replaced with QR code arranged on card- board base
  • Honeycomb cardboard cylinders with red MDF top.
  • A glass jar.
  • Title (120×20 cm)
  • n.1 honeycomb cardboard panels with explanation “Wisdom of the crowd”(100×50 cm).

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *