Video interviews with the homeless for $1USD/minute | Hacker News Reader

Video interviews with the homeless for $1USD/minute

randomli.com

16 pointsmarcamillion17 comments

I like the idea, but it kind of feels like taking advantage of the homeless. Sure, some money is better than none, but only five bucks for a 5-minute interview? It almost feels demeaning.

$1/minute is $60/hour, which isn't bad. People work on Mechanical Turk for a few cents per minute.

Actually, I also thought the $1 per hour thing sounded low until you wrote it's $60/hour --- a fantastic rate. Funny how numbers play on your senses...

Or think about it this way: buy me a pizza, and I'll talk to you for as long as it takes me to eat it. Seems perfectly reasonable to me.

I'd gladly accept $1/minute to do interviews (probably less if I actually thought about it, but $1 is a no brainer).

I have to agree with you. There's a whole area of study when it comes to research ethics and vulnerable people. Especially when you start publishing such interviews to the internet. It also bothered me that the project owner mentioned that it was for our "entertainment", which is just awful. Noone should ever be our entertainment by societal position alone. One of the highest ethical principles is of human dignity, and this project strips that away from these vulnerable people.

It can seem that way on the surface, but remember that the person receiving the money can also donate it to charity - if they so desire.

Not all the interviews will be of homeless people - but many will.

The intent really wasn't demeaning - in the sense that homeless people are going to be taken advantage of, for 'your' entertainmment. More, I am really interested in the stories of homeless people - for instance, look at what happened with the homeless guy with the golden radio voice - and rather than just interviewing them, why not compensate them (fairly, as someone else pointed out, $60/hr isn't a bad wage) for their time.

Disclaimer: I am not doing the interviews, however the guy doing it is a friend of mine, so I am kinda close to the project.

I'm sure the intent wasn't to be demeaning, but surely you can just go down and talk to people, if you're interested in this sort of thing? Do you have to video them and publish them to the world?

My recommendation would be to interview them, but then anonymise and write them up as a series of blog entries rather than have a series of published videos.

I hear you liedra, but I respectfully disagree.

I am sure there are many others that would be interested in learning their stories too.

Who knows, maybe one of them might go viral and it can change their lives. Who knows?

It would be kinda selfish to hear their stories and not share them, don't you think?

Sure! This is why I suggested writing them up :) But I think it's also very important to respect the people you're interviewing. They're a vulnerable group for a reason, and you need to take particular care with vulnerable people.

Here are some useful articles on the subject:

* http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/social_scienc... (homeless young people suggest that offering cash incentives is not a good way to go about research)

* http://www.homelesshub.ca/(S(yoldjoie4yd15x45fir1sn3t))/Reso... (a set of research guidelines for dealing with homeless people)

If you really want to help homeless people out, share their stories, and contribute to improving their quality of life, you should respect that there are some serious ethical principles that you need to be aware of and keep in mind. Otherwise, all you're doing is "entertainment".

Fair enough, I will pass along these links to my friend.

Thanks :)

No worries, always happy to help! If you or your friend have any more questions about ethics-related concerns feel free to send me an email :)

What's your email address? :)

Check my profile :)

Hi Liedra. I DEFINITELY take your feedback as it really is a perspective I didn't think about.

As Marc mentioned the intent isn't/wasn't to exploit anyone for entertainment purposes. What initially wanted to do was raise people's awareness that homeless people aren't just all 'bums'. The best way to do this seemed to me to be to let them tell their story.

I agree I could do a transcript version of their story but I feel like:

1. That would be far less engaging, and as a result far fewer people would actually see their story (less people read nowadays that you think)

2. The chances that people would SEE, understand and lend a helping hand would be less. Think about it, would Ted Williams have ended up getting that HUGE break if his interview had just been a transcript? I feel like video is a much more emotional medium and as such would engage viewers far more.

However, the idea kind of transformed and I figured it would be better to interview ANYONE that people would find interesting and make them the offer. So by far most of the interviews will be people that are 'well off' that the public finds interesting.

Thanks for the links btw.. very useful stuff that I hadn't stumbled across before!

Well, if you want to let them tell their story, that's great! But perhaps keep the cash incentive out of it. Perhaps offer something else, like a meal or a cup of coffee or something tangible they can use. Also, establish a really really interactive informed consent policy. Make sure they really understand what you're going to do with their information and story. A standard form probably won't be good enough, since you have to be particularly cautious when it comes to potential for coercion.

The problem with the Ted Williams story is that although he got the big breaks, the story didn't stop with the happy ending, and his life spiralled back down again. He went into rehab but checked himself out after only 12 days. I'm not saying that homeless people are not able to be helped, but that it takes a much more structured support system than a video going "viral", and there are lots of good people working to help homeless people back into work, building up their skills, etc. I'd recommend, if you still want to concentrate on homeless people, to go volunteer/work with a charitable organisation for a while and get out amongst the people so you can get a bit more of a perspective on things.

To be honest though, I think the more general approach to interviews is a much better idea.

I'm always happy to chat about ethics, since it's something I am quite passionate about (especially research ethics, vulnerable populations, and informed consent - so you really hit all the targets for me with this project! heh) :)

I actually Like that option, of giving them something 'useful' for now as opposed to cash. Other people like CEOs, entertainers etc, I'll give the cash option to which I'll then funnel to a reputable charity.

There are a couple other ideas I had toying around in my head, but after reading the articles you linked and what you're showing me I think I'll tread really carefully and see how it works out.

Will DEFINITELY be in touch with you!

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