Exam I3 LV

Write the vocabulary word from the box that has a similar meaning to the underlined word(s). 

• accurate
• collaborate
• feature
• investigate
• launch
• log in
• participant
• potential

Match each underlined part in the sentence with a word that has a similar meaning. Write the answer like this: “a. advertise”

• a. advertise
• b. global
• c. remote
• d. search
• e. tribes
• f. virtual
• g. voting

The Power of Crowds 

A  Every day, people use the Internet to collaborate and share information. Today, scientists and archaeologists are using the power of the Internet to investigate the past in a new, exciting way. The approach is known as crowdsourcing, and it involves asking the public for help with a project. Crowdsourcing has the potential to completely change modern archaeology.

SOLVING A MYSTERY 

B  Scientists in the United States and Mongolia used the Internet to try to solve an 800-year-old mystery: the location of Genghis Khan’s tomb. Genghis Khan was the founder of the Mongol Empire, one of the largest empires in history. When he died in 1227, he was buried in an unmarked grave.

C  Experts believe that Genghis Khan’s final resting place is somewhere near the Burkhan Khaldun, a sacred Mongolian mountain. It’s a difficult place to get to and covers a huge area, so the scientists had to rely on satellite images. However, there were over 85,000 images to study, so they needed a lot of help.

D  More than 10,000 volunteers or “citizen scientists” joined the search. They logged in to a website and labeled landmarks on very detailed satellite images of the area. The landmarks could be roads, rivers, modern structures, or ancient structures. Participants also labeled anything else that looked unusual.

E  According to project leader Albert Lin, humans can often do this kind of work better than computers. “What a computer can’t do is look for ‘weird things,’” he says. Lin’s team used the information from the volunteers to decide on the best places to visit and study. The project has identified more than 50 sites that might be related to Genghis Khan’s tomb. The exact location is still unknown, but Lin believes that we are getting closer to finding out this great secret.

PROTECTING TREASURES 

F Crowdsourcing is also being used by National Geographic Explorer and archaeologist Dr. Sarah Parcak. In 2017, Parcak launched GlobalXplorer, a citizen science project that aims to find and protect important archaeological sites using satellite images. In particular, it protects sites from looters – people who steal ancient objects and sell them. “If we don’t go and find these sites,” says Parcak, “looters will.” Looting pits are easy to spot in satellite images, so participants can look for signs of looting and illegal construction. The project launched in Peru, which has large numbers of historical sites from many different cultures.

G GlobalXplorer is designed like a game. Participants first watch online videos that teach them how to identify certain features on satellite images. Then they study and flag satellite images on their own. They look at more than 250,000 square kilometers of land, broken into 100 x 100 meter “tiles.” Since the participants don’t have professional experience, a certain number of them have to agree on the results before the data is considered useful. Once enough volunteers say that they see the same thing, Parcak and her team will check for themselves before passing the information along to archaeologists on the ground. The “players” receive a score based on how accurate they are.

H “Most people don’t get to make scientific contributions or discoveries in their everyday lives,” Parcak says. “But we’re all born explorers … We want to find out more about other people, and about ourselves and our past.” Now, thanks to crowdsourcing projects like GlobalXplorer, anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can be part of a new age of discovery.

Crowdfunding for the Arts 

A Do you like unusual productions by small theatre groups? Are you a fan of a particular singer or group? Do you like the work of a little-known artist who you think has great potential? If the answer to any of these is “yes” then you might have some experience with crowdfunding for the arts. Crowdfunding is where people raise small amounts of money from large numbers of people on the Internet. Although individual contributions are small, the total can add up to a sizable amount to fund an artistic project. Sometimes the project is a start-up, something to launch a new career. By contrast, it can also be a venture to bring an established group to new audiences. Either way, crowdfunding is the modern way to raise money.

B For hundreds of years, talented people in the arts have needed support from other people in order to perform or create. In Europe, artists like Michelangelo and musicians such as Mozart had wealthy patrons from royal families who supported their work. Typically, the patron would commission or order a particular work such as a painting or piece of music for an occasion. The artist would get paid when the work was finished. Such financial backers are known as angels, but the concept is the same: providing money to support an artistic project.

C Crowdfunding is different because the money comes from many people, not just one wealthy person. The first major example of crowdfunding for the arts was in 1996 when the British rock band Marillion used its website to raise $60,000 for a North American tour. The band’s fans contributed the money, so this technique became known as fan-funding. More recently, artists have used an agency to organize the contributions instead of doing it through their own website. For example, in April 2012, musician Amanda Palmer used the organization Kickstarter to raise money for her new album. She hoped to raise $100,000, but by May 2012 she had collected $1.2 million from 25,000 participants.

D Harvard Business School professor Ramana Nanda has researched crowdfunding for the arts and found some interesting trends. Since Kickstarter got established in 2009, it has raised more money for the arts than the arts agency for the U.S. government. Moreover, some of the artistic projects that have been crowdfunded are quite different from those supported by government grants. Part of this difference is that small groups or beginning artists are not likely to go through the process of applying for grants, but can easily seek money from online supporters. The public votes with their contributions to support small or unusual projects, many of which ordinarily would not get grants. Professor Nanda thinks that crowdfunding creates a more democratic way to get money for the arts.

Read the passage before. Then read each question and choose the correct answer. 

23. What is the main idea of the passage?

24. What is the best description for crowdfunding?

25. What is an angel as described in the reading?

26. Which of these would most likely be a patron, as seen in Paragraph B?

27. Why is the band Marillion mentioned in Paragraph C?

28. How do you think Amanda Palmer felt in May 2012?

29. Which statement would Professor Nanda probably agree with?

The Power of Crowds 

A Every day, people use the Internet to collaborate and share information. Today, scientists and archaeologists are using the power of the Internet to investigate the past in a new, exciting way. The approach is known as crowdsourcing, and it involves asking the public for help with a project. Crowdsourcing has the potential to completely change modern archaeology.

SOLVING A MYSTERY 

B Scientists in the United States and Mongolia used the Internet to try to solve an 800-year-old mystery: the location of Genghis Khan’s tomb. Genghis Khan was the founder of the Mongol Empire, one of the largest empires in history. When he died in 1227, he was buried in an unmarked grave.

C Experts believe that Genghis Khan’s final resting place is somewhere near the Burkhan Khaldun, a sacred Mongolian mountain. It’s a difficult place to get to and covers a huge area, so the scientists had to rely on satellite images. However, there were over 85,000 images to study, so they needed a lot of help.

D More than 10,000 volunteers or “citizen scientists” joined the search. They logged in to a website and labeled landmarks on very detailed satellite images of the area. The landmarks could be roads, rivers, modern structures, or ancient structures. Participants also labeled anything else that looked unusual.

E According to project leader Albert Lin, humans can often do this kind of work better than computers. “What a computer can’t do is look for ‘weird things,’” he says. Lin’s team used the information from the volunteers to decide on the best places to visit and study. The project has identified more than 50 sites that might be related to Genghis Khan’s tomb. The exact location is still unknown, but Lin believes that we are getting closer to finding out this great secret.

PROTECTING TREASURES 

F Crowdsourcing is also being used by National Geographic Explorer and archaeologist Dr. Sarah Parcak. In 2017, Parcak launched GlobalXplorer, a citizen science project that aims to find and protect important archaeological sites using satellite images. In particular, it protects sites from looters – people who steal ancient objects and sell them. “If we don’t go and find these sites,” says Parcak, “looters will.” Looting pits are easy to spot in satellite images, so participants can look for signs of looting and illegal construction. The project launched in Peru, which has large numbers of historical sites from many different cultures.

G GlobalXplorer is designed like a game. Participants first watch online videos that teach them how to identify certain features on satellite images. Then they study and flag satellite images on their own. They look at more than 250,000 square kilometers of land, broken into 100 x 100 meter “tiles.” Since the participants don’t have professional experience, a certain number of them have to agree on the results before the data is considered useful. Once enough volunteers say that they see the same thing, Parcak and her team will check for themselves before passing the information along to archaeologists on the ground. The “players” receive a score based on how accurate they are.

H “Most people don’t get to make scientific contributions or discoveries in their everyday lives,” Parcak says. “But we’re all born explorers … We want to find out more about other people, and about ourselves and our past.” Now, thanks to crowdsourcing projects like GlobalXplorer, anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can be part of a new age of discovery.

Complete the sentences using the present perfect tense of the words in parentheses. 

Decide whether each of these concluding sentences is an opinion (O), prediction (P), question (Q), or restatement (R), Write in CAPITAL LETTER one of the letters O, P, Q, or R for your answer. 

Each sentence has one error. Write the ONE corrected word in the space. 

Think about how crowdfunding – organizations like GoFundMe and Kickstarter – has changed people’s lives. 

50. Write a paragraph about a case that you know or can imagine where money from strangers on the Internet helped someone. Give three examples of how crowdfunding made a difference. End your paragraph with a concluding sentence.