Mechanical Turk is a great tool for getting those jobs done that require the human touch.

I can only talk about it from a worker perspective, in that I am one of the Turks! As far as quality control goes, there are fairly rigid measures in place to ensure that you get the right people for the tasks. It all depends, it seems to me, on how you set up your Hits, and how you choose those who submit. For instance, you could create your own 'test' to ensure that those who take on the task of doing your hits are pre-qualified.

As far as timeliness goes, deadlines are strict and as a Turk you cannot afford to miss a deadline because it affects your approval rating if you do. However, whether you will be able to get all your hits accepted within the client's timeframe, I cannot answer. I know that for some of us when we find hits we like doing, we will work consistently on those hits until the job is done, but it is all dependent on the pay and how time-consuming a hit is for the money.

eg the best paid are usually audio transcription and those who focus on that are usually kitted out with all the necessary equipment to make transcribing fast and accurate.

I would imagine that managing the users would be made simpler by finding those that are willing to pre-qualify (thereby getting rid of anyone who has just dropped in to find some pocket money) and keeping your community small.

Just a few thoughts

Lindsey