How Does Quiztime Work?
About our collaborative verification training quizzes
Each weekday, one of our crew members is posting a quiz on Twitter, asking you to geolocate an image, to find out whether a video has been tinkered with or to identify some obscure audio, for instance. Here are a few house keeping rules and general tips on how to participate.
It’s been a while since Julia Bayer started her first #MondayQuiz, and by now we do not only have several people posting, but also some established customs of how you can to participate. We’ll explain them along some tweets (You can also refer to this blog post or any of the other articles about Quiztime that have appeared in the media so far).
From #MondayQuiz to #FridayQuiz
The term “Rules” sounds as little stricter as they actually are, as we put more emphasize on the fun part than the competition. So most of the of the time, you’ll find some of our core members and longtime participants are tagged in a photo or a follow-up tweet, depending on the the individual poster’s personal or practical preferences.
This is done for two reasons:
- to notify them there’s a new quiz
- to give you an idea who you could ask for suggestions on how to solve the challenge or share a notion you might have on how to proceed. Simply reply to everyone.
Don’t be shy, give it a try
Of course, you can also reach out to any other user working on the puzzle. We find that these ad hoc collaborations are often very fruitful.
Also, don’t be shy to post an incomplete answer or if you simply have a gut feeling what the solution might be. Your tweet might be the piece of the puzzle that someone else is missing.
Don’t spoil the fun
If you think you are about to solve it — just hold back a for a sec and try not to instantly post your answer via an reply to all on the original post. To avoid spoilers, we often post an “spoiler barrier” below the original tweet so that answer are not directly in the view port. You can always provide your solution in private via direct message, too.
Share your solution
If you have found the solution, everyone appreciates it if you explain your method so that people can learn from it. We like to share such tweets or a summary so that everyone can profit (but, alas, we don’t always manage to do so).
Looking for the right tools to solve a quiz?
A lot of puzzles can be solved by putting your observation skills plus the (reverse image) search engine and online map service of your choice to good use. But you should have a look at this set of online research tools curated by Julia Bayer, too.
Your turn?
Do you think you have a challenging question for others? Are you able to provide us with a photo, question, video or audio fragment and a question? Then feel free to contact one of the regular Quiztime crew to schedule it in a weekend. One thing to keep in mind though, is that we try to stay away from violence, political issues or shocking events. A lot of people playing along are journalists them selves and see enough of this is their daily job. And in this way we try to provide a fun training experience for everybody that wants it.
And are you curious about what a “live Quiztime” session looks like? Then enjoy the following video.
