All of the examples described in this section have involved active participation: journalists transcribed conversations that they heard; birders uploaded their birding checklists; or players uploaded their photos. But what if the participation was automatic and did not require any specific skill or time to submit? This is the promise offered by “participatory sensing” or “people-centric sensing.” For example, the Pothole Patrol, a project by scientists at MIT, mounted GPS equipped accelerometers inside seven taxi cabs in the Boston area (Eriksson et al. 2008). Because driving over a pothole leaves a distinct accelerometer signal, these devices, when placed inside of moving taxis, can create pothole maps of Boston. Of course, taxis don’t randomly sample roads, but given enough taxis, there may be sufficient coverage to provide information about large portions of they city. A second benefit of passive systems that rely on technology is that they de-skill the process of contributing data: while it requires skill to contribute to eBird (because you need to be able to reliably identify bird species), it requires no special skills to contribute to Pothole Patrol.
Mifano yote iliyoelezwa katika sehemu hii imehusisha ushiriki hai: waandishi wa habari walinakili mazungumzo waliyoyasikia; wapanda ndege walipakia orodha zao za ukaguzi; au wachezaji walipakia picha zao. Lakini vipi ikiwa ushiriki ulikuwa wa kiotomatiki na haukuhitaji ujuzi maalum au wakati wa kuwasilisha? Hii ni ahadi inayotolewa na "hisia shirikishi" au "hisia zinazolenga watu." Kwa mfano, Pothole Patrol, mradi wa wanasayansi huko MIT, uliweka GPS yenye vifaa vya kuongeza kasi ndani ya teksi saba katika eneo la Boston (Eriksson et al. 2008). Kwa sababu kuendesha gari juu ya shimo huacha ishara tofauti ya kipima kasi, vifaa hivi, vikiwekwa ndani ya teksi zinazosonga, vinaweza kuunda ramani za mashimo ya Boston. Bila shaka, teksi hazichukui sampuli za barabara kwa nasibu, lakini zikipewa teksi za kutosha, kunaweza kuwa na chanjo ya kutosha kutoa taarifa kuhusu sehemu kubwa za jiji. Faida ya pili ya mifumo tulivu inayotegemea teknolojia ni kwamba inapunguza ustadi wa mchakato wa kuchangia data: wakati inahitaji ujuzi kuchangia eBird (kwa sababu unahitaji kuwa na uwezo wa kutambua aina za ndege kwa uhakika), hauhitaji ujuzi maalum kuchangia Pothole Patrol.