Comments on: Lets All Do The Crowdsource

By: PCI Compliance Software

PCI Compliance Software — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Bill Moggridge: It’s all to do with the nature of the experience. I think of electronic books and online book content as being good news for book designers.

By: PCI Compliance Software

PCI Compliance Software — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Bill Moggridge: It’s all to do with the nature of the experience. I think of electronic books and online book content as being good news for book designers.

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By: Gregory Kohs

Gregory Kohs — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:21:48 +0000

Looks like we can add that silly man Jimmy Wales to the list of boobs who think crowdsourcing is about "tricking" people. I wonder if Jimbo will ever catch on to the rub that nobody's really interested in hearing his opinions any more?

http://industry.bnet.com/media/10005714/wikiped...

By: bmcvn

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By: bmcvn

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By: » When To Drink From The Fire Hose | Todd Earwood

» When To Drink From The Fire Hose | Todd Earwood — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:45:37 +0000

[...] but one benefit the fire hose does provide is tapping the collective knowledge of Twitter. I agree with Micah that this is NOT necessarily crowdsourcing. It’s just searching for information or asking a [...]

By: Jon Spinney

Jon Spinney — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:32:23 +0000

I like your TomTom example, and agree *the wisdom of the crowd* apply's well to them and what they do, but it's good to keep in mind that they are sourcing geodata layers atop an existing base map that they built themselves and this took a lot of time a money to complete it. So, they are kind of a hybrid built upon expert-edited *work* and user-contributed value-adds. In the end, they and the consumers are the beneficiaries. Their database gets better from user contributions and users get a better map.

There is another open source mapping project out there called OpenStreetMap. They built a base map from a collection of volunteers. They call it crowdsourcing as well, but I'm not sure it's the same thing. They get together groups of geo-geek enthusiasts and have weekend mapping parties. It's voluntary, they are experts, and know what they are doing. However, no one gets paid, and the map is free for anyone to use. Very different from TeleAltas (TomToms map data subsidiary).

So, my question back to you might be... Is crowdsourcing defined by getting the consumer or citizen involved, versus experts involved in the creative process? I honestly don't know the answer, but I'm intellectually curious and enjoy talking about it, particularly as this relates to mapping. In mapping, users and makers happen to have a very nice symbiotic relationship thanks to mobility.

By: andrewhyde

andrewhyde — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:07:16 +0000

Great post. I would add 3) the model must sustain (person leading the crowdsourcing should give back 5x what they get). Your examples of Threadless and the GPS work really well with this.

I think spec will be the black eye to crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing is awesome, but everyone has to get something out of it to sustain.

By: Grant

Grant — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:19:04 +0000

Nice post Micah. I too get irritated when someone says something like, “let's crowdsource x,” when they probably have no idea what they're really talking about.

By: Suzanne Lainson

Suzanne Lainson — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:40:25 +0000

I'm not familiar with all the details of Threadless. How does the community benefit by picking the designs most likely to sell? Do they all share in ownership of the company or get a percentage of each shirt sale or something other along those lines?

As I said, I'm very familiar with online music submissions where people send in songs and then fans vote. The fans don't get anything other than the satisfaction of voting. I've voted for bands in these things myself.

By: micah

micah — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:17:25 +0000

The "mass collaboration" (a component of the definition) comes from the voting side, not the submission side. Well, thats not entirely true. They have a critique section, where people can submit designs and get feedback from the community prior to submitting them for voting.

With threadless, the jury is the community. They select, via vote, the top designs, of which some are selected to print. Its in their best interest, that the shirts sell, so that it validates the entire process. It is, in the strictest sense of the definition, crowdsourcing. Does it have competitive components? Sure. Is it a strict competition? No.

Is Wikipedia? Sure. A person can make changes, and the hope is that another member of the community will correct mistakes. The community as a whole, will ensure that the information is correct because its in their best interest that the information contained in the Wikipedia.

By: Suzanne Lainson

Suzanne Lainson — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:09:32 +0000

But each designer is submitting as an individual. It's not a collaborative process. That's why I say this model is more competitive than community building. The community as a whole may choose, but the ideas are from individuals and they are recognized as individual creators.

Wikipedia would be more of a collaborative model, where a variety of people add bits and pieces to create a more fully developed whole.

By: John Fischer

John Fischer — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:51:44 +0000

Dave, what you are describing could fall into a new category, collaborative crowdsourcing, with your example on one end, and Tom Tom in the middle and SETI on the other end, pure crowdsourced data. Its all in the definition.

oh, and spec work is not crowdsourcing, it is more accurately described as gambling.

By: micah

micah — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:36:48 +0000

The way threadless works is that designs are voted on, then a collection of
the highest scoring designs are reviewed for selection. There is no winner,
per se. The crowd helps select, they are not the final selection.