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| Version | User | Scope of changes |
|---|---|---|
| Apr 17 2008, 3:18 PM EDT | crowdforum | 75 words added, 52 words deleted |
| Apr 16 2008, 4:05 PM EDT | crowdforum | 246 words added |
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This site is dedicated to the exchange of crowdsourcing knowledge and its practical application. We welcome anyone with a desire to learn about crowdsourcing to join us and contribute to the site.
Short Definition:
Short Definition:
"The application of Open Source principles to fields outside of software."
From Jeff Howe,Howe, creator of the term
Historical examples date back to the 1714 Longitude Prize , the 1847 Niagara Suspension Bridge contest and development of the Oxford English Dictionary. With the advent of modern computing, crowdsourcing experienced a Renaissance in the form of open source software. People who develop open source projects receive no pay for what they do but they derive satisfaction from the challenges and community of the open source experience. Now organizations outside the software industry are using crowdsourcing as a business practice. Modern day crowdsourcing is made possible by several societal shifts:
History
TheCrowdsourcing, first coined by Jeff Howe in a June 2006 Wired magazine article, describes the process of gathering groups of people together and using their spare timeď€ and untapped knowledge to create something of valuevalue. predatesThe themost termprolific firstuse coinedof bycrowdsourcing Jefftoday Howeis found in athe Junedevelopment 2006of Wiredopen source magazinesoftware but it has found its way into many other aspects article.of society. Although crowdsourcing is the dominant phrase describing the practice; related terms include: peer production, wikinomics, crowdcasting, mass collaboration, wisdom of crowds, decision markets, and open source software.Historical examples date back to the 1714 Longitude Prize , the 1847 Niagara Suspension Bridge contest and development of the Oxford English Dictionary. With the advent of modern computing, crowdsourcing experienced a Renaissance in the form of open source software. People who develop open source projects receive no pay for what they do but they derive satisfaction from the challenges and community of the open source experience. Now organizations outside the software industry are using crowdsourcing as a business practice. Modern day crowdsourcing is made possible by several societal shifts:
- Market demands on innovation force companies to look outside their comfort zone (P&G, Lego).zone.
- Proliferation of open - collaborative vendorcustomer, relationshipsvendor (Toyota,and Boeing,employee Lifen).relationships.
- ProprietaryOpen systemssource haveproducts littleare valuechallenging inproprietary theincumbents face(Firefox ofvs. openExplorer, sourceIBM competitorsjoins (IBMLinux, “manages”Wikipedia patents,vs. Britannica, Amazon & Google open APIs). ThereCreative areCommons is now optionsan option to government copyrights ©.
- Presenteesim and the decline of corporate employmentjob stability and benefits force talent into the open market.
- Companies willingly cannibalize their value chains to own customer experience. If they don’t someone else will (Kimberly - Clark, WSJ, NY Times, iTunes).will.
