# Crowdsourcing Crowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining ideas, services, content, or funding by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, typically via the internet. The term was coined by [[Jeff Howe]] in a 2006 Wired magazine article, combining "crowd" and "outsourcing." Unlike traditional outsourcing to specific contractors, crowdsourcing distributes tasks across an undefined, large group—leveraging [[Collective Intelligence]] and the diversity of perspectives that [[James Surowiecki]] describes in [[The Wisdom of Crowds]]. The model succeeds when it harnesses independent contributions while avoiding [[Groupthink]]—the conformity pressure that undermines collective judgment. Successful crowdsourcing platforms design for diversity, independence, and aggregation (Surowiecki's conditions). Examples span knowledge creation ([[Wikipedia]]), funding (e.g., Kickstarter), labor markets, problem-solving (Kaggle, InnoCentive), and citizen science (Galaxy Zoo, Foldit). Properly structured crowds can outperform experts on certain problems, especially those requiring diverse approaches or parallel effort. ## Crowdsourcing vs Traditional Models ``` ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ CROWDSOURCING vs TRADITIONAL │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ │ TRADITIONAL CROWDSOURCING │ │ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ │ │ │ Company │ │ Company │ │ │ └──────┬──────┘ └──────┬──────┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ ▼ ▼ │ │ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ │ │ │ Contractor │ │ Platform │ │ │ │ (known) │ │ (open call)│ │ │ └─────────────┘ └──────┬──────┘ │ │ │ │ │ ┌────────────┼────────────┐ │ │ ▼ ▼ ▼ │ │ ┌─────┐ ┌─────┐ ┌─────┐ │ │ │ ? │ │ ? │ │ ? │ │ │ └─────┘ └─────┘ └─────┘ │ │ Unknown, self-selected crowd │ │ │ │ Fixed cost │ Variable, scalable │ │ Known quality │ Aggregated quality │ │ Limited perspectives │ Diverse perspectives │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ``` ## Types of Crowdsourcing | Type | Description | Examples | |------|-------------|----------| | **Crowd wisdom** | Aggregating judgments | Prediction markets, polls | | **Crowd creation** | Collaborative content | Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap | | **Crowd voting** | Rating and filtering | Reddit, Product Hunt | | **Crowdfunding** | Collective financing | Kickstarter, Patreon | | **Crowd labor** | Distributed microtasks | Mechanical Turk, Upwork | | **Crowd science** | Citizen research | Galaxy Zoo, Foldit | | **Crowd solving** | Innovation challenges | Kaggle, InnoCentive | ## Success Conditions | Condition | Description | Risk if Missing | |-----------|-------------|-----------------| | **Diversity** | Different backgrounds, perspectives | Echo chamber, blind spots | | **Independence** | Opinions formed without pressure | [[Groupthink]], herding | | **Decentralization** | Local knowledge, specialization | Central bottleneck | | **Aggregation** | Mechanism to combine inputs | Noise overwhelms signal | | **Incentive alignment** | Motivation to contribute quality | Gaming, spam, low effort | ## Platform Examples | Platform | Type | What It Crowdsources | |----------|------|---------------------| | **[[Wikipedia]]** | Creation | Encyclopedia articles | | **Kickstarter** | Funding | Product development capital | | **Mechanical Turk** | Labor | Microtasks, data labeling | | **Kaggle** | Solving | Machine learning models | | **Stack Overflow** | Wisdom | Programming answers | | **OpenStreetMap** | Creation | Geographic data | | **reCAPTCHA** | Labor | Text digitization, AI training | | **Foldit** | Science | Protein structure puzzles | ## Benefits vs Risks | Benefits | Risks | |----------|-------| | Access to diverse expertise | Quality control challenges | | Scalable parallel work | Coordination overhead | | Lower costs | Exploitation concerns | | Faster iteration | Intellectual property issues | | Democratic participation | [[Groupthink]] if poorly designed | | Novel solutions | Gaming and manipulation | ## Crowdsourcing vs Collective Intelligence | Aspect | Crowdsourcing | [[Collective Intelligence]] | |--------|---------------|----------------------------| | **Focus** | Task completion | Emergent knowledge | | **Structure** | Platform-mediated | Can be organic | | **Aggregation** | Explicit mechanism | Can be implicit | | **Scope** | Specific problems | Ongoing capability | | **Examples** | Mechanical Turk | Wikipedia, markets | ## When Crowdsourcing Works | Works Well | Works Poorly | |------------|--------------| | Parallelizable tasks | Sequential dependencies | | Clear evaluation criteria | Subjective quality | | Diverse valid approaches | Single correct method | | Low coordination needs | High collaboration needs | | Verifiable outputs | Trust-dependent outputs | ## References - Howe, Jeff. "The Rise of Crowdsourcing" (Wired, 2006) - [[James Surowiecki]] - [[The Wisdom of Crowds]] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdsourcing ## Related - [[Collective Intelligence]] - [[The Wisdom of Crowds]] - [[James Surowiecki]] - [[Groupthink]] - [[Open Source]] - [[Jeff Howe]] - [[Network Effects]]