The term "crowdsourcing" is a portmanteau of "crowd" and "outsourcing," first coined by Jeff Howe in a June 2006 Wired magazine article "The Rise of Crowdsourcing".[2][3] How explains that because technological advances have allowed for cheap consumer electronics, the gap between professionals and amateurs has been diminished. Companies are then able to take advantage of the talent of the public, and Howe states that "It’s not outsourcing; it’s crowdsourcing." A less commercial approach was introduced by Henk van Ess in September 2010: “Crowdsourcing is channelling the experts' desire to solve a problem and then freely sharing the answer with everyone”.
Perceived benefits of crowdsourcing include the following:
- Problems can be explored at comparatively little cost, and often very quickly.
- Payment is by results or even omitted (See this page on the German Wikipedia).
- The organization can tap a wider range of talent than might be present in its own organization.[5]
- By listening to the crowd, organizations gain first-hand insight on their customers' desires.
- The community may feel a brand-building kinship with the crowdsourcing organization, which is the result of an earned sense of ownership through contribution and collaboration.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdsourcing
2. David Whitford (2007-03-22). "Hired Guns on the Cheap". Fortune Small Business. Retrieved 2007-08-07.
3. Jeff Howe (June 2006). "The Rise of Crowdsourcing". Wired. Retrieved 2007-03-17.
5. Noveck, Simone. (2009). Wiki Government: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful, p. 63.
