Dotti Berry, iDigital Media Pro Empowering Entrepreneurs

Crowd Sourcing…Wave of the Future for Businesses

Let’s first define Crowdsourcing, so you will have some idea about it if you have never before heard the term.

From Wikipedia…

Crowdsourcing is a neologistic compound of “crowd” and “outsourcing” for the act of taking tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing them to a group of people or community, through an “open call” to a large group of people (a crowd) asking for contributions.

I believe that crowdsourcing is a part of the creative, collective intelligence that is becoming the new “expert,” and is possible because of our new technology and connection through the internet.  We are moving toward a greater connecting, engaging and leveraging of the talents of all of us in positive ways.

President Obama has encouraged Americans to be innovative during this economic crisis and reminded us of the importance of working together to discover ideas that can refuel our economy.  That concept in and of itself is a form of crowdsourcing.  Like the term “new age” or “new thought” which I refer to as “original thought” or “original wisdom” because it is going back to the roots of why/how things happen and has existed since the beginning of time, I believe that crowdsourcing is not so much “new,” as it is a concept that has been reframed with a new term.  Most definitely our technology today is allowing us to utilize crowdsourcing in ways never before imagined.

All to say that many people still aren’t familiar with the term “crowdsourcing,” though it has been in the news for almost five years since first being introduced in 2006 in a Wired Magazine article by Jeff Howe.  He went on to write this book on the subject. Click on the book in these scrolling choices.

There’s lots more I want to share with you on this subject…from its connection to social networking to the work by leading researcher, Daren C. Brabham in the field of planning projects…from  Gannett News, who incorporated it into their business model in 2006, to network marketing companies who are marrying this process with their business model.

› Continue reading

Tags: Brabham, collective intelligence, CrowdSourcing, Obama, public participation, urban planning, Web