Crowdsourcing is the process of reuniting a group of people with a common interest around a specific subject related to that interest. This group of people will be a crucial part on the development of the subject, since it will be their input that helps with the definition of the subject itself.
Oxforddictionaries.com puts it like this:
Crowdsourcing – “Obtain (information or input into a particular task or project) by enlisting the services of a number of people, either paid or unpaid, typically via the Internet: «she crowdsourced advice on album art and even posted an early version of the song so fans could vote for their favorite chorus»”
This concept brings to the table an amazing potential when building whatever a person thinks of. And if joined in by crowdfunding, we have here an important step on the evolution of the status quo of the human race to a period where collaboration assumes an important role in the creation process, even more than competition.
Crowdsourcing can take a lot of approaches and it only depends on the objective of the initiative. Are you studying the creation of a new product? Are you trying to use the power of the crowd to help solve complex problems? Hey, you can even crowdsource your personal questions, take a look at Quora.
Quora is a Q&A website powered by its community where a user can pose a question and just wait for the crowdsourcing to promote the best answers.
We are serious believers on the power of the crowd and cannot stress enough the importance that we believe that this subject has in the process of building great gamification iterations.
Can you imagine the amount of things that can be accomplished with this mindset? Let your mind wonder, and soon enough you’ll be a fan as we are, if you’re not already.
Of course – a lot of people don’t agree with this methodology, and accuses it of being only free labor. There are different points of views on this. There is always someone who disapproves, but the true is that you only are a part of it if you want, and specially if you want to see your idea of a perfect product coming to life along with other people’s suggestions. In the end, the product is for the “helper”, and it’s adjusted to him.
Some call it human exploitation, we call it human evolution!
