Lecture Six
February 3, 2007
In the lecture we discussed the problems associated with Crowd Sourcing. Before I’ll talk about this I’ll just give a brief definition of what exactly crowd sourcing is.
According to a site I found (click here to view) crowdsourcing is “
a subset of what Eric von Hippel calls “user-centered innovation,” in which manufacturers rely on customers not just to define their needs, but to define the products or enhancements to meet them. But unlike the bottom-up, ad-hoc communities that develop open-source software or better windsurfing gear, crowdsourced work is managed and owned by a single company that sells the results.”
Crowdsourcing is very important to Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is where the users generate the content. Site such as Wikipedia and blogs are both examples of UGC and crowdsourcing. The site administrators rely on their users to generate the content that keeps the site up to date and interesting.
I worry, however, that while crowdsourcing is good in some respects, ie it is the democratisation of the internet, it can also limit the potential of the evolution of the net. With crowdsourcing comes mob rule. Whatever the majority of society think interesting and useful becomes just that. The more people use a UGC, the more it is likely to be used in future. This may have the effect that new ideas and innovations struggle to gain a footing, while older sites become stronger and stronger.
All you have to do is ask somebody what search engine they use. Most respond that they use google. If asked why they use google, I have found that people at first don’t really know, then they say, “because everyone uses it and its the best.” Is it the best? I’m not really sure… it must be if everyone uses it.
This creates a problem. What if someone has a better idea? the new idea has to gain in popularity, before it can gain in popularity. This is really hard, unless something that is already popular recommends or creates the innovation.
Check this out. I like it. It sums up how the crowd works and its problems.
While I am a strong believer in democracy, I’m somewhat fearful of the consequences of crowdsourcing. The net will move only as fast as the most average user. Think of what we could be missing out on!
