Comments on: Crowdsourcing

By: Kel

Kel — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 16:02:35 +0000

sonciary, that’s great insight. one of the best examples i have heard. can’t even begin to imagine where this will be in five years.

By: Sonciary Honnoll

Sonciary Honnoll — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 04:06:07 +0000

Lovin’ this one. I immediately thought of GOOG’s new favicon design…don’t like it? Submit your own: http://www.google.com/faviconideas/

The world is local and it’s awesome.

By: Kel

Kel — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 22:22:13 +0000

ben, i can’t help but hear doctor evil from austin powers blurt, “mooohahaha” when i read your post. funny!

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:25:27 +0000

Cool post. Lot’s of new attempts to Croudsource customer support, esp. in technology, which is sorta like having your cake and eating it too. Imagine Apple’s best and most loyal customers also helping them cut customer support costs. Enter total world domination. – BC

By: Kel

Kel — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:56:34 +0000

deb, amen sista’! i so agree. anything that allows for a level playing field when it comes to equalizing share of voice is always a good thing!

By: Deb

Deb — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:16:05 +0000

Crowd-sourcing is also about “authenticity” and real “open-mindedness”. That is something that Web 2.0 brings to the table. No more spin!! First hand knowledge, insight and opinion is important and enables real groundswell to take hold. Web 2.0 enables a voice for the “crowd” and ensures honesty and integrity; but even more exciting, a platform for the little intraverted guy with great ideas that has not been heard…. you gotta love that !! Too many times those with the most ego, charisma or loudest voice get the attention – who knows what the new Web 3.0 and 4.0 wil bring but for certain it goes beyond having a just a voice – it will be a platform for influence.

Fun, fun, fun !!

By: Kel

Kel — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:43:24 +0000

geo, your dad sounds like a smart man. the list of things i don’t know is exponentially greater than the things i do know. it’s so important in any situation to check your ego at the door and look to leverage the brilliance of others. crowdsourcing certainly takes this to a level we couldn’t have even imagined when we were all giddy over the introduction of intranets. not sure where it will go from here, but i can’t wait to see…

kel

By: Geo III

Geo III — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 01:59:02 +0000

Years ago when companies started having intranets I worked as an engineer in the compound semiconductor industry. When I jumped from one job to another much more challenging position and wondered if I would have what it takes, my father (w/PhD in Physical Chemistry) said that “no engineer knows how to do everything, a good engineer is one that puts their ego aside and knows to utilize the talents around them.”

That got me far in my career and in life in general.

Back to the topic and point, once intranets were introduced I thought that it would be a great way to collaborate on issues, experiments, development, etc.. To post a problem and get a reply from another engineer somewhere else in the organization that had more experience than you about the subject. Of course, in that limited use, you would still have those who decided not to put their egos aside and not everyone would take advantage of this new approach. When it did work however it was a fun and exciting useful tool.

This is one early, albeit limited, example and I can think of many that would be very useful ways to tap into the resources to expedite or even just get new and objective perspective on anything from building a shed, to development engineering to writing a song with collaborators who all come from different backgrounds & experiences… even cultures…

Today’s internet, the web 2.0, is a world of ideas merging… it’s an exciting time and if one puts ego aside and opens the floor for others to throw their two cents in, who knows what could happen that otherwise might never…

By: Kel

Kel — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:01:34 +0000

rma, you bring up a lot of great points & questions. seti was definitely out there not only in its approach, but in its objective. when people talk about web 2.0, most of these people immediately go to user-generated content (ugc) as the single association. one of the less talked about attributes of web 2.0 is really harnessing the wisdom and resources of crowds. where ugc is approaching its teenage years from a maturity perpsective, harnessing the wisdom of crowds is still a newborn. i can’t even begin to wrap my head around where it will go, but i have no doubt it will be exciting. bring it on!

By: RMA

RMA — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 21:26:50 +0000

This is such an interesting topic, Kel. Your examples remind me of the SETI (Search For Extra-terrestrial Life) screensaver I used to run on my Mac that would ambiently process reams of data from various radio telescopes in hopes of finding some kind of distant alien signal.

The concept of so many home users processing data while their PCs idled was impressive to me.

However, now we have the collective intellect of the users themselves. Participants are plugging-in their brain power, creativity, and passions rather than just passively offering a little CPU time for number-crunching.

Combining both ideas, I wonder if we will see a time when these intentional Web 2.0 outlets become more integrated into our daily environments. Or, does that sound a little too Blade Runner? (Cue the Dr. Who music…)