The term crowdsourcing is a mixture of the word crowd and outsourcing. As the word indicates, this is a method that can be used to outsource tasks that are usually dedicated to agents or similar sources, over to a large crowd of people or a community through an open call (Alsever, 2007). One example of crowdsourcing is Wikipedia. This is a user generated site based on ordinary people’s contribution through intellectual sharing, and it invites you to create encyclopedic articles for the page. This gives Wikipedia access to millions of people’s free labor. This shows that cheap labor does not need to come from outsourcing to other countries or agencies. With crowdsourcing, the labor could just as easily come from someone in your neighborhood as a professional (Howe, 2006). To do crowdsourcing successfully you will need a proper safety net to exclude illegitimate contributions. Wikipedia has a long and comprehensive qualification control to ensure that all the articles are appropriate before being published (Wikipedia, 2011).
Howe explains that because technological advances have allowed for cheap consumer electronics, the difference between professionals and amateurs has been diminished (Howe, 2006). Almost everybody in our society has access to a computer, and can therefore respond to the open call from businesses. Companies are consequently able to take advantage of the talents within the public, and Howe states that "It’s not outsourcing; it’s crowdsourcing" (Howe, 2006).
Howe, J., 2006, The Rise of Crowdsourcing – Clickadviser, retrieved 15.sept 2011 at http://www.clickadvisor.com/downloads/Howe_The_Rise_of_Crowdsourcing.pdf
Alsever, J., 2007, What is Crowdsourcing? – Bnet, retrieved 15.sept 2011 at http://www.bnet.com/article/what-is-crowdsourcing/52961
Wikipedia, 2011, Editing Wikipedia Pages - About Wikipedia retrieved 15.sept 2011 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About#Editing_Wikipedia_page
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