Scripting News - Latest Comments in Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

Rupert Watson — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 01:42:52 -0000

Dave

I think the idea behind the Long Tail is that the people at the head are part of the crowd (i.e. Britney Spears fans) and the people down the tail (i.e. Joni Mitchell fans) are the individualists.

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

bob stepno — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:58:56 -0000

Looking for a more positive word for "tapping the collective wisdom of lots of individuals," I had a"Doh" moment: For full-time reporters telling important stories, "get more sources" always has been the standard approach, not a special category. Maybe we don't need a special term, or won't need one for long.

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

Johnborthwick — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:07:59 -0000

Terms like crowdsourcing and the long tail take meaningful human experiences and wrap them up in a package so they can be used as tools for traditional marketing. An ideas start and end with a person -- that person doesnt want to be sourced they want to be treated like another human. Its so easy within big organizations to get wrapped up in this language and loose sight of what it means and the unforeseen consequences of packaging up an idea. The result is that over time the terms becoming meaningless -- then its time to move on to the next one.

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

sjcobrien — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:45:14 -0000

Call me old fashioned, but...I think Crowdsourcing still makes sense. Yes, to some degree everyone is an army of one online. But at various times, these individuals come together around a project, idea, or discussion. And then they disperse. Crowdsourcing creates a kind of temporary institution that then fades away after accomplishing its task. The 'Net facilitates this in a timely, efficient manner (hopefully).

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

gmintchell — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:04:56 -0000

You are exactly correct. Thank you for expressing it.

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

Guest — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:41:03 -0000

I have to say I agree. The entire thrust of the new technology and social media is a new kind of notion of identity, and there are always those who want to co-opt any other identity into their own for their own purposes. I don't like the terms much either. I also don't like how those who aren't in the midst of social media and the new technologies just see them as a new way to cash in using the old methods, rather than a real shift in how things are being done.
Nice post.

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

Stephanos Anton Ballmerfeld — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 19:00:25 -0000

I kinda agree with you here!

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

Val Pishva — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 14:45:52 -0000

Most people that hang out in the early adopter/tech blog circles are very entrepreneurial. Crowdsourcing upsets entrepreneurial minded people because as you say the corporations are trying to get something for nothing. But crowdsourcing creates alot of noise and little signal because almost anyone is allowed to participate.

Hypothetically, if i gave a large corporation 10 crowdsourced ideas and by magic i was able to assure them that "one of these ideas will develop into a groundbreaking concept that will revolutionize your industry", what do you think are the chances that they will be able to capitalize on it?

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

scott crawford — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 12:50:22 -0000

Great post.
"When you mash us all together you miss the point." Amen to that.
And had to chuckle when I read," I don't like it cause it's cheap, it's always used by people who want something for nothing." Ahh the resounding, good-to-bone thwack of hammer connecting square on the head of nail. Craft lives. And inspires. Thanks.

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

terra210 — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:29:26 -0000

The weak are drawn to belonging like the drowning towards life boats. taking the less known path of the individual is more risky, and convoluted, but it is also a constant unfolding. Thanks to artist Ben Mamoud for this thought, so long ago.

But having said that; we are neither one or the other. It is not a dichotomy. It is a landscape of crowds, punctuated periodically with concentrated moments emerging from individuals, which can be heard. If you believe too strongly in one or the other you become culturally blind.

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

Noah David Simon — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:07:23 -0000

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Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

pacificpelican — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:39:13 -0000

Well said, Dave.
But I think "it's even worse than you think."
What the typical crowd sourcing guru is trying to do is actually build a personality cult around himself as an individual "visionary" by harnessing the mob.
You can probably think of some examples.

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

Kirk Kittell — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:48:09 -0000

You're right about Threadless and iStockphoto not being collaboration, but they're not crowdsourcing, either. Crowdsourcing is collaboration (imho).

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

Don Jones — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:47:55 -0000

It depends on the crowd, just as it depends on the person.

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

digidave — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:19:14 -0000

I don't know if "collaboration" works for Threadless or iStockphoto. I think it does for wikipedia though.

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

gregorylent — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:14:12 -0000

group mind

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

gregorylent — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:12:08 -0000

like democracy, crowds at best give you the lowest common denominator, at worst, mobs

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

Kirk Kittell — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:34:55 -0000

"So - how do we describe the phenomena of wikipedia, istockphoto, threadless, etc, etc in one word?"

Collaboration

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

lemon obrien — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:07:13 -0000

it's the young generation; they were taught that if you were not part of a crowd, you sucked; like everyone got a trophy, etc. it's unrealistic after the truth of money comes to bear. i'm with you; crowds are stupid; hence tech-bubble, mortgage-meltdown, energy speculation. i personally think people who like crowds, or needs to be "in-the-middle" of it all, are not "grown-up, self-thinking, independent, realized" human beings. they're still in the animal, safety-in-numbers, phase.

anyway, back to work.

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

Mark Dykeman — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:55:47 -0000

But from the Beatles, the Stones, choirs, full symphonies, and everything in between, some things work better in groups.

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

Matt Searles — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:45:18 -0000

I'm with you in the sense that the language of "crowd sourcing" has implications that I find problematic... I tend to think that the form of a term or phrase is driven by underlying questions.. and the underlying question of the term "crowd sourcing" seems like.. in someway, the wrong question,.. or a wrong crystallization of an ecology of questions.

But still I think in terms of collective consciousness.. I apply concepts from Jungian psychology, Hindu metaphysics, and other fun stuff.. to how I'm thinking of this space.. the notion of crowd sourcing, as seen through this lens.. isn't so bad.. the bad of it is more the baggage of mass markets and centralization.. old models for thinking about communications and business..

I tend to think this is the big problem with most of the social media thinking I run into.. that so much of it is trying to think about this space from the point of view of old modes.. a management science that had newtonian physics as it's metaphysical presumptions.. but here we are in a quantum / new science world..

Its as if the new business ideas are largely hacks to the older ideas.. which probably have a lot of short term pragmatic value.. but this now moment of social media is.. seemingly more fleeting then other moments.. with the rate of change being what it is.. and to the extent to which the truth of our ideas are contextually dependent.. the flux of change in the ecology.. I think it will, as we move forward, give rise to a need for a different sorta existential relationship to these thoughts.. the challenge being like the challenge of Buddha.. to find the still point in the flux. And I think from the point of view of that place.. crowd sourcing doesn't work.

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

Alex Steed — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:44:41 -0000

In response to some of the quips, though, I agree with Jay's latest converse Tweet: "When you go to vote do you say: hey, I wanted to be treated as an individual? Or treat me like everyone else?"

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

obscurelyfamous — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:41:50 -0000

I knew I didn't like that term for some reason, but I wasn't sure what that was. I think I'm going to use your explanation for myself -- it sounds about right. Crowd sourcing does evoke a feeling of cheapness. Maybe it's just the word because I very much believe in this era of community powered _anything_.

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

fredwilson — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:37:49 -0000

so true. i'll take dave over digg any day

Re: Why I don't like 'crowd sourcing' (Scripting News)

Noah David Simon — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:30:29 -0000

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