What is crowdsourcing and how to use it

Crowdsourcing is using the power of the crowds to get your work done. And where do you find the crowds today? Obviously, on the Internet.

No wonder, crowdsourcing is becoming a preferred way of obtaining information or getting work done on the net.

The greatest example of crowdsourcing is Wikipedia. Hundreds of thousands of individuals have built this encyclopaedia.

More than 100 years ago the Oxford English Dictionary had used the postal services to crowdsource new words. But then the process was tedious, and took months, if not years to get information. Today, it is instant, easy and economical.

It is being used by different individuals and organisations in different ways. Here are five ways in which you can use it:

1. Distribute work
Let’s say your company has ten thousand photographs that need to be improved. You can put out a notice on the web asking students who know how to use Photoshop to improve the quality of the photographs. Select 100 students. Give 100 photographs to each. Fix a deadline. Divide your budget by 100 and pay each student his share. The students will be happy. You will be happy because your work has been done quickly, and within your budget.

2. Get creative work done
Let’s say your company wants to change its logo or tagline. You can award the work to a well known advertising agency. It will come up with great ideas but will charge a small fortune. You also have the option to crowdsource the logo design. Put out your call on the web. Fix a price. You will be surprised at the number of designs/taglines you get. Not all of them will be great. But there may be one or two which may be just be the ones you are looking for. Remember: A 1000 minds are always better than one.

3. Collate public information
You may be an NGO or an individual who wants to help people in distress, especially victims of a natural tragedy like an earthquake, tsunami or floods. All that you need to do is to set up a web application where people can directly publish information. Google set up an interactive map for Uttarakhand flood victims. Relatives could post information about their missing kin, and leave addresses. During the Japanese Tsunami an NGO set up an interactive map where victims could post the radioactivity levels in their homes, streets, cities. It was a great, and easy way to provide information.

4. Collect funds
Crowdsourcing is an easy way to collect funds. What makes it unique is that people can pay small amounts. But these amounts add up to a huge sum that can be used for providing relief to disaster victims or to people needing urgent medical help.

5. Obtain information
The media does this effectively. Every day television channels and newspapers ask people for their comments on topical or burning issues. The selected web comments are then published or telecast to provide an instant glimpse of what people are saying. Crowdsourcing has saved the media millions of rupees in obtaining people’s opinion.