Types of Crowdsourcing |
Learn about the 6 different types of crowdsourcing methods.
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Crowd CreationWHAT IS IT? Crowd creation is a method that gathers the ideas, perspectives, judgements, and feedback of a community for the purpose of inventing, ranking, organizing, and prioritizing ideas and information. |
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Each individual in a community will use a ranking, scoring, or feedback system to submit input to a range of ideas. After all the community members have submitted input, the feedback is aggregated and the best ideas and submissions emerge at the top of the pile. WHO USES CROWD VOTING? Many companies use crowd voting to tap into the wisdom of the crowd and understand which product customers would buy. Threadless is a t-shirt company that uses crowd voting to decide which t-shirts are popular and should be produced. |
CrowdfundingWHAT IS IT? Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via Internet platforms like Kickstarter or IndieGogo. |
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Crowdfunding works mainly in two ways, either using a rewards model or using an equity model. In a rewards model entrepreneurs presell a product or service to launch a business concept without incurring debt or sacrificing equity/shares. If a person gives $50 they expect the product in the near future. In an equity model the backer (the person giving money) receives shares of a company, usually in its early stages, in exchange for the money given. WHO USES CROWDFUNDING? Entrepreneurs seeking alternative financing methods and creative professionals looking to get their products out in the world are the main users of crowdfunding. |
Citizen ScienceWHAT IS IT?
Citizen Science is the process of collecting and analyzing data related to the natural world by members of the general public, typically as part of a collaborative project with professional scientists. |
HOW DOES IT WORK?
An organization open sources a large raw dataset to a community of citizen scientists (individuals who dedicate their time and resources towards scientific research) and each individuals fulfills a small part of the research like identifying planets in a huge data set of solar systems or counting the number of toads seen in a local wild life area. WHO USES CITIZEN SCIENCE? Organizations like NASA and National Geographic will use citizen science platforms to analyze enormous datasets quickly and efficiently while collaborating with the public in the search for knowledge about our universe. |
Design MarketplacesWHAT IS IT?
Design Marketplaces are digitally-connected community where people complete desired tasks or projects for payment or incentive. It's the model used by companies like 99Design, Airbnb, and Fiverr. |
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Individuals sign-up on a platform to perform a certain task or project, they can then use the platform to make money serving users who demand their skills or expertise. For regular people, it's an on-demand service solution because within the community there are always individuals who can deliver the solution you are looking for. WHO USES CROWD LABOR? These days everyone uses crowd labor in some shape or form. If you have ever used Airbnb to sleep in a new place or used Uber to transport around a city you have used crowd labor. Millions of people now rely on these models to survive as crowd labor becomes the dominant economic model also known as 'the sharing economy'. |
MicrotaskingWHAT IS IT?
Microtasking is the process of splitting a large job into small tasks that can be distributed, over the Internet, to many people. Amazon owns a company called Mechanical Turk that has a community of microtaskers who perform small tasks at massive scale. |
HOW DOES IT WORK?
An organizer submits a large amount of work to be performed. The work is then distributed into many different workflows with very specific small tasks to be performed. These small tasks are delivered to a community who do one small part of the work. WHO USES MICROTASKING? Microtasking is used by many companies to analyze complex datasets and especially datasets that humans can do better than computers. One very effective application is using a community to analyze intricate type-written or hand-written recognition projects. |
Prize ChallengesWHAT IS IT?
A prize challenge is a crowdsourcing method that attacks large and complex problems. The model is simple and direct. A prize challenge offers a reward to whomever can first or most effectively solve a defined challenge. |
HOW DOES IT WORK?
A sponsor defines a problem statement and invites the public to submit solutions to begin working on designing and building the solution. As soon as a participant solves the challenge or is evaluated as having the strongest solution based on an evaluation criteria, the participant is awarded an award, usually a large sum of money. WHO USES PRIZE CHALLENGES? Large organizations who are facing serious challenges will use a prize challenge to source solutions. The United States Government is a significant user of prize challenges, in fact they use a website called challenges.gov as a repository of all their challenges for teams to solve. XPrize is another leader in prize challenges in launching and running large-scale ambitious challenges. They are running a $30 million prize for the first private team to land a rover on the moon. |