The Google empire has used it and so has Lady Gaga — no one can ignore or deny the power of collective knowledge and cashing in on this is the concept of crowdsourcing. Wikipedia defines it as “the act of outsourcing tasks, traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, to an undefined, large group of people or community through an open call.” There are innumerable examples of how innovative entrepreneurs and eager philanthropists are using crowdsourcing techniques to improve local and global communities in real, substantive ways.
Google Chrome OS has an open source code that can be modified and further developed by users. Likewise, Facebook has open codes for local languages. Getty Image is also a popular example of crowdsourcing. International IT giant IBM once organised a two-part brainstorming series to tap the combined minds of employees, family members, and customers to target potential areas for innovation. By the end of it, IBM had collected 37,000 ideas. Later, the company made the transcripts available to 1,40,000 people.
Business analyst Aswin Kumar P. says, “Companies are already using people power to solve complex business problems, often working faster than when they rely on only their own employees. However, in India, there will be obstacles because of the lack of transparency on various key issues like cost, rewards, etc.”
Pravin Shekar, the founder and CEO of krea.in, adds, “The entire style of decision-making is changing. From ‘I tell and you listen’, it is changing to ‘you talk, and I’ll listen’. I deal with crowdsourcing in my business as well. I work on capturing people’s opinions and assisting with strategic marketing.”
Crowdsourcing has also had a huge impact in the design industry. At the recent Chennai event, ‘Open Japan 72 hr Worksprint’, there were pooled ideas from experts from all around the globe.
“Crowdsourcing presents a great opportunity for the design community. Our attempts to bring together designers, engineers and specialists from across the globe for social causes have produced innovative, cutting edge results. An inclusive design process will eventually lead to well informed solutions,” says Deepti Zachariah, Open Sim Sim, India, and the organiser of the event.
Even the entertainment industry has drawn inspiration from the concept. Through a contest, Lady Gaga asked her fans to vote for the charity that most deserves her contribution. It was a crowdsourced way for Lady Gaga to donate the $500,000 she had earmarked for charity. Advertising Guru Prahalad Kakkar says, “The concept of crowdsourcing is as old as advertising and marketing itself. There are some popular snacks brands that ask people to send their recipes and the most popular one is produced on a larger scale. It’s a marketing gimmick to some extent, and it also involves the community at large.”
TOP USERS
* Facebook utilised the power of crowdsourcing for language translation for its pages in local languages. It was first translated in Spanish. Over 1,500 Spanish speakers were working on it.
* Lady Gaga used it to choose the charity that her fans thought deserved the most.
* IBM CEO Sam Palmisano apparently had put $100 million into promising ideas in one of the crowdsourcing project.
Google Chrome OS has an open source code that can be modified and further developed by users. Likewise, Facebook has open codes for local languages. Getty Image is also a popular example of crowdsourcing. International IT giant IBM once organised a two-part brainstorming series to tap the combined minds of employees, family members, and customers to target potential areas for innovation. By the end of it, IBM had collected 37,000 ideas. Later, the company made the transcripts available to 1,40,000 people.
Business analyst Aswin Kumar P. says, “Companies are already using people power to solve complex business problems, often working faster than when they rely on only their own employees. However, in India, there will be obstacles because of the lack of transparency on various key issues like cost, rewards, etc.”
Pravin Shekar, the founder and CEO of krea.in, adds, “The entire style of decision-making is changing. From ‘I tell and you listen’, it is changing to ‘you talk, and I’ll listen’. I deal with crowdsourcing in my business as well. I work on capturing people’s opinions and assisting with strategic marketing.”
Crowdsourcing has also had a huge impact in the design industry. At the recent Chennai event, ‘Open Japan 72 hr Worksprint’, there were pooled ideas from experts from all around the globe.
“Crowdsourcing presents a great opportunity for the design community. Our attempts to bring together designers, engineers and specialists from across the globe for social causes have produced innovative, cutting edge results. An inclusive design process will eventually lead to well informed solutions,” says Deepti Zachariah, Open Sim Sim, India, and the organiser of the event.
Even the entertainment industry has drawn inspiration from the concept. Through a contest, Lady Gaga asked her fans to vote for the charity that most deserves her contribution. It was a crowdsourced way for Lady Gaga to donate the $500,000 she had earmarked for charity. Advertising Guru Prahalad Kakkar says, “The concept of crowdsourcing is as old as advertising and marketing itself. There are some popular snacks brands that ask people to send their recipes and the most popular one is produced on a larger scale. It’s a marketing gimmick to some extent, and it also involves the community at large.”
TOP USERS
* Facebook utilised the power of crowdsourcing for language translation for its pages in local languages. It was first translated in Spanish. Over 1,500 Spanish speakers were working on it.
* Lady Gaga used it to choose the charity that her fans thought deserved the most.
* IBM CEO Sam Palmisano apparently had put $100 million into promising ideas in one of the crowdsourcing project.
