The definition of crowdsourcing which was not clear in the article is, according to Merriam Webster, " the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, and especially from an online community, rather than from traditional employees or suppliers". Similar to what we read, It is all about gathering opinions, solutions, or suggestions from individuals who volunteer or work like contractors from outside the organization. Facebook or other social media sites could be used to gather feedback or opinions from crowds.
On Howe article we read about Amazon Mechanical Turk as an example of crowdsourcing marketplace. So, I checked it out and found that this kind of contracting with businesses could bring good opportunities to individuals, but yet the low payment that may not exceed one dollar per hour won't allow one to make money of it. Do you want to give it a try?
As you note, workers won't make very much. I fear that it's a predatory employment practice. However, there are sites where you can have people bid projects. A friend in NYC tells me he sometimes has people bid bringing him a cup of coffee to his office. I guess if they're nearby and need a buck or two, it's not a bad idea?
ReplyDeletehaha.. Ya, it is not a bad idea. I read that most of the people who collect money this way use tricks by automating the work which makes it worse since these jobs needed to be done using human intelligence! Also, I found good payments of over $20 and even $100 but I do not know what qualifications these jobs need.
ReplyDeleteHi Sam, love this piece on crowd sourcing, nice breakdown, clarified a lot for me, thanks! Love the page too, it looks very professional.
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