The rules of Crowdsourcing

While going through my vacation reading I discovered that Jeff Howe writes a very interesting blog on crowdsourcing. I’ve been reading it like if it was a book.

Fortunately for me he also published a book: Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business that I’ve added to my wishlist to read soon.

Some interesting content from the book: The rules of Crowdsourcing

• 1. Pick the right model from among collective intelligence, creation, voting, or funding.
• 2. Pick the right crowd from the participants to the people who will influence and usher the crowd.
• 3. Offer the right incentives to the crowd that are often expressed in recognition rather just money.
• 4. Keep the pink slips in the drawer – crowdsourcing is not outsourcing
• 5. The dumbness of crowds, or the benevolent dictator principle – crowds need leaders who influence
• 6. Keep it simple, break it down – give the crowd something each individual can work on, yet can aggregate into something great.
• 7. Remember Sturgeon’s Law – 90% of what is created is crap so you will need to allow the crowd to separate the cream from the crap
• 8. Remember the 10 percent, the antidote to Sturgeon’s law – related to #7 that the crowd can do the sorting in a democratic and open forum better than the experts.
• 9. The community is always right
• 10. Ask not what the crowd can do for you, but what you can do for the crowd – a crowd forms and is most effective when it sis working on something it wants.

Lots of notes taken this summer. Expect great things coming to Adegga very soon.