A Derivative of Open Source: What is Crowdsourcing?

The white paper definition describes crowdsourcing as a “neologism for the act of taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people, in the form of an open call.” Jeff Howe, a contributing editor at Wired Magazine, gives a much better definition and describes crowdsourcing as “the application of Open Source principles applied to fields outside of software.” I’ve been bringing the concept up in more conversations because I’ve come to believe that it’s a very powerful, useful, and cost efficient model that entrepreneurs should know about. However, no matter who I talk to, whether it be a successful businessman or founder of a new tech company, I’ve had to repeatedly explain what it is. If it isn’t already, I predict that crowdsourcing will be one of the new, hot buzzwords in 2009. (We certainly need more, the term “Web 2.0″ is beginning to make me puke.)

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