Imagine the scene. You’re stuck on the motorway. Work, the office, the Cloud Computing Solutions and Virtual IT department seem a lifetime away. Suddenly, that  Crowdsourced to-do list you’ve left behind on your desk looks just a tad more enticing.

The Big Society? This was the big idea, hyped by big bravado, and delivered with plenty of big Crowdsourcing innuendo and platitude by David Cameron throughout April and May. A statement without substance? Further evidence of the ‘Old Politics’ masquerading as the ‘New Politics’?

Crowdsourcing is the new word on the advertising street. Already a hit in the U.S, Crowdsourcing has increasingly gained currency in the vocabulary of British advertisers and marketers this year, thanks to influences from politics, business and the rise of social media.

Nick Clegg and David Cameron’s UK Tory-Lib Dem coalition is set to launch its second major Crowdsourcing initiative called ‘Spending Challenge’ later today. The aim of ‘Spending Challenge’ is to reduce the UK’s deficit by inviting members of the public to suggest ways the Government could cut public spending.

Last weekend the United States media news group, Journal Register Company, attempted an intriguing experiment involving community Crowdsourcing and the use of free online publishing tools for the production of all their publications.  

What is Crowdsourcing? This question is met head-on and stripped back to basics by Brian Bednarek (Industry Analyst and CEO of Mesh 01) in a one-to-one interview with CBS News anchor Michelle Gielan.

After six months in the making, we are over the moon about the paintastic film for the Let’s Colour campaign. The video is awesome! For those with a fetish for colour you’ll be drooling over your keyboards, your eyeballs kissing the screen! This is a crowdsourced art project that benefits communities worldwide.

We all know Crowdsourcing is fast becoming the Web’s hottest buzzword- but things could be about to change. Two creative agencies (GeniusRocket and 99designs) are attempting to re-define the term  and render Crowdsourcing to the depths of the technological vocabulary wilderness alongside ‘the  information superhighway’  and ‘cyberspace.’

Welcome to the crazy world of Ushahidi- a Crowdsourcing platform using geospatial information to aid social activism, encourage public accountability and  increase citizen journalism.

In 2006 Jeff Howe, a writer for Wired magazine, coined the term ‘Crowdsourcing.’ ‘Crowdsourcing’ represented the change in attitude towards the internet as solely a communication and research tool, into its modern day guise as a worldwide marketplace, a live business forum and a new-aged globalised workforce.

The Conservatives are officially in love. After weeks of flirtation with the use of Crowdsourcing in their reviews of Labour’s budget and election manifesto, the Tories have provided further evidence that their party might actually hold legitimate feelings towards the concept.

If Britain’s electoral candidates require any further reason to justify Crowdsourcing as a communication tool with voters, Microsoft’s latest play-thing could be of some considerable interest to them. Microsoft’s ‘TownHall’ software aims to replicate the experience of a town hall meeting place inside an online arena.

In 2008 Maurice Levy, the Chief Executive of the world’s fourth largest advertising and marketing company, Publicis, dropped a marketing bombshell upon his fellow professionals. “The very model of our industry is being called into question,” said Levy. “The model today is no longer valid, no longer relevant.” He was right.

Social Media. Is it just a fad? Or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution? Watch this brilliant video (which is even more dramatic with sound) and decide for yourself. Happy Friday!

The blur Group blog does not wish to be accused of partisanship during a General Election campaign, but we couldn’t help but notice a few links between the Conservative manifesto and our favoured Crowdsourcing model.

Ever fancied yourself as the next Terence Conran or Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen? Imagine if IKEA bothered to ask you (yes, YOU, the customer), to suggest ideas for their next range of products. Nice concept? Now you have stopped salivating, the reality might not be as far-fetched as you might think.

This is a message to all of the dedicated followers of fashion out there: start saving your pennies and re-assess your wardrobes. The latest offering from the world of Crowdsourcing proudly presents ‘Fashion Stake’- a new start-up business website that will allow fashionistas the chance to directly invest in designers. Here’s the deal.

‘CROWDSOURCING’- it’s the buzz-word that seems to be puzzling the mainstream British political parties in their preparation for next month’s General Election. Crowdsourcing proved a key jigsaw piece for the Democrats and Barack Obama in the U.S. Presidential election campaign and we all know what happened there.

Has the time arrived for a press award for Crowdsourced journalism? The question would certainly make a few of my old university tutors squirm in their seats. Here’s the thing. What the heck is Crowdsourced journalism? And does it actually count as bona fide journalism?

The Conservative party has decided to dabble with a dose of Crowdsourcing to aid their analysis of yesterday’s budget announcement (which you can see at http://www.yourbudgetresponse.co.uk/). Writing on the Conservative’s official blog, Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt, said: “The simple but effective idea of harnessing the power of mass collaboration has informed [...]

More than a quarter of British adults (of working age) are currently out of work, according to a study conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) earlier this month. Traditional back to work schemes and corporate hiring programmes will not get us out of this mess quickly enough but new working methods and initiatives [...]

Some of you may be reading this blog at work with an ever-so-slightly throbbing head. Perhaps you’re still at home, joining the estimated fifth of the British population who have fallen foul to the annual alcoholic virus. Or maybe you’re an Irish government minister, reading from one of the 23 selected countries around the world [...]

Having trouble rousing the locals at your favourite football team’s home games? Then how about this for an idea- Crowdsourcing energy from the supporters to keep the stadium functional during the game! This was a model trialled by Japanese Division One side Vissel Kobe earlier this month,

Mission 4636- just one part of the story that has captured the attention of billions across the world in the opening months of 2010: namely, the tragedy and continued devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti on January 12.

Expertsourcing. Yup, that’s another term to add to your mental back catalogue of fancy words to use at a marketing job interview. What is expertsourcing you say? I’ll leave it to Rick Liebling, the author of Eyecube, to explain…