Crowdsourcing And Expertsourcing: Evolution or Revolution?
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…
“Expertsourcing is a sub-category of crowdsourcing where the goal is to aggregate a wide range of individuals who are experts in their fields, rather than just a ‘come one, come all’ herd of people who have come to the party perhaps with nothing really worthwhile to contribute. Is there really much value in the thirty-fifth, seventieth or hundreth extra logo concept that was just slapped together by someone with no training?”
Well no, perhaps not. Not unless one of the said concepts was really, really good. Anyway-
“With expertsourcing you’re looking to get a group that ideally has little overlapping skills or knowledge. The more diverse the better, the more esoteric the better. For a brand, utilizing this sort of talent to create a new ad for beef jerky is a waste. You’ve got to think bigger. You have to challenge them with a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal). Reinvent the education system; create a downtown with only bike traffic; create a better system of government!”
Liebling is seemingly an advocate of the cliché, ‘too many cooks spoil the broth.’ Especially if the Michelin-star Sous-chef is barged out of the way by a dozen barbecue experts, intent on char-grilling everything in sight. But what if the fourteenth person to lend their ‘expertise’ was a grandmother, ready to unleash her secret family recipe on the rest of the world? Not an ‘expert’ in the traditional sense and unlikely to be the catalyst for a groundbreaking solution to third-world malnutrition, but she may be the difference to the Sous-chef’s Michelin-star count.
Raj Sheelvant, the author of the IT Strategy blog, offered his take on the future of Crowdsourcing and expertsourcing two and a half years ago. He says:
“If the idea is evolutionary, then crowd sourcing is just fine. If the idea is revolutionary then expert sourcing is a must.”
On first viewing, Liebling and Sheelvant appear in agreement of the limitations of Crowdsourcing and the importance of expertsourcing. Yet the distinguishing point of Sheelvant’s argument goes deeper – experts are essential – but the experts no longer exist solely through the traditional sources of academia and media.
“Experts who live in the ‘ivory tower’ will be surprised to find innovative solutions will be presented at a much faster rate from the people who are in the trenches. They not only possess hands on knowledge on solving the problem, but the technology has provided them a platform to broadcast their views globally.”
So in other words, unlike Grandpa (see previous blog post), Grandma has learnt to turn on a computer, negotiated her way through the internet, and being a resourceful sort of lady, uncovered the wide variety of online crowds that provide the best marketing stage to present her home-made wares to the world.
blur Group may well be a team of expertsourcers in one sense, as the company forms networks of expertise, and offers a wide a variety of creative products and services in a number of different fields. The rummaging through the crowd is done in-house- clients are linked with the experts, and the very ‘esoteric’ individuals that Liebling claims vital are found.
It is important not to ignore the wider crowd- the likes of Grandma. She may not have all the answers or a revolutionary master plan, but her own expertise – grouped together with others from the crowd – may hold a lot of answers to a number of smaller problems that push down the barriers standing in the way of important change. To find her kind, expertsourcers need to search through the crowd.
Easy in theory- but tough to execute.
Sparxoo, a US research firm focused on innovation and digital strategy, wrote a cool article yesterday on ‘Building the Crowd.’ 
Tina Brown, over at The Daily Beast, wrote a powerful if somewhat negative article last year about 
Sparxoo, a cool US social media blog, published an interview today with Phil at blur Group on 
So many talented people have joined our 
blur Group uses crowdsourcing to re-architect the creative industries, cutting out both the middle man and middle managers. Collapsing the supply and distribution chain from original content creator to buyer, fan or audience.
