Archive for 'crowdsourcing'

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.

What Is An ‘Online Crowd’?


What’s an ‘online crowd?’ At first glance, the question appears so simplistic that even the dinosaurs of the internet age might feel they have a chance. A crowd of people…that meet online?  Yes… but, no. It’s slightly more complex than that Grandpa.


New forms of technological geekspeak emerge with such alarming regularity that it’s hardly surprising when words rapidly lose their original meaning, evolve or simply go out of fashion.

Take, for instance, the transition from the former undisputed heavyweight champion of the internet browsers, ‘Internet Explorer’ to its likely successor, FireFox  (and just to be clear, FireFox has absolutely nothing to do with those trumpet blowers from the Countryside Alliance).

For some, the terms ‘internet browser’ and ‘Internet Explorer’ have exactly the same meaning, and best of all, they’re tried and tested- safe. The thought of converting to FireFox shows ambition only likened to the first Anglo-Saxon to encounter a piece of garlic bread.

The definition of the online crowd was the subject of scrutiny last week on Nicholas Carr’s blog, Rough Type, where he insists that within the general term, four, perhaps five or even six forms of online crowds exist:

“Social production crowd”: consists of a large group of individuals who lend their distinct talents to the creation of some product like Wikipedia or Linux.

“Averaging crowd”: acts essentially as a survey group, providing an average judgment about some complex matter that, in some cases, is more accurate than the judgment of any one individual (the crowd behind prediction markets like the Iowa Electronic Markets, not to mention the stock market and other financial exchanges).

“Data mine crowd”: a large group that, through its actions but usually without the explicit knowledge of its members, produces a set of behavioral data that can be collected and analyzed in order to gain insight into behavioral or market patterns (the crowd that, for instance, feeds Google’s search algorithm and Amazon’s recommendation system).

“Networking crowd”: a group that trades information through a shared communication system such as the phone network or Facebook or Twitter.

“Transactional crowd”: a group used to instigate and coordinate what are mainly or solely point-to-point transactions, such as the type of crowd gathered by Match.com, eBay, Innocentive, LinkedIn and similar services. (I would think that contests like the Netflix Prize also fall into this category.)

And the sixth definition, courtesy of a comment reply by Tom Lord on Carr’s blog-

“Event crowd”: A group organized through online communication for a particular event, which can take place either online or in the real world and may have a political, social, aesthetic, or other purpose.

The list is certainly comprehensive and addresses the complexity of using the term ‘online crowd’. Yet Carr only seems to allude to the issue of crowdsourcing through his definition of the ‘transactional crowd’. Crowdsourcing can be used as a forum for single transactions, such as those adopted by the likes of eBay and Match.com, but they can encompass far more.

For instance, blur Group identify talented individuals from a wide variety of fields, organize them into specialist communities and then unite them with potential buyers. The system of crowdsourcing filters product and service providers to match the client’s budget and requirements, ensuring a highly efficient shortlist process. The construction of these specialist communities enables clients to select many individuals, each with their own specific expertise, to work on multiple projects.

Unlike members of so-called ‘transactional crowds’, the relationship between the client and the individual talent sources does not have to terminate at the conclusion of a sale or project. Both parties are retained within their communities and can be called upon time and time again.

It’s a bit like becoming the online version of an east-end market trader on Albert Square, Walford. A strange, reassuring familiarity, plenty of fellow contacts, a steady flow of new cast members and a wide watching audience. Best of all, no-one has to suffer the ignominy of an online death.

So you see Grandpa, there is not a conclusive definition for the term ‘online crowd’. It was a bit of a trick question. Good guess though.

Crowdsourced Movie Production

From our ‘What is Crowdsourcing?’ initiative we’ve dug up one wild Crowdsourced project.

A dutch guy is making a Crowdsourced movie on the collapse of DSB Bank in the Netherlands. Zero budget, big screen ambitions, all volunteer, pure Crowdsourcing. See their presentation below -- some useful tips.

And here is the ‘What is Crowdsourcing?’ video. What is it to you?

Jeff Howe Explains Crowdsourcing

Following our ‘What is Crowdsourcing?’ initiative here’s a great video explaining the phenomenon.

Jeff Howe, who coined the term Crowdsourcing, tells us what it’s all about.

Pepsi Backs Crowdsourcing

Pepsi is skipping this year’s SuperBowl ads, instead banking on Crowdsourcing and Social Media with its Refresh Project.

4202207612_766a6bbe24

But why?

“Why did Pepsi trade their $20-million Super Bowl commercial for a $20-million social media campaign? Because their Refresh Everything project promises a superior return on investment. Pepsi is banking on the combination of crowdsourcing and social media to extend the life of Pepsi’s ad dollars from 30 seconds in one day to a full year of engagement…”

Read the rest of the article here.

Crowdsourcing in Plain English

Crowdsourcing in plain English video.

Just launched -- Viral. Informative. Cool.

We’re All Fans: The Grammies Crowdsourced Way

Following Pepsi another big name is jumping on the Crowdsourcing bandwagon this year: The Grammies.

They have developed a series of promotional Crowdsourced videos entitled “We’re All Fans” for the 52nd Grammy Awards on 31st January.

Let the crowd do the talking…or in this case the singing…

The Real Apple Tablet Unveiled

Tablet

Steve Jobs will surprise the world on Wednesday and remind us what a bunch of numbies we are for not figuring the real Apple Tablet.

Sleek design, wonderful curves and white. It’ll cure all known diseases and includes a couple thousand books. Probably.

What do you think the Apple Tablet will be? Crowdsourcing your wildest opinions here.

Building the Crowd

Sparxoo logoSparxoo, a US research firm focused on innovation and digital strategy, wrote a cool article yesterday on ‘Building the Crowd.’

They talk about 3 leading Crowdsourcing projects including Groupon, Kiva and blur Group. Examples of real businesses building sustainable business models around Crowdsourcing.

blur Group takes crowdsourcing to a whole new level — creating powerful crowds consisting of experts and specialists in select fields to produce the best results possible. Essentially, crowds and client projects are curated by the company itself. This subset of crowdsourcing, called select sourcing, gathers together the very best of the best to streamline the process and produce valuable results. blur Group has passionate crowds of entrepreneurs, artists, marketers, designers, writers and geeks.’

To read the full article – click this link.

Crowdsourcing and The Gig Economy

FreelancersTina Brown, over at The Daily Beast, wrote a powerful if somewhat negative article last year about ‘The Gig Economy’.

This followed research they did which revealed that nearly a third of Americans do multiple gigs or freelance jobs. It seems that the days of full, dependable, monogamous employment are over – at least for the foreseeable future.

The question is – is this merely a byproduct of the great recession of 2008/9 or something more profound? Tina Brown, who I guess has never been a Gig worker herself, focused heavily on the dark side of the Gig Economy and freelance movement (for the well to do). She perhaps missed the ‘opportunity’.

The opportunity enshrined in the Gig/Freelance Economy is freedom of the individual - making it an important long term trend – not just a short term, depression based hiccup. A growing number of professionals and creatives from all over the world continue to set themselves free from corporate straightjackets to embrace and develop the Gig Economy. ‘Cos they believe in it.

At the same time organizations like blur Group make Gigging a sustainable reality by Crowdsourcing independents and freelancers into virtual (Gig) Crowds/organizations, providing them with peers and helping them find work so that they can enjoy not just the hardships of going out on their own, but ever more of the benefits.

Are you a part of The Gig Economy?

blur’s Letts Interviewed on the Future of Crowdsourcing

images-28Sparxoo, a cool US social media blog, published an interview today with Phil at blur Group on the future of Crowdsourcing.

Philip LettsRead it here.

#uksnow – Crowdsourcing in Action

It’s snowing in London – but the real news is that you can see Crowdsourced live snow updates on a map.

uksnow

Last year, when London got snow the hashtag #uksnow started.

Also, @benmarsh had the nifty idea to use the hashtag to crowdsource live updates about snow in the UK. Well it’s back and looks terrific.

If you tweet #uksnow followed by the first half of your postcode (UPDATE: and the level of snow on a 1/10 – 10/10 scale | Thanks Steve) , you can become a real-time snow for your area.

Our tweet is: “#uksnow W10

Google Goggles Brings Visual Search to Phones

Google Goggles brings visual search to a (Android) smartphone near you. Use the camera, take a picture and it will automatically bring you relevant search items.

Shoot that bottle of wine for details on the winery and vintages. Your favorite artwork for info on the artist. A billboard for the latest promo’s and product details.

And think of all the Crowdsourced photos and associated links?

blur – ‘The Power of Many’

crowdsourcingSo many talented people have joined our Crowds in the last few weeks and months that we thought we should take a few minutes out to publically welcome everyone and remind us what we are trying to achieve together.

In short blur Crowds are about the ‘power of many’. With nearly a thousand new members joining our Crowds every month.

The power of thousands of individuals coming together to make a difference. Uniting to change our universe more than if they tried to do it on their own.

Together gaining greater exposure, winning larger projects and attracting more attention – by collaborating. Loads of Davids taking on Goliaths. The Goliath’s of the art world, design universe, marketing industry, media sector and innovation space.

Crowds multiplying and competing by spreading the word together, advising and supporting each other, attracting buyers – creating with one another. Learning together. Under one blur roof with a common brand and unified vision. Ensuring a better deal for all. Both Crowd members and customers.

One voice getting heard ‘loud and clear’. Feel free to get involved – join the relevant blur Crowd today if you’re an artist, digital marketer, designer, entrepreneur or writer.

Together we make a difference.

O2 Launches First Crowdsourced Mobile Operator

Leading UK mobile company, O2 has just launched Giffgaff -- the worlds first crowdsourced, SIM only, mobile phone operator (MVNO).

Customer service, marketing and adverstising is all delivered by the crowd (volunteer consumers) allowing them to reduce costs and offer cheaper mobile services. It’s the future!

10 Mindblowing Crowdsourced Projects [Videos]

The crowd is flexing its muscles. Take a look at these terrific projects.

We’re constantly amazed by what collectives of talented individuals can now achieve so we banged together this video assemblage for a visual share on how crowds are changing the rules forever.

10. I’ve Got Nothing – a crowdsourced song.

Just hit the UK music charts. A remarkable success.

9. The Eternal Moonwalk

The best tribute fans could give to the King of Pop.

8. The Crowdsourced Haircut

Aka “How to get a free haircut in San Francisco”.

7. The Amplichoir

Read more

The Power of the Crowd

The power of the crowd. Synchronization in motion.

Natural. Spontaneous. Crowdsourced. Dig.

Crowdsourcing Star Wars

A bunch of Star Wars afficionados are getting together to remake the popular saga. Crowdsourcing is the star!

And we get ecstatic at blur when we hear this kind of news.

Long story straight from the website:

You and 472 other people have the chance to recreate Star Wars: A New Hope. Below is the entire movie split up into 15 second clips. Click on one of the scenes to claim it, film it, and upload it. You can have up to three scenes! When we’re all done, we’ll stitch it all together and watch the magic happen.

Follow them on twitter and may the Crowd be with you!

Cutting out Creative Industry Middle Men

crowdsourcingblur 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.

Constructing next generation creative industry talent and intellectual property marketplaces.

Why?

Because the middle men and middle managers take too much. The creator feels cut out and always under-rewarded. Here’s the maths to support our view. So the little guy – the original content creator – deserves a better deal and with our approach to Web based crowdsourcing they can get it.

That’s why we call it FAIRTRADE. Fairtrade for artists, marketers, designers, writers and yes, even entrepreneurs.

Where Has the ‘Crowd’ gone?

Focused Crowdsourcing. We’ve been studying it, we’ve been applying it, we’ve been talking about it.

focused_crowdsourcing
Photo by foxypar4 via Flickr

An interesting study from ReadWriteWeb, looks into patterns of behaviour within large crowds such as Yelp or Digg and finds that there’s always a bunch of power users driving the game.

We believe that focused crowdsourcing can be the future of business. Focused crowds mean power users and power users drive new business models.

Focused Crowdsourcing is the Future

blur Group is a leader in crowdsourcing, operating a cluster of crowds that span the creative industries including artinnovationmarketingdesign and media. blur Group fuses focused crowdsourcing with social media tools and techniques to differentiate itself in the marketplace.

We spent the last few years designing architectures, platforms and processes for premium ‘freelance’ crowds and crowdsourced companies. Our definition of a crowdsourced company is one which recruits and manages the vast majority of its human capital as freelancers and part timers via scalable, flexible, online ‘crowd’ networks.

As example, we built a marketing agency, blur Marketing, with a full-time industry manager and a creative leader, but the rest of the creative and delivery talent is crowdsourced via an online platform with work loads and work packets managed over the Web, sent to the most qualified members or teams. Crowdsourced freelancers and crowd members get recruited and screened online and register at one of blur Group’s Crowd Network Platforms. They are then managed throughout the process by blur Group’s crowd managers. Crowdsourced freelancers or partners quality of work (product or service) and delivery capabilities, including timeliness, gets rated on the blur Crowd Network Platform for ongoing quality control.

We build high quality, focused crowds to ensure that the premium products and services that we offer are delivered rapidly, scale effectively and offer unprecedented value -- with a greater percentage of the earnings flowing back to the producer -- a FAIRTRADE for crowd members.

5 Great Videos about Crowdsourcing

5 videos you should watch to really get Crowdsourcing. Enjoy!

1. Overview

Crowdsourcing from Aitor Bediaga on Vimeo.

2. Jeff Howe on Crowdsourcing

3. Jeff Howe on the role of Incentives in Crowdsourcing

Jeff Howe on the role of incentives in crowdsourcing from Nieman Journalism Lab on Vimeo.

4. Ory Okolloh on Crowdsourcing

Ory Okolloh, Crowdsourcing Crisis Information from Knight Foundation on Vimeo.

5. Monica Hamburg on Crowdsourcing