Thursday, January 10, 2008

The "buzz" on Crowdsourcing


Why "buzz"? Look at the cover of "We are Smarter than Me", a book, like "Wikinomics" which was written using the "power of crowds". Don't BEE surprised at what you see.

YouTube and WikiPedia are two famously prominent examples of web-based communities using 'crowd power' which have had significant impact. This movement has already had influence on project management. The January, 2008 issue of PMI's PM Network (see the case study on FilmRiot, page 46) covers the crowdsourcing movement with good examples, and the same issue reviews blog software for project collaboration.

In We are Smarter than Me, I participated in the authoring of this book by contributing some ideas on project management via the crowdsourced editing tools on their site. The inside front and back covers are emblazoned with the names of the “authors” (including me) in glorious and spectacular size 0.1 font. Listen – a mention is a mention.

I decided next to check out the world of crowdsourcing by participating in one of the sites recommended by both “We Are Smarter Than Me” as well as by the PM Network magazine article. I submitted an idea to CambrianHouse.com , a crowdsourcing site meant to help incubate and promote new ideas. It was a little convoluted – I submitted an idea to produce a crowdsourced Project Management book, The Fiddler on the Project. I got lots of feedback from the group, and ended up winning the weekly “IdeaWarz” contest that they run. So the “crowd” liked the idea.

Here are some web resources for you if you would like to investigate this further. For starters, pick up the January issue of PM Network and read the articles on pages 46 and 88. Then start exploring some websites. Let yourself get lost in the "crowd". Participate!

www.wearesmarter.org
www.cambrianhouse.com
http://www.wikinomics.com
www.threadless.com (design a t-shirt)
Pssssst: if you go to cambrianhouse.com, now through 14-Jan or so, be sure to vote positively for The Pun Duck, another of my ideas...

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