Crowdsourcing

Abstract

Chapter 2 describes crowdsourcing, a process where problems are sent outside an organization to a large group of people—a crowd—who can help provide solutions. Online citizen science and online innovation contests are of particular interest because of their societal value. Within innovation, the two selected examples are from IdeaConnection and Climate Co-lab, two innovation intermediaries who host different types of online innovation contests. One of these contests, the IdeaRalley, represents an interesting new crowdsourcing method that allows hundreds of experts to participate in a one-week long intensive idea building process. In online citizen science, Zooniverse (e.g. Galaxy Zoo) and Foldit, are selected as two prominent, but contrasting examples. The online protein folding game Foldit stands out as a particularly successful project that show what amateur gamers can achieve. The game design combines human visual skills with computer power in solving protein-structure prediction problems by constructing three-dimensional structures. Most successful solutions are team performances or achievements made by the entire Foldit gaming community. All the examples in this chapter illustrate successful case stories, and the detailed analysis identify basic problem-solving mechanisms in crowdsourcing.