Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing is a term coined by Jeff Howe, a Wired Magazine writer, in one of his famous articles "The Rise of Crowdsourcing" in 2006. He defines the term as "the act of taking a job traditionally performed by a designed agent (usually an employee) and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people in the form of an open call" (Howe). Today, companies use crowdsourcing as a tool to receive input from consumers about their ideas and products. It has provided many benefits to society, including finding the disappearing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370; but also has cons to how it works.

Businesses and companies make use of crowdsourcing to target what their consumer want and products they are interested in. It outsources information and ideas to the public to receive input regarding certain issues, products, and participation. It has been known to "serve business goals, improve public participation in governance, design products, and solve problems" ( Sloane 15). Crowdsourcing can be used for anything - from ideas for products to helping to find two hikers in the mountains of Peru. A more recent example of a crowdsourcing event is the request of people to search through satellite images to find where Malaysia aircraft could be.

DigitalGlobe is a firm out of Colorado that owns and operates an advanced satellite network. After the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, the companies requested the help of the public to pinpoint pictures of possible debris from the aircraft. CNN reported that the search for the aircraft has been an Internet phenomenon. DigitalGlobe took pictures "400 miles above the Gulf of Thailand [that] captures a detail as small as a home plate" (CNN). The company recruited the public to s...

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...hing products and allow the public to vote if they would purchase the item or not. The use of crowdsourcing saves the company time and money.

Also, crowdsourcing has made an impact in our society. Amber Alert is an emergency response system that sends out information about a missing child via media broadcast. The public can use this information to notify the police of any information regarding the kidnapping.

The recently coined term "crowdsourcing" has made a large impact in society today, from the advertising and business world to the world of law enforcement. It gives individuals the ability to freely express their opinion of a product or use ideas to create new merchandise. It has also changed the way in finding individuals in disastrous events via satellite images. Even though crowdsourcing has pros and cons, it has made a positive impact in society today.