We often talk about what we call the “1-9-90” rule. This is the basic rule of thumb for most online communities: 1% of your community are people who will become highly active in your online site – they will make new submissions, comment on a ton of others, vote and just generally be so active…
One of the common complaints about crowdsourcing is that it can become a popularity contest: the idea that gets the most early votes rises to the top of the list, therefore gets more views, and therefore more votes and becomes the winner. And, unfortunately, for many so-called “crowdsourcing” sites, this is true. You see it…
Is it true? Do I understand it? Is it data I can apply to perform better, right now? Turns out crowdsourcing has a lot in common with information governance. This week at a beautiful desert oasis in New Mexico, Chaordix participated on IBM’s Data Governance Council Forum to work on strengthening and modernizing the Maturity…
Way back in February we were invited by Matt Thompson at Mozilla to present to the Drumbeat community about our experiences with crowdsourcing technology ideas from initial concept through to development. (For those of you who aren’t familiar with Drumbeat, it’s a Mozilla initiative to crowdsource the design and development of things that will enhance…
Originally posted at Innovate on Purpose on August 31th, 2010. I’ve just finished reading a book called Intangible Capital (more on that in another post) by Mary Adams. The book does a good job describing the value and importance of knowledge, intellectual property and other intangible assets, and why innovation is key to the creation…
In a post two weeks ago, we talked about how crowdsourcing for market research can avoid some of the inherent biases that can come with traditional research techniques. There is another reason for why crowdsourcing is being increasingly applied for market research: it can result in better data. A common question we hear is “how…
There are lots of success stories about crowdsourcing out there, but unfortunately, there are also a fair number about crowdsourcing failures. Recently I’ve read about or heard about some perceived failures, in particular the Pepsi Refresh Challenge and the Mad Men Casting Call, which have motivated me to write about why some crowdsourcing goes…
Before heading home from Mobile World Congress I got to spend a day off in Barcelona over at Gaudi Park with my friend, Michelle Sklar. We got talking about how some cities seem to be more open to innovation and wondering whether Barcelona might offer some lessons to organizations looking to innovate. First, travelling around Barcelona, we see touches of…
Always dating the wrong dame? Why not try crowdsourcing the search for your next girlfriend? Because the rumors are probably true… your mother does know best…and so does everyone else. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, here are some tips on using crowdsourcing to help you find that special lady. Make the right call to…
We had a great call this morning with some people working Mozilla’s Drumbeat project, including Matt Thompson and Mark Surman. We tried to share some insights from the Cambrian House community and hope they were helpful to the Drumbeat crew. Not everyone contributes in the same way -The Cambrian House community had a pretty complex system to award…