Comments on: Dirt cheap labour

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:11:28 +0000

@MikeT -- I'm a small business owner and I crowdsourced my company logo for $295 through http://www.99designs.com . I posted a "$295" (not quite the $1 million that Netflix offered, I know) and got 78 unique logos to choose from in about a weeks time. I was happy with the result - anyone can do it.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:54:58 +0000

Another example of crowdsourcing in action is 99designs.com which allows businesses to hold "design contests" for everything from logos, to book covers, to van designs.

By: Bert

Bert — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:24:46 +0000

Capitalism is alive. Something for nothing from the simple minded masses.

By: Mike T.

Mike T. — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:53:28 +0000

I don't like this article because it begins by listing examples that would apply only a glamorous and high-profile industry like the media, then follows it up with a number of examples which have important differences from 'crowdsourcing' as it would be commonly understood (cash prizes and employee suggestions are hardly new innovative tools of the future, no matter what platform is used to deliver them).

A rare miss from non-Steyn MacLeans articles, I think.

By: Marcus Riedner

Marcus Riedner — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:37:29 +0000

There is a lot more going on to crowdsourcing and leveraging communities to get things done then just cheap labour. That is really just the tip of the iceburg. Everywhere you look these days social media and communities are getting leveraged to do some spectacular things, from fund raising to R&D. There are some great articles about it on Guy Kawasaki's Twitter feed ( a must follow if you are into this stuff ) which can be found at: http://twitter.com/GuyKawasaki . You can also find out more about Cambrian House at www.cambrianhouse.com and more about crowdsourcing at www.chaordix.com . There are some great books on the topic by Jeff Howe, Guy Kawasaki, etc. Crowdsourcing: Here Comes Everyone is one of the keynote books to look at, and outlines a lot of interesting things. I am looking forward to the day when things like the democratic process can be farmed out to the voters directly, where direct democracy is enabled through technology. That would be a very cool thing indeed.