Crowdsourcing (Review and Analysis of Howe's Book)

Book Presentation: Crowdsourcing by Jeff Howe

Summary of Crowdsourcing (Jeff Howe)

Book Presentation: Crowdsourcing by Jeff Howe

Book Abstract

MAIN IDEA

Crowdsourcing is the act of taking a task traditionally performed by a designated agent (such as an employee or a contractor) and outsourcing it by making an open call to an undefined but large group of people. Crowdsourcing allows the power of the crowd to accomplish tasks that were once the province of just a specialized few. Or to put it another way, crowdsourcing is to take the principles which have worked for open source software projects and apply them right across the entire spectrum of the business world.

Crowdsourcing has the potential to correct a long-standing human conundrum. The amount of knowledge and talent dispersed among the numerous members of our species has always vastly outstripped our capacity to harness those invaluable quantities. Instead, it withers on the vine for want of an outlet. Crowdsourcing is the mechanism by which such talent and knowledge is matched to those in need of it. It poses a tantalizing question: What if the solutions to our greatest problems weren’t waiting to be conceived, but already existed somewhere, just waiting to be found, in the warp and weave of this vibrant human network?

– Jeff Howe

About the Author

JEFF HOWE is a contributing editor at Wired magazine. He has been a professional journalist for fifteen years and has been a senior editor at Inside.com as well as a writer at the Village Voice. In his current assignment with Wired magazine, Mr. Howe covers the entertainment industry and other subjects. Mr. Howe’s articles have been published in the U.S. News & World Report, Time magazine, the Washington Post, Mother Jones and various other publications.

The Web site for this book is at www.crowdsourcing.com.

Important Note About This Ebook

This is a summary and not a critique or a review of the book. It does not offer judgment