Crowdsourcing

No longer surprised, I discovered yet another new term this week, thanks to our latest course topic:  Crowdsourcing.  According to Mason and Suri in their article, "Conducting Behavioral Research on Amazon's Mechanical Turk", the term originated with Howe (2006), "who defined it as a job outsourced to an undefined group of people in the form of an open call".  I guess, loosely speaking, much of what is being accomplished online these days is due to crowdsourcing.  Although the contributors to Wikipedia are not compensated financially, every time someone posts a stub, it is definitely an invitation or call to an undefined group of people.

The discovery of Amazon's Mechanical Turk was also amazing.  I am torn between feeling like an ostrich whose head has been buried in the sand for over two decades and the other extreme:  That of a kid at Christmas opening one gift after another!  How do people come up with all these ideas? What Amazon has created is the equivalent of an employment agency (a very efficient employment agency) x's 1,000 and then some.  With the initial capital investment for set-up complete, their operating cost (site maintenance, administration of payments received and made) must be quite low.  Amazon has managed to create a link between companies and research facilities seeking low cost labor and vast numbers of individuals who are seeking either employment from the comfort of their computer (did I just use the word comfort and computer in the same sentence?) or entertainment or both.  Sure there are hurdles, such as the lack of quality, committed participants who sign-up for the "job" but since the cost is negligible and the supply open-ended, it really doesn't matter that much.  The Mechanical Turk is the silent platform where numbers of employers advertise their jobs and potential employees shop for the one that best suits their fancy.  It's one-stop advertising, application, interview and hiring all bundled together.

American ingenuity at it's best!