You can now visit a more detailed Crowdsourcing Timeline, which includes crowdsourcing examples from pre-1714 and after 2011.
So, what does the history of crowdsourcing look like?
I mean, everything has to start somewhere and in business the longer it’s been around the better — right? Now, while Jeff Howe coined the phrase “crowdsourcing” in 2006 — crowdsourcing has been around since at least 1714. This was when the British government announced a prize for solving the longitude problem to improve navigation and safety at sea.
Since then, crowdsourcing’s timeline is peppered with various milestones:
- King Louis XVI of France offers a prize for producing alkali from sea salt — 1783
- Planters Peanuts holds contest to develop its logo — 1916
- Wikipedia launches — 2001
- Iceland government crowdsources the process for its new constitution — 2011
I believe that one of the reasons you are cautious about crowdsourcing — is that maybe you think it’s a trend that piggy-backed off the popularity of social media.
Crowdsourcing, is one of the oldest work processes in human history and has steadily grown in acceptance over the past 300+ years. The facts remains that its popularity, in large part, is due to the Internet. It’s the information super highway that has allowed crowdsourcing to flourish. By giving birth to a myriad products and services that solve many issues by tapping into a massive collaboration tool.
Case in point, this year we say goodbye to the print edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The reference book company has been in business since 1768. However, the company announced in March 2012 that it would no longer produce new print editions and would focus solely on its online version and other digital educational products, according to Wikipedia. Now there are a handful of reasons why Jorge Cauz, President of Britannica, made this decision. But one of the undeniable facts is the competition that Wikipedia represents – a crowd-powered reference site.
When making the case for crowdsourcing, understanding its history is as important as its present and its future.
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