democracy

4 Reasons You Should Use Crowdsourcing

How many times have you said it? How many times have you said -- “only if I had two more people,” “only if I had a bigger budget,” “only if I had more time.” These are all common statements that plague companies of all different sizes. You understand this better than...

Let DARPA Tell You Why You Need the Crowd

Do you still have doubt or uncertainty in the application of crowdsourcing? I hear the arguments all the time -- “there are no standards,” “there is no accountability,” “are they skilled labor,” etc. And in all honesty they are not stupid questions. They are...

The Crowdfunding Bill Will Help Startups

Today is the day that the crowdfunding ecosystem in the US rejoices -- more specifically startups and small businesses. President Obama will sign the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act into law. The law allows non-accredited investors to invest in startups --...

Josh Soskin Creates a Chevrolet Volt Commercial

It seems that one of the main benefactors of crowdsourcing is the artisan -- specifically filmmakers and photographers. iStockPhoto was one of the first platforms to first be anointed as a crowdsourcing platform. And since 2006 there seems to be a steady uptick in...

Heinz Ketchup Crowdsourcing its New Slogan

So I am a big fan of Heinz Ketchup. I mean, I really like Heinz -- it’s a staple in my household. And while I don’t “Like” them on Facebook -- I think they have taken a bold step in asking its consumers for slogan ideas. Why is this such a bold step? Heinz is using...

President Obama to Sign the Crowdfunding Bill into Law

So what crowdfunding? According to Wikipedia -- the crowd-powered reference site: “...the collective cooperation, attention and trust by people who network and pool their money and other resources together, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by...

298 Years of the History of Crowdsourcing

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" -- crowdsourcing has been around since at least 1714....

Tim O’Reilly Speaks about the Crowdsourcing Community

Tim O'Reilly is such a wonderful speaker. I met him once at Tools of Change, in New York City. The conversation was very brief but I quickly realized why people gravitate to the man. During this TEDMED talk O’Reilly speaks about the power of communities. He continues...