Crowdsourcing???

The idea of crowdsourcing, although very new to me, is something I find highly controversial. Crowdsourcing is similar to the ideas in James Surowiecki’s book The Wisdom of Crowds. Surowiecki argues that a diverse group of individuals often make just as good a decision if not a better one than an individual. The businesses that use crowdsourcing are similarly thinking that the large group they are outsourcing may have more to offer than the employee who would usually perform the task.

The subject is new to me and Surowiecki does make a good cause for the value of a crowd's knowledge over the individual. However, I am inclined to believe that crowdsourcing is a bad idea. A business is not guaranteed results by the outsourced group. There is no monetary incentive like that an employee would value. There is no contract to hold anyone accountable if the project fails. Not to mention the implications it has on the value of a well-educated employee. The business could end up wasting money on the project if failure occurs. The business is relying heavily on coordination with a group of people it is hard to communicate with. Despite all the evidence in favor of the knowledge of a crowd, I cannot believe that potential benefits of crowdsourcing outweigh the potential downfalls.

Why do we care...

The idea in The Wisdom of Crowds that a group of diverse people often come up with solutions to problems that are better than the solution an expert would have provided can be witnessed when visiting this site. Couples post their sides to an argument and the crowd votes on who is right. Members of the crowd even leave comments stating exactly what they think about the disagreement. These individuals are not looking for advice in solving their relationship problems; instead they are looking for reassurance. That can be clearly seen through the voting of who is right or wrong. They do not take into consideration each individual cultural and individual identity.

Similarly the success and syndication of Dear Abby and other advice columns demonstrates how much emphasis people place on the wisdom of another person. People think dear Abby is an expert on these issues and hope for some insight in solving their problem.

Personally I'd trust those closest to me before I would ever consider a strangers advice. Knowing my friends cultural and individual identities I know where their advice is coming from. Normally I would prefer an "experts" advice over a diverse group of individuals. However, in deciding between a soliciting a columnist or a crowd, I would choose a crowd. The columnist is not an expert, and since we are well aware of the potential accuracy of a crowd I would be inclined to trust their response over the columnists'.