How about Crowdsourcing?
You are probably aware that more and more companies are moving towards community participation and crowdsourcing solutions. This refers to an outsourcing approach where actual work is done by communities - either for free or for little compensation.
Facebook is asking its German, French and Spanish users to localize the Facebook UI for free (details here). Adobe is exploring similar options (to read an article on crowdsourcing at Adobe, click here).
This is an interesting trend, and looking at the response in the media and in blogs, customers seem divided in their interpretation of this approach. Some consider it a great opportunity to get involved and to make a difference; others view it as a sly initiative of businesses to exploit their customers, getting them to work for free. I am torn between these approaches. I generally don’t like to work for free unless it is for a non-profit or work on a project that has a direct impact on my life. However, if someone asked me to participate in a for-profit community participation project I was qualified for and truly interested in, I might be tempted to participate (although this would rather be participating in a group translation of Honorius Augustodunensis “Imago Mundi” than a Facebook UI localization project).
What are you thinking? What kind of community participation/wiki/crowdsourcing projects are you participating in and why?
Let me close this entry with a quote by Jay Leno from 2000. It predates the current crowdsourcing discourse but nicely sums it up:
Here's something that annoys me. Supermarkets all over the country are installing these new machines that give customers the opportunity to scan and bag their own groceries. Is that an opportunity? Isn't that a job basically? Didn't we have pimpled high school kids doing this kind of work? What is the next big opportunity going to have? ''Ketchup spill on aisle nine. Here's your chance to get in on the ground floor of a major opportunity.''
Have a great day,
Britta
