Is crowdsourcing the way of the future?

Is crowdsourcing the way of the future?

I have to lead off this post by saying that I'm a bit biased. I'm still jazzed about attending CrowdConf2011 (http://www.crowdconf.com/) in San Francisco last week.

We got to hear all the cutting edge stuff by some of the leaders at Google, Microsoft and Amazon, just to name a few. We also got a glimpse of all of the cool stuff that Nokia is doing in Europe and Asia and what we should expect here in terms of mobile engagement in the near future.

Although a lot of the conference was geared towards what I call microtasking (something like outsourcing on steroids), there was a lot of talk about using crowdsourcing techniques and platforms to engage crowds and give the power back to the people. I think this is where I see the most potential, given society's demand for more involvement and transparency.

Some of the best examples that I saw came from the Nokia presentation and from some of the cool ways non-profits are using the platform to raise funds, awareness and in crisis in emerging economies. I also got to sit in on a session that lets citizen input comments via virtual sticky notes as part of the planning exercise.

The first day was a workshop on understanding crowdsourcing, its history and its current business uses. David Alan Grier, a prof at George Washington University, had a very interesting presentation and concentrated on the use of technology and its leverage of older management theories.

So to come back to my central question, my answer is yes. As I see it, the use of technology to level the playing field and to provide more opportunities for everyone is a good thing. But like everything in life, it’s not all about puppy dogs and unicorns, there are a few caveats with this new way of doing things.

If you would like to know more, don't hesitate to drop me a line (ecollard@intersol.ca). As you can probably tell, I'm very excited about this and I could talk about this stuff all day!

Eric Collard is a consultant with Intersol, specializing in stakeholder relations, social media and crowdsourcing. He would love to connect with you. No, really…