Week 2 -- Crowdsourcing

What did I watch/read:

I watched / read the text and clips on crowdsourcing as well as the podcast "info liquidity". I also checked out the post on how to build a startup w/o writing code. I still want to watch the Alma Whitten video clip on internet security.

What were the most important/interesting topics I came across the last week and what did I get out of it?

The main topic of the texts and video clips was certainly the concept of crowdsourcing and the opportunities it holds for businesses. Key to a crowdsourcing-powered project is to form an online community where “the crowd” can have a certain degree of ownership of the project or product. The ability to interact with other participants, learn from each other and have fun together in this online community are essential ingredients for a successful crowdsourced business or product developed through crowdsourcing. That business can be a new startup or a project from an established company like P&G. The tradeoff is the lack of control to some degree as well as the release of IP. When set up efficiently crowdsourcing can be very effective since in theory it can tap into an unlimited supply of human knowledge, skill and brainpower. The participants want to contribute to the development of a product and share product related information, which means that marketing efforts by the company can be limited, and the business carries itself. The crowdsourcing concept can be expanded to financing of a product development again by allowing the online community to own a share of a business or product they feel passionate about.

What I found interesting was the P&G example b/c previously I associated crowdsourcing and crowdfunding more with web-based startups with a novel idea, not established big companies. In my own organization the issue of IP would probably prevent opening up development initiatives to the crowd. When thinking about crowdsourcing I also had pure web based activities in mind not engineering and lab R&D, which requires equipment and facilities. 

What would I learn more about:

I’d surely like to learn more about the breadth and reach of crowdsourcing in areas I normally wouldn’t associate with that concept. Since I work in chemical R&D I want to check out InnoCentive or YourEncore. 

I liked the post on how to build a startup w/o writing code and want to dig deeper into the links provided in the post. I also initiated a FB discussion on that topic since some people in my network are very interested in it.