Why China Online Users Matter video From CNN
27 March 2011 By
Nidhi Dutt, Mumbai Correspondent, BBC News, Rajasthan
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| After the quake in Haiti, volunteers with Ushahidi mapped the incidents that needed rescuers’ attention. |
March 28,
2011, 9:15 PM By TINA ROSENBERG from New York Times Opinion
Pages
"online
crowdsourcing is a relatively recent phenomenon, and
the efficiencies it brings to communicating within a large group make
it useful in many new ways. Many of us use crowdsourcing without
thinking about it. If you’ve ever made a purchase on eBay, read customer
reviews on Amazon.com to help you decide which rollerblades to buy or used
comments on TripAdvisor.com to plan a vacation, you’ve taken advantage of crowd-sourcing.
Crowd-sourcing is being applied in many fields.
At catwalkgenius.com it is bringing together fashion designers and
financial backers. At usertesting.com it provides feedback on why
people leave your Web site. It connects musicians and their fans to help
organize private concerts at owngig.com. Innocentive.com uses it to
solve scientific and technological problems: companies stuck on a problem
put it up on the site and offer a cash prize for a solution. About 30
percent of the time, an outsider solves the problem — often someone who isn’t
even in the same field...." >> Continue Reading
