crowd power: a reading room presentation on crowdsourcing
DESCRIPTION
Say you want to count all the trees in a large forest. You could hire a team of ten people, equip them with hiking boots and click counters and send them on their way. The problem is, it would probably take decades. Alternatively, you take some high res satellite photos of the forest, create a simple online interface and ask the public to help. The job could be done in a few months. You’ve just crowdsourced your problem. You’ve divided a large task amongst a large audience. Wikipedia is a crowdsourced encyclopaedia. Kickstarter is a crowdsourced funding body. Zooniverse is a crowdsourced science project.TRANSCRIPT
Crowd Power: A Reading Room presentation on content crowdsourcingHarnessing the wisdom of crowds to grow content (and other good things)12 August 2014
Contents
Crowdsourcing & content - So what is it all about?
Factors and Favourability
Making it work – an NAA case study
Making it work… for you
#RRcrowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing and content
Content is KING
Engagement Content • Audience interactivity• Entertainment • Ownership• Adds value
Functional Content• Statutory requirements• Decision critical - timely and accurate.• SEO
So…. What is crowd sourced content?
The act of taking a job once performed by a designated agent… and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people through the form of an open call, which usually takes place over the Internet.
#RRcrowdsourcing
2009, Jeff Howe, The New York Times
Implicit • Co-creation of content • Participating in a community
Factors and Favourability
Huge advantages
#RRcrowdsourcing
• Community = engagement
• Enriched content
• Resource efficiency
• Exponential content population
• A new perspective
The leap of faith
WHO IS IN CONTROL?
WHAT WILL THEY SAY?
WHO IS CHECKING?
So what potential problems are there?
#RRcrowdsourcing
So what potential problems are there?
#RRcrowdsourcing
So what potential problems are there?
#RRcrowdsourcing
So what potential problems are there?
#RRcrowdsourcing
Making it work –case studies
Making it work –case studies
Making it work –case studies
Making it work –NAA
Making it work
• Make it EASY
• Make it ENGAGING
• Make it EDITABLE
Strategy first
#RRcrowdsourcing
Making it workLeveraging a passionate crowd
#RRcrowdsourcing
Making it workUnderstanding the crowd The crowd is:• Engaged in the subject matter – Historian• Interested in an individual or particular story – My Grandma• Compelled to contribute to the national narrative – School projects
This means :• Junk content minimised• Quantity of content likely to be high• Mixed levels of digital literacy
We needed to:• Facilitate different engagement styles • Content interaction and interconnection • Allow avenues for moderation and checking• Build in self correction and crowd correction
Making it work
#RRcrowdsourcing
Facilitate different engagement styles
Making it work
#RRcrowdsourcing
Facilitate different engagement styles
Making it work
#RRcrowdsourcing
Facilitate different engagement styles
Making it work
#RRcrowdsourcing
But how does this crowd source content?
Making it work
#RRcrowdsourcing
Flexible contributions
User Control
• Revert to previous
• Save a draft
• Clear help
• Report inappropriate content Administrator control
• Passive moderation
• Moderation queue
Making it work… for you
Making it work… for you
IT DOESN’T NEED TO BE HUGE
• Start with a clear task for your users to do
• Establish a motivation for contribution
• Start small
• Understand the resource cost, savings and benefits
#RRcrowdsourcing
Making it work… for you
Ratings and comments
#RRcrowdsourcing
Making it work… for you
Geolocation
#RRcrowdsourcing
Making it work… for you
Third party providers
#RRcrowdsourcing
Making it work… for you
Technical solutions are great, but…
What is your problem?
#RRcrowdsourcing
Questions
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