Crowdsourcing For Dummies

Give your business the edge with crowd-power! Crowdsourcing is an innovative way of outsourcing tasks, problems or requests to a group or community online. There are lots of ways business can use crowdsourcing to their advantage: be it crowdsourcing product ideas and development, design tasks, market research, testing, capturing or analyzing data, and even raising funds. It offers access to a wide pool of talent and ideas, and is an exciting way to engage the public with your business. Crowdsourcing For Dummies is your plain-English guide to making crowdsourcing, crowdfunding and open innovation work for you. It gives step-by-step advice on how to plan, start and manage a crowdsourcing project, where to crowdsource, how to find the perfect audience, how best to motivate your crowd, and tips for troubleshooting.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Conventions Used in This Book 2 What You’re Not to Read 2 Foolish Assumptions 3 How This Book Is Organised 4 Part I: Understanding Crowdsourcing Basics 4 Part II: Looking at the Different Forms of Crowdsourcing 4 Part III: Building Skill 4 Part IV: Getting All You Can Get from the Crowd 5 Part V: The Part of Tens 5 Icons Used in This Book 5 Where to Go from Here 6 Part I: Understanding Crowdsourcing Basics 7 Chapter 1: People Power: Getting a Feel for Crowdsourcing 9 What is This Thing Called Crowdsourcing? 10 Seeing how crowdsourcing works 10 Looking at crowdsourcing forms 11 Considering Why People Crowdsource 13 Introducing three key strengths 13 Benefitting from crowdsourcing 14 Considering reliability 15 Being a Crowdworker 16 Becoming a Crowdsourcer 17 Chapter 2: Getting to Know the Forms of Crowdsourcing and Crowdmarkets 19 Harnessing the Power of Divided Labour 20 Keeping the job whole 20 Splitting the job into big pieces 21 Dividing the job as small as you can 22 Letting the crowd divide the job 23 Using crowdsourcing to raise money 24 Looking at the Rules that Govern How Crowdmarkets Work 25 Distinguishing between contract and contest markets 27 Understanding collaborative and independent crowdworking 27 Combining the two rules 28 Chapter 3: Infiltrating the Crowd 29 Following the Crowdworker’s Steps 30 Taking Lessons from Your Time as a Crowdworker 32 Lesson 1: Crowdworkers have names and reputations 32 Lesson 2: Crowds need training 33 Lesson 3: Crowds want clear instructions 34 Lesson 4: Crowds are free to move 34 Joining the Staff of Wikipedia 35 Registering as a worker 35 Choosing a task 36 Completing a task 36 Submitting a task 36 Leaping into the Market with Amazon’s Mechanical Turk 37 Registering as a worker 37 Selecting the task 38 Qualifying and completing the task 39 Donning the White Lab Coat: Zooniverse 41 Chapter 4: Joining the Crowdforce 43 Deciding to Join the Crowdforce 44 Considering Your Options 46 Looking at microtasks 47 Competing for the contest 48 Lining up for macrotasks 48 Wading into self-organised crowds 49 Searching for careers in crowdfunding 50 Getting Up and Running on a Macrotask Crowdmarket 51 Choosing a market 51 Setting yourself up on the market 52 Building your portfolio 53 Protecting Yourself as a Macrotasker 53 Making the Bid in Macrotasking 54 The proposal 55 The covering letter 55 The résumé 57 Setting the price 57 Learning from the process 58 Completing the Macrotask 58 Remembering the goal 58 Communicate, communicate, communicate 59 Working across cultures 59 Keeping good records 60 Getting an extra recommendation 60 Part II: Looking at the Different Forms of Crowdsourcing 61 Chapter 5: Creating Crowdcontests 63 Reaping the Benefits of Crowdcontests 63 Deepening understanding 64 Faster, better, cheaper 65 Understanding Types of Crowdcontest 66 Running a Crowdcontest 67 Stating the goal 68 Writing the rules 69 Publicising the results 72 Improving the Crowdcontest 73 Splitting the contest 74 Building a stronger crowd 75 Running a series of contests 76 Considering an Example: The Business Logo 76 Running a logo contest yourself 76 Using a contest service to run the contest for you 77 Chapter 6: Raising Money with Crowdfunding 79 Knowing the Basics of Crowdfunding 80 Seeing crowdfunding as a community activity 80 Using the crowdmarket 81 Deciding between all-or-nothing funding or partial funding 82 Understanding the fee 83 Running a Crowdfunding Project 84 Writing the budget 84 Describing your project 85 Setting a deadline for a decision 86 Contacting the crowd 87 Considering an Example: Creating a Playground 88 Building a budget 89 Writing a letter 89 Setting a timeline 89 Getting the crowd 91 Accumulating Equity for a Company 91 Making a pitch 92 Using a platform 93 Paying the fees and getting the funds 93 Attracting the crowd 95 Waiting for results 96 Examining the results 96 Using non-equity funding 98 Chapter 7: Making Use of Macrotasks 99 Getting to Grips with Macrotasking 100 Seeing the Benefits of Macrotasks 101 Identifying Macrotasks 103 Thinking process, not organisation 103 Identifying independent tasks 105 Choosing what’s important 105 Finding a fixed deadline 106 Requiring special skills 106 Preparing the Macrotask 107 Naming the manager107 Putting together a statement of work for macrotask workers 108 Beginning the Macrotask 110 Choosing a site 111 Posting the project 111 Inviting workers to your job 112 Choosing a Macrotasker 112 Reading the covering letter 113 Reviewing the proposal 113 Assessing the portfolio 113 Checking the reputation 114 Judging qualifications 114 Interviewing 115 Making the selection 116 Managing the work 117 Protecting intellectual property 118 Ending the Macrotask 118 Paying the macrotasker and closing the books 118 Assessing the experience 119 Considering an Example: Creating an App 119 Checking that your task is a macrotask 120 Writing the statement of work 120 Posting the job 121 Hiring the macrotasker 122 Following the work 122 Ending the macrotask 123 Chapter 8: Managing with Microtasks 125 Identifying Tasks That You Can Microsource 125 Knowing How the Microtasking Process Works 127 Keeping tasks short and simple 127 Creating the basic task 128 Finding the basic data 128 Writing the instructions 130 Pricing the tasks 131 Training and validating workers 132 Checking the results 132 Assembling the work 134 Working through an Example with Mechanical Turk 135 Creating the task 135 Laying out the work 138 Starting with a test run 142 Reviewing the work and retrieving the results 143 Reviewing the prices of your microtasks 144 Chapter 9: Combining the Intelligence of Self-Organised Crowds 145 Getting to Grips with Self-Organised Crowds 146 Determining What You Need the Crowd to Do: Information Gathering and Decision Making 147 Gathering information 148 Making a decision 150 Gathering and deciding 150 Designing the Process 151 Finding the crowd 152 Preparing clear rules 153 Motivating the crowd 154 Looking at the results 155 Organising a Prediction Market 156 Finding prediction markets 157 Establishing the rules 158 Laying down the rules 159 Assessing the result 160 Part III: Building Skill 161 Chapter 10: Engaging the Crowd with Your Project 163 Getting Started with Crowdbuilding 164 Knowing what motivates the crowd 164 Identifying the talent and resources you need 165 Adapting your strategy for public and private crowds 165 Inviting People to Join Your Crowd 166 Seeding the crowd 166 Engaging on YouTube 167 Granting bragging rights 168 Fostering Community Spirit 168 Building an online base 169 Showing how tasks contribute to the overall goal 170 Identifying benefits 170 Updating the crowd on progress 171 Sustaining the Crowd’s Interest 171 Teaching and Training 172 Showing the outcome 172 Leading the crowd through the tasks 173 Engaging on YouTube (again) 173 Chapter 11: Instructing the Crowd 175 Preparing the Fundamental Message: Writing a Statement of Work 176 Structuring carefully 176 Making clarity your goal 179 Looking at an example statement of work 181 Connecting the Kneebone to the Thighbone: Creating Instructions 182 Thinking about who does what to what 183 Deciding the order of instructions 184 Getting Feedback on Your Guidance 185 Chapter 12: Crowdsourcing with Social Media 187 Knowing the Benefits and the Limitations of Social Media Crowdsourcing 187 Building a Private Crowd with Social Media 189 Doing Simple Crowdsourcing with Social Media 191 Crowdfunding: Fundraising with Facebook 191 Macrotasking: Looking for freelancers with LinkedIn 192 Crowdcontests: Turning to Twitter 193 Microtasking: Translating via a blog 194 Turning the Process Upside Down: Using a Crowdsourcing Tool 195 Crowdfunding: Going fundraising 195 Crowdcontests: Modifying marketing methods 196 Microtasking and crowdsurveys: Asking for Opinions on Facebook 197 Microtasking: Reading the tweet leaves 198 Recognising the Difference between Social Media and Social Research 200 Chapter 13: Picking Your Platform 203 Getting the Benefits of a Platform 204 Raising the crowd 204 Knowing what other people know 205 Using standardised crowdsourced services 205 Getting a helping hand with bookkeeping 207 Cutting the risk factor 208 Finding the Right Crowd 208 Reviewing products 209 Checking out individual portfolios 210 Looking for the Right Support 210 Guiding your project 211 Acting as mediator 211 Protecting intellectual property 212 Deciding How Much You Want to Do 213 Reading the Fine Print 214 Understanding the cost 214 Expecting a refund 215 Knowing your responsibilities 215 Doing a Little Comparison Shopping 216 Checking out the contest providers 217 Connecting with the macrotaskers 217 Looking at options for microtasking 217 Finding the best funders 219 Chapter 14: Managing Your Crowd 221 Starting with the Right Balance of Skills 221 Choosing the Right People 223 Managing the Crowd through the Project 224 Using a consistent voice 224 Keeping in touch 225 Tracking milestones 226 Giving the crowd space to work 227 Respecting Workers’ Rights 228 Keeping on Top of the Details: Payroll and Accounting 229 Incentivising to Build Quality 230 Rewarding best practices 230 Taking inspiration from gamification 231 Recognising Trouble 232 Knowing your options 233 Computing the price of failure 234 Treating the cause, not the symptom 234 Stopping a Project 234 Exiting firmly and gracefully 235 Protecting your intellectual property 235 When Crowds Attack: Dealing with Angry Crowds 236 Assessing the situation 236 Handling a discontented worker 237 Recognising structural problems 238 Managing the public relations problem 239 Chapter 15: Learning on the Job 241 Following the Cycle of Continuous Improvement 242 Using the Cycle in Crowdsourcing 244 Anticipating trouble 245 Keeping an eye out for stumbling blocks 245 Reading the signs from the crowd 249 Handling the Unexpected 249 Accepting bad results 250 Stopping, revising and restarting 250 Demanding a refund 251 Paying and trashing 252 Lowering the Stakes with a Pilot Run 253 Adapting a Crowdfunding Campaign According to Results 254 Changing the means and the message 255 Changing your platform 255 Changing the goal 255 Part IV: Getting All You Can Get from the Crowd 257 Chapter 16: Combining Microtasks and Preparing Workflow 259 Discerning the Difference between Parallel and Serial Microtasks 260 Doing the job all at once: Parallel tasks 261 Putting one thing after another: Serial tasks 262 Minimising Error 265 Appreciating the value of serial tasks 265 Duplicating parallel tasks 266 Working through an Example: Devising Workflow and Making Decisions in Mechanical Turk 267 Starting with parallel tasks 269 Advancing to serial tasks 270 Combining parallel and serial tasks 270 Going for Gold: The Many Benefits of Workflow 271 Chapter 17: Crowd Reporting: Using the Crowd to Gather Information and News 273 Understanding Why People Use Crowd Reporting 274 Sorting Eight Billion Stories 274 Helping the crowd focus 275 Combining amateurs and experts 275 Gathering Information Geographically with Ushahidi 277 Rallying the crowd to Ushahidi 279 Deploying Ushahidi 279 Summarising the results 280 Getting the Benefits while Avoiding the Perils of Crowd Reporting 281 Understanding the nature of the crowd 282 Knowing who’s talking: The crowd effect 284 Knowing what the crowd believes: Gresham’s Law 285 Chapter 18: Initiating Innovation 287 Understanding the Forms of Innovation Crowdsourcing 288 Asking for a Little Insight: Classes of Innovation 290 Crowdsourcing for novelty 290 Crowdsourcing for improvement 291 Crowdsourcing for advantage 292 Planning for Innovation 292 Planning for new ideas 293 Bringing the unexpected into your plan with a crowdcontest 294 Running with the Right Crowd 299 Knowing the different types of crowd 299 Matching your plans with the best crowd 300 Building New Products and Services with Co-creation 303 Generating ideas and defining products 304 Designing with the crowd 305 Testing, testing, testing 305 Giving the product to the world 306 Considering an Example: Restructuring a Business with InnoCentive 306 Chapter 19: Preparing Your Organisation 309 Focusing on Crowdsourcing Elements of Processes 310 Planning for the Future 312 Navigating a Trial Run 313 Building Commitment 314 Knowing the Limits 315 Bracing for the Unknowns 316 Part V: The Part of Tens 317 Chapter 20: Following the Future of Crowdsourcing: Ten (Or So) Websites to Watch 319 Discovering the State of Crowdsourcing: Crowdsourcing.org 320 Reading the Morning News: Daily Crowdsource 321 Getting the European Perspective: crowdsourcingblog.de 321 Meeting the Leaders: CrowdConf and Crowdopolis 322 Tracking Equity Crowdfunding: Crowdcube and Indiegogo 323 Monitoring the Growth of the Global Crowd: Clickworker and Trabajo 324 Expanding the Scope of Crowdcontests: Kaggle 325 Promoting Innovation: AHHHA and Innovation Exchange 326 Building New Microtasking Platforms: MobileWorks and Tagasauris 326 Macrotasking in the Boardroom: 10EQS 327 Chapter 21: Ten Best Practices to Adopt 329 Doing Things Step by Step 329 Copying What Others Have Done 330 Paying Attention to the Price 331 Talking with Your Crowd 331 Listening to the Crowd 332 Using Social Media 332 Publicising Accomplishments 333 Bringing the Crowd into the Decisions 333 Doing the Same Job Two Ways 334 Giving a Gift to the Crowd 334 Chapter 22: Ten Success Stories 335 Creating the SXSW Festival T-shirt 335 Developing Smith & Kraus’s Mobile App 336 Spending Time with Mr Bentham 337 Generating a New Movie Recommendation Method for Netflix 338 Building a National Treasure Trove 338 Running a Video Campaign for Audio-Technica 339 Getting USA Today on Mobile Phones 339 Analysing Viruses with Foldit 340 Writing Descriptions for Magnum Photos 341 Setting up Coffee Joulie with the Crowd’s Backing 342 Chapter 23: Ten Crowdsourcing Blunders to Avoid 343 Thinking Crowdsourcing Is Easy 343 Failing to Review the Work of the Crowd 344 Not Knowing Who’s in the Crowd 345 Failing to Do a Trial Run 346 Putting the Crowdsourcing Ahead of the Job 347 Losing Your Reputation 348 Hiding from the Crowd 349 Assuming That All Crowdworkers Understand 350 Having Too Much Faith in the Market 351 Index 353

About the Author :
David Alan Grier is a writer, teacher and consultant on labour, technology, communication and management. He is Associate Professor at George Washington University, where he teaches International Science and Technology Policy. He is also the 2013 President of the IEEE Computer Society.

Review :
"This is a very good book. I would definitely buy it if you are even slightly interested in crowdsourcing." (Frost Magazine, June 2013) "David Alan Grier's book is both a good starting point for the uninitiated as well as useful reference guide to those who are already part of the crowd." (B2B Marketing.net, May 2013)