Muhammad Saleem is a long time friend and a writer/thinker I admire. A few weeks ago he contacted me to see if I wanted to help him write his next e-book which will be on how to crowdsource your life.
My hands are pretty full, but since I'm guest-posting here at Crowdsourcing.com, I thought I'd check in with Mu and see how the book is coming along. (In reading the interview below, I'm happy to find out that the idea for the book came from Mu's involvement with NewAssignment.net a project I have been involved with since its inception).
1. So tell us about your book. From
what I understand it's all about how one can "crowdsource their life."
What does that mean exactly?
The
book I'm working on essentially focuses on the principles of
crowdsourcing, and takes a step-by-step approach to helping the readers
use those principles in every facet of their lives. The idea is that
crowdsourcing isn't just limited to projects like Wikipedia, but it can
be used for any aspect of your life.
2.
What is the inspiration for the book? What made you decide to focus on
this? Was there a personal event that made you realize this was
something worth researching? Or - is it the result of carefully
monitoring trends?
It all started
when I first interviewed Stephen Buckley from MIT's Center for
Collective Intelligence. When I asked him why systems like Wikipedia or
projects like Linux thrive in the absence of monetary rewards, his
response is what triggered the idea for this book:
The
incentive structures are different [with Linux], because you run into a
different kind of culture, the engineering culture. The rewards system
in an engineering culture is elegance and functionality and so it’s a
read ego boost for an engineer to create a piece of software that
becomes the object of adulation for his fellow engineers. All this is
to say that we will probably find that in different types of situations
there will be different kinds of cultures, and different sets of
incentives that motivate those cultures to work collectively.
That
is precisely the idea behind the book. First I want to create a
concrete framework around the concept of crowdsourcing and then I want
to research the specific cultures and sets of incentives necessary to
motive a large group of people to the point where one can crowdsource
his/her life.
3. What are some of the easy ways people can start crowdsourcing their lives right away?
The
most commonplace examples of crowdsourcing right now are citizen
journalism (newassignment, assignmentzero, ireport) and collaborative
programming (any open source project, linux, open office, top coder,
cofundos), and design (crowdspring, 99designs) . What you'll find is
that many of the other ways to crowdsource your life are actually sites
and services people are currently using but don't consider to be
crowdsource projects or platforms.
4. Is this the "lazy way out" - or does crowdsourcing your life take a lot of work?
I
don't think it's a lazy way out. What people don't understand about
crowdsourcing is that it takes time and it takes effort. What
crowdsourcing does, and why it's so great, is that it distributes the
tasks among the people most suited to perform them and uses the
groups intelligence to weed out those that are unsuited.
5.
What would be some of the potential downfalls of it all? Could one
"miss out on the best things in life" because they are trying to give
them all away?
This question is
certainly something that an Andrew Keen would ask. I think the system
is not perfect but that's only because we haven't figured out the right
incentives to motivate the people. Any crowdsourced project needs a
platform that can simultaneously motivate people and aggregate/filter
through the contributions to put the best results first. These systems
will continue to improve as we better understand crowdsourcing and as
more people participate in the process.
Psssst... You spelled Mu's name wrong ;)
Posted by: Gerard Barberi | July 16, 2008 at 01:45 PM
This question is certainly something that an Andrew Keen would ask. I think the system is not perfect but that's only because we haven't figured out the right incentives to motivate the people. Any crowdsourced project needs a platform that can simultaneously motivate people and aggregate/filter through the contributions to put the best results first. These systems will continue to improve as we better understand crowdsourcing and as more people participate in the process.
Posted by: kraloyun | December 07, 2009 at 05:06 AM
Any crowdsourced project needs a platform that can simultaneously motivate people and aggregate/filter through the contributions to put the best results first.
Posted by: nike air force 1 | July 07, 2010 at 06:28 AM
I think about crowdsourcing as the journalism of our century: Reliable and free from all those mass media prejudges.
Posted by: buy viagra | July 19, 2010 at 06:41 AM
I would like to send a big hello to all readers of this blog, my name is Anny, I am a lawyer, I love articles like this. I love reading, love pictures, surf the net in search of interesting subjects with photos or videos to view, for these reasons this blog seemed sensational, really hope you keep writing more, please if you can send information, do so.
Posted by: Impotence causes | October 10, 2010 at 10:13 AM
It was a pleasure for me to read an article like this, I am very happy :)... Thanks for sharing the information with us, please ask them to continue getting more blogs and articles equally, or at least similar to this!
Goodbye!!
Posted by: Cheap viagra | October 10, 2010 at 08:19 PM
have tried to contact you often -- I am a musician who is spreading positive music, and I often do
Posted by: MBT Shoes | November 05, 2010 at 05:32 PM
So beauthiful the essay, i like them very much!
Posted by: Nike Dunk Low | November 09, 2010 at 09:12 PM
Thank you for sharing!Best wishes!
Posted by: Red Laser | November 10, 2010 at 12:59 AM
Music is the only language in which you cannot say a mean or sarcastic thing.so,do you like it, too?
Posted by: ugg store | November 11, 2010 at 06:35 PM
Un I hope you all have a blessed days!
Posted by: shop taobao china | November 16, 2010 at 01:24 AM
So cool. What else can I say.Thanks once again for the great tunes.
Posted by: promotional items | December 30, 2010 at 04:19 AM
I guess the point is to give as much as possible so that you and your money work for you like a good servant, we should try to do it.
Posted by: cheap air jordan shoes | January 12, 2011 at 08:02 PM
OH OH OH OH MY HAPPY ENDING....ALL OF MY MEMORY....
Posted by: Air Jordans | January 27, 2011 at 11:51 PM
I'll have to go read up more here. It's always so much fun to read your blog, many thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Mulberry outlet store | May 16, 2011 at 01:10 AM
We have gotten many great comments from our customers and earn a good reputation in foreign makerts, more than 90% customers are satisfied with our products and service, till now our online members are beyond 80,000. As of right now, we currently serve customers from over 18 countries, and we are still growing. We really hope to expand our business through cooperation with individuals and companies from around the world.
Posted by: chaussures femmes | August 29, 2011 at 04:52 AM
金融機関、 [url=http://www.ugg-rakuten.com/]ブーツ通販[/url]インスタンスクロアチアに対する世界中のさまざまな他の債務国全体にドミノ式の非決済につながることに加えてギリシャの債券に関連する、イングス。一方、ある種の予想以上に深刻な景気後退は7を含むこの2011年から2012年会計年度の赤字目標と一緒になってからポルトガルを防止。不潔な家庭用製品やサービスに関する八%は、我々政府は述べた。 2011-2012に関するギリシャの赤字は間違いなく8-10を達成するために必要です。 SOME GDPに関するパーセント、またはさらに€18。 6900万($ 25。30億ドル)。 "私は実際にこの改良を完了しているヨーロッパの国々を想像する。共同早く大きく表示されたりしても彼らは関係なく、ポルトガルを経由していることが言及、"倫は述べています。 "彼らの先延ばしは、間違いなく市場の詩を傷つけた。"U. ERSUSの内部。、あまりにも、 [url=http://www.ugg-rakuten.com/ugg-bailey-button-triplet-ugg-5_8.html]ベイリーボタントリプレットをuggの[/url] 、多くの援助が重要な企業に沿って行って、倫は述べています。雇用量の特定の大規模な不足を軽減するために、人々が仕事をするために戻ってばかりアシスト:キーの伝統的な銀行と一緒に私達の政府は、しかしそれほど大きくない経済問題のための主な目的にお金を入れる。
Posted by: クラシックアーガイルニットuggの | October 05, 2011 at 07:59 PM
I had always wanted to learn about this topic ... I think it's great the way you expose .. great work and continuing on with this great blog
Posted by: justin bieber supras | October 07, 2011 at 06:27 PM
I like the writing structure of your blog and it does a pretty decent job of presenting the material.
Posted by: Moncler Jackets Kids | October 12, 2011 at 12:58 PM
I "like" you on Facebook. Would love these for my oldest boy!
Posted by: supra vaider | October 14, 2011 at 01:18 PM
As of right now, we currently serve customers from over 18 countries, and we are still growing. We really hope to expand our business through cooperation with individuals and companies from around the world.
Posted by: Timberland Boots Sale | December 21, 2011 at 09:47 PM