Crowdsourcing is an important term in many areas, and especially in the domain of citizen journalism. Basically, the entire basis and foundation of citizen journalism is based on the principle of voluntary information and work being submitted by the masses.
The entire foundation of the internet is essentially based on this principle. Sure, there are websites set up by companies to sell their products, and so on-however, the vast majority of sites are formulated from regular Joe’s.
Crowdsourcing has become so popular that the website Innovation Zen actually released a top ten list of crowdsourcing websites.
This sounds great, although the problem that shines through with this, is that while a lot of these people never make a dime off of their efforts (and it should be noted that they are okay with this fact, because they continue to contribute regardless)-it seems that someone is making money. So the question is, how much of crowdsourcing is actual exploitation.
The entire foundation of the internet is essentially based on this principle. Sure, there are websites set up by companies to sell their products, and so on-however, the vast majority of sites are formulated from regular Joe’s.
Crowdsourcing has become so popular that the website Innovation Zen actually released a top ten list of crowdsourcing websites.
This sounds great, although the problem that shines through with this, is that while a lot of these people never make a dime off of their efforts (and it should be noted that they are okay with this fact, because they continue to contribute regardless)-it seems that someone is making money. So the question is, how much of crowdsourcing is actual exploitation.
These people essentially make the web what it is-yet most of the time they are not signed to contracts, or given wages, or sometimes even credited for their work. In the everyday world this would be a travesty, however in a web-based society this is widely accepted without objection.
So, have people found a way to express themselves freely through the internet, or are they being made to believe that they are free to feed into someone else’s greed? I believe that it is a little bit of both.
That gets me wondering, where is my cheque for these class postings?
So, have people found a way to express themselves freely through the internet, or are they being made to believe that they are free to feed into someone else’s greed? I believe that it is a little bit of both.
That gets me wondering, where is my cheque for these class postings?
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