WiserEarth Blog

Published by Peggy on 15 Mar 2010 at 11:05 am

Crowdsourcing a presentation

Beth Kanter along with Amy Sample Ward, Holly Ross, Kari Dunn Saratovsky and David Neff led a memorable crowdsourced presentation at SXSW Interactive.

What is crowdsourcing?
Crowdsourcing was defined in the session as a way to work together for mutual good, and without competing for a bottom line. @kdmc, on Twitter, had a great succinct definition: “Experts + general public = formula for Crowd sourcing” while @acarvin said “My crowdsourcing definition: Getting the public to help you. Simple as that.” The twitter tag for the event was #crowdx

Everyone seemed to agree that the value of crowdsourcing is undeniable. It not only encourages diversity of thought but also levels the field of discussion so that different constituents can talk on an equal plane. Imagine the diversity this brings, and the innovative ideas that come through. It is a powerful way to mix experts with individuals that might not normally be heard.

How is it used?
A few months ago, the panelists asked the community to share what they thought were the best crowdsourced examples of initiatives working towards social change. Here are some of their favorites:

• Seattle Free School is a free school created for the community by the community. Social media has not only been an integral part of their strategy but also has enabled their program to succeed.
• Open Green Map helps the community map themselves. It is a totally crowdsourced information site on green living.
• Invisible People is a great example of how an initiative “used the crowd” to get stories and prompt action.

TheTwittersphere also had many examples to share:

• @eddybadrina: Example of crowdsourcing to nominate charities and giving money away to them: www.project7.com. cc: @project7 @tylermerrick #crowdx
• @lguite: Example of crowdsourcing for video footage here at #sxsw with Election documentary that played here last night. #crowdx
• @thinklynsen: My fave crowdsourced tool: @kaboom Playspace Finder. Find & map the “state of play” in your neighborhood! #crowdx
• @acarvin: Someone talking about Creole translation after Haiti quake. Our #crisiscamp vols also made the first Creole-English app, Tradui. #crowdx
• @andrewjcohen: The Sunlight Foundation’s App for America contest is an excellent crowd sourced project. Winner: DataMasher.org (plug!) #crowdx
• @paulfbove: My fave example of crowdsourcing? @geoffliving raising $5K for cancer research. Power in the crowd. #crowdx #sxsw http://bit.ly/cZZq3s

Takeaways around crowdsourcing

• Make it easy for people to participate
• Allow smaller organizations to have a voice
• You don’t need much money to make it happen
• Crowdsourcing is part of human nature (@aliciaeler)
• Crowdsourcing is not a transaction – it is an engaging conversation
• There might be a new definition of an expert: “someone who has a really good network.” (@CauseGlobal, @sharakarasic)

These are just a few of the highlights from the discussion. You can access the #crowdx slides at: http://bit.ly/bMlStC . You can also find Amy Sample Ward’s notes on her blog. Many thanks to Beth Kanter along with Amy Sample Ward, Holly Ross, Kari Dunn Saratovsky , David Neff and the Twitter friends for an excellent session.

Other SXSW Posts. Photo Credit: OpenSourceWay

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Tags: SXSW, Twitter

12 Comments Updates

12 Responses to “Crowdsourcing a presentation”

1. Beth Kanter on 16 Mar 2010 at 09:41 #

   Thanks for taking these notes and it was great to see you!

2. Peggy on 16 Mar 2010 at 10:51 #

   Beth, it was a fantastic session. I can think of many other sessions that came from the fruitful conversations.

3. A Few Reflections from SXSW Crowdsourcing Panel - Beth's Blog: How Nonprofit Organizations Can Use Social Media to Power Social Networks for Change on 16 Mar 2010 at 11:50 #

   [...] to sort through.   Peggy from Wiser Earth went through the resulting transcript and pulled out some of the key tweet points and users.  We were also lucky to have Sarah Davies live blogging notes as [...]

4. Nonprofit highlights and photos of SXSW | Socialbrite on 16 Mar 2010 at 18:31 #

   [...] Amy Sample Ward, Beth Kanter, Holly Ross, Kari Dunn Saratovsky and David Neff. But WiserEarth has a great summary, you can see the re #crowdx and #sourcinginnovativechange hashtag streams or read Beth’s take [...]

5. Claire Sale on 17 Mar 2010 at 03:32 #

   Hey Peggy– thanks for writing this roundup! The session was much more a crowdsourced conversation than a presentation, so I’m sure it was hard to write this post, but you nailed it!

6. ben rigby on 17 Mar 2010 at 12:21 #

   Thanks for the notes Peggy!
   And good to see you again.

   -ben

7. Peggy on 17 Mar 2010 at 13:10 #

   Thank you both Claire and Ben. It was great to see you there.

8. Michael K on 17 Mar 2010 at 23:52 #

   Thx for sharing. Some great ideas to explore here! Crowdsourcing to me is always engaging, fun and exciting.

9. 501derful.org – SXSW Summary – Crowd Sourcing Social Change on 19 Mar 2010 at 16:06 #

   [...] – Crowdsourcing a Panel [...]

10. Articles & Media on Green Map System | Green Map System on 29 Mar 2010 at 16:16 #

    [...] blog, USA, 2010 * Crowdsourcing and nonprofits at SXSW by Eric Melin, Spiral 16, USA, 2010 * Crowdsourcing a presentation by Peggy, Wiser Earth, USA, 2010 * 10 Ways Crowdsourcing Can Save or Fail Your Business by Jen [...]

11. Bzzzzing around SXSW Interactive – Blog Title | Alicia Eler | Social Media Consultant & Writer on 05 May 2010 at 19:01 #

    [...] a panel about crowdsourcing, the blog WiserEarth picked up one of my tweets, in which I said “crowdsourcing is a part of human nature.” [...]

12. Alicia Eler on 05 May 2010 at 19:02 #

    Thanks for including my tweet in your blog post! You really sum up this session well. What would we do without Twitter?!

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