Using Social Media for Global Security

Chapter 10

Crowdsourcing Solutions

Through crowdsourcing platforms, you can leverage populations worldwide to help you solve problems and complete tasks. The process for building and running crowdsourcing platforms is technologically simple, but requires the visceral ability to incentivize and foster collaboration between different types of people. The process also increases in complexity along with the complexity of the problem or task you want the crowd to solve. This chapter goes over the process by explaining what is possible through crowdsourcing, two ways of approaching crowdsourcing solutions, what is not possible, and how solution platforms differ from other types of platforms. It also walks through how to build and run platforms that leverage the crowd to translate obscure languages and to identify antagonistic actors on video footage.

Understanding the Scope of Crowdsourced Solutions

Crowdsourced solutions are solutions derived specifically through custom crowdsourcing platforms known as solution platforms. They differ from other, more traditional forms of solving problems or completing tasks in the way the problem is solved and the people who solve the problem. Traditional forms involve specifying the individuals or groups that will solve the problem, and compensating them for their work based on a predetermined rate. The specified individuals or groups may collaborate with one or two other groups. Usually, the party contracting out the work knows the identity of the ...