Thanks for the feedback, Mohammad.
I am smiling because it is definitely a sign of an early market when people define it differently. I was recently on a crowdsourcing panel and the debate was lively around what it was and what is was not.
Since Jeff Howe first coined the term in 2006, there has been an explosion in interpreting this space. The Journal of Information Science recently counted 40 different definitions.
Here is my take, and I don’t particularly think wikipedia is doing it justice right now, but here are some components the definition should include:
- Involves a top-down objective.
- Solved by bottom up talent.
- With locus of control being BETWEEN the parties For mutual benefit, meaning each party receives something.
- Oh, and I think it needs to include the Internet.
(If this control shifts too much in one direction of the other, it becomes either market research or peer-production.)
What you are referring to is peer-production. Odesk, Elance, Guru, CrowdFlower, etc. all consider themselves part of crowdsourcing, and are quoted in the recently published Economist article as participating in the $1B crowdsourcing industry.
Regards,
Matthew