Crowdsourcing: How to Benefit from (Too) Many Great Ideas (Blohm et al., 2013) Olga Jemeljanova Joona Kanerva Niko Kuki Mikko Nummela Group

Question “Give measures for crowdsourcing success! Especially, envision ways to use crowdsourcing for technology development!”

Outline Crowdsourcing Data absorption Capabilities Recommendations Technology crowdsourcing –Examples –New possibilities Conclusion

Crowdsourcing – Definition "The outsourcing of job functions to groups of people who operate independently and who are willing to provide their services in exchange for experience, recognition or low rates of pay." Business Dictionary "The practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people and especially from the online community rather than from traditional employees or suppliers." Merriam-Webster "The act of giving tasks to a large group of people or to the general public, for example, by asking for help on the internet, rather than having tasks done within a company by employees." Cambridge Dictionaries Online Crowdsourcing – Data absorption – Capabilities – Recommendations – Technology crowdsourcing

Video Crowdsourcing – Data absorption – Capabilities – Recommendations – Technology crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing – Types TournamentCollaboration Combined solution Independent solutions submitted and collected One or few selected Compensation Small contributions – individually have minimal value Collectively created common solution 1.Individual tournament-based contributions 2.Collaborative evaluation and improvement Crowdsourcing – Data absorption – Capabilities – Recommendations – Technology crowdsourcing

Data absorption VolumeVarietyEvaluationDisseminationAssimilation Volume – 3 types of data collected –Contributions, Metadata, Data on contributors Variety maximized by no format or structure constraints Evaluation is time-consuming! –Evaluation mechanisms, incl. peer-to-peer –Well-designed rating scales Dissemination is challenging –Identifying and selecting right people/units for the next step Assimilation may be arduous and lengthy –Transforming data into valuable information the crowdsourcer can act on Crowdsourcing – Data absorption – Capabilities – Recommendations – Technology crowdsourcing

Capabilities Outsourcing of small or large problems Diverse crowd provides multiple different solutions –Fresh approaches –Possibility combine multiple ideas for further development The crowd develops the idea further (collaboration) –The direction for development can be influenced Helps in sensing shifts in the market Wide range of applicability –Technology, creative, funding, etc. Crowdsourcing – Data absorption – Capabilities – Recommendations – Technology crowdsourcing

Recommendations for effective crowdsourcing (1/2) Adopt a broad definition of crowdsourcing success –Value often multidimensional Innovation, marketing, services, recruiting, etc. Start small and ensure responsiveness –Motivated personnel to work with the crowd –Unresponsive crowdsourcing platform does not attract contributors Make crowdsourcing “cool” –Especially at start, it should be “the top project” Crowdsourcing – Data absorption – Capabilities – Recommendations – Technology crowdsourcing

Recommendations for effective crowdsourcing (2/2) Post precise and understandable tasks –Proposal quality and variety is highly dependent on definition Use crowdsourcing for fast experimentation –Test several task descriptions –Test several general ideas Involve the crowd in improving data quality –Categorizing– tags, categories –Filtering – reporting spam and duplicates –Evaluating – voting, comments –Aggregating – rankings, trends Crowdsourcing – Data absorption – Capabilities – Recommendations – Technology crowdsourcing

Technology crowdsourcing example (1/3) IdeaStorm –Launched by Dell in 2007 –Goal is to hear what new products or services customers would like to see Dell develop –Altogether 16,000 ideas, nearly 500 ideas implemented –Main features Open discussion on IdeaStorm site “Storm Sessions” where Dell posts a specific topic and asks customers to submit ideas “Extensions” where an idea poster can promote a comment made on their idea to be considered to be a part of it –No material rewards associated Crowdsourcing – Data absorption – Capabilities – Recommendations – Technology crowdsourcing

Technology crowdsourcing example (2/3) –An online game in which humans try to solve one of the hardest computational problems in biology: protein folding –Attempts to predict the structure of a protein by taking advantage of humans' puzzle-solving intuitions and having people play competitively to fold the best proteins –The more we know about how certain proteins fold, the better new proteins we can design to combat the disease-related proteins and cure the diseases HIV/AIDS, Cancer, Alzheimer’s Foldit –A crowdsourcing computer game enabling everyone to contribute to important scientific research Crowdsourcing – Data absorption – Capabilities – Recommendations – Technology crowdsourcing

Technology crowdsourcing example (3/3) The Unilever Foundry IDEAS –A collaborative crowdsourcing platform where you can share your ideas and approaches to solve Unilever sustainability challenges –The process involves submitting ideas, building on others ideas, casting votes and winning prizes Crowdsourcing – Data absorption – Capabilities – Recommendations – Technology crowdsourcing

Technology crowdsourcing New possibilities Crowd more involved in R&D Flexible platforms available for everyone Open source platforms utilize crowdsourcing more Digital fabrication linking with crowdsourcing GamificationCrowdfunding Crowdsourcing – Data absorption – Capabilities – Recommendations – Technology crowdsourcing

For successful crowdsourcing –Know what you do Clear tasks Utilize fully for experimentation and data improvement Multidimensional success metrics –Commit to what you do Responsive from the beginning - start small Make it “cool” Ways to use for technology development –Open source collaboration –Solution competitions –Etc. Conclusion

References Blohm, I., Leimester, J. M. & Krcmar, H. (2013). Crowdsourcing: How to Benefit from (Too) Many Great Ideas. MIS Quarterly Executive, No. 4, Vol. 12, 2013, pp Business Dictionary. [2016]. Available from: crowdsourcing.html. [Accessed on 6 March 2016]. Merriam-Webster. [2016]. Available from: webster.com/dictionary/ crowdsourcing. [Accessed on 6 March 2016]. Cambridge Dictionaries online. [2016]. Available from: [Accessed on 6 March 2016]. Foldit. [2016]. Available from: [Accessed on 7 March 2016]. Unilever. [2016]. Available from: [Accessed on 7 March 2016]. DELL IdeaStorm. [2016]. Available from: [Accessed on 7 March 2016].