Crowdsourcing and Open Source Materials - Week 2

The Dawn of the Human network is a great article on crowdsourcing and how much it’s being used by start-up today. My company is currently in the beginning phases of rebuilding our website and this article has made me think twice about whom I hire and what platform the developer decides to use. After reading the article on crowdsourcing it would seem to me that using an open source platform would limit my risk, could be less expensive, and would allow for easier updates. Most of all using an open source platform would likely mean I could switch developers and easily find another developer familiar with the platform. 

One comment I have about crowdsourcing is that I would imagine that there’s a lot of luck tied to one’s success with crowdsourcing. The article, The Dawn of the Human Network, discusses several companies that succeeded beyond their wildest dream by using crowdsourcing, however I would image there are a hundred failed crowdsourced attempts to every successful one. Simply put when a company chooses to go the crowdsourced route there are either picked up and successful or they are passed over; the product wasn’t right, marketing was off just a bit, timing was off, the list goes on and on. To me a  successful crowdsourced company seems a  little like being the popular kid. 

I also read the Build Your Start-Up Without Building Code article and have actually been playing around 99designs.com which is recommended in the article. The concept is that one writes up a description of the site they want, the features, their budget, and a deadline. The various, sometimes hundreds of web designers work to build the best site. As the designers change and modify their design me as the owner views the developing sites, makes critiques, and then eventually choose the best. So far I’ve been really impressed with the quality of sites and artwork on the site and the costs are far less than the quotes I’m getting from my potential web designer.

My goals for the rest of the week are to continue reading on the topic of empowering the customer. I plan to view the videos and articles listed in Angel and see where they take me.