2022
Introduction
We #LG aren’t new to this Google application called “Crowdsource” as we are into contributing towards making Google maps a better website/application for other users. It was launched quietly last year in September on Google Play strictly focused on helping Google improve its own services, without taking help from third parties, as on Mechanical Turk. More and more users like us were given a wider platform in the form of brief tasks like Maps, translation, image transcription, sentiments and more. Now equipped with new and strong tool more users are on a daily mission to contribute and improve Google maps. Well, sounds great! Isn’t it?
This was a phenomenal step taken by Google to motivate thousands of enthusiasts from different parts of the world with different backgrounds belonging to different sectors, community, class unite on a common platform. To understand this phenomena, we should understand what is ‘crowdsourcing’ and from where did it come into the picture after all?
Crowdsourcing
The term “crowdsourcing” was effected in 2005 by editors of ‘Wired’, Jeff Howe and Mark Robinson. Wired is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online issues, headquartered in San Francisco, California and has been in publication since March/April 1993 to explain how businesses were using Internet to "outsource work to the crowd", which led to the blend of “crowdsourcing”. Isn’t this a coincidence that the 17th LG Summit was held in San Francisco, California? Well, think it over!!
In 2009, “Waze”, a community-oriented GPS application, allowed for users to submit information on road and route data based on location. So, reports of car accidents or traffic got integrated into its routing algorithms for all users of the application. “Waze” won the Best Overall App award at the 2013 Mobile World Congress, beating "Dropbox", "Flipboard" and others as well.
Keeping it short and simple, “crowdsourcing” speaks to the demonstration of an organization or establishment taking a capacity once performed by representatives and outsourcing it to an undefined (and for the most part extensive) system of individuals as an open call. This can appear as associate generation (when the activity is performed cooperatively) but on the other hand is frequently embraced by sole people. The pivotal essential is the utilization of the open call arrange and the vast system of potential workers."
While conducting my research on the internet, I came across loads of valuable information related to “crowdsourcing”. Despite the abundance of definitions, a common factor has been the broadcasting of problems to the public, and an open call for contributions to help solve the problem. Members of the public submit solutions thereafter owned by the entity, which originally broadcast the problem. Compensation to the contributor of the solution varied from prizes or a form of recognition in some cases, while kudos or intellectual satisfaction in other. Irrespective of this modest compensation model in existence, “Crowdsourcing” may produce solutions from amateurs or volunteers working in their spare time or from experts or small businesses, which were previously unknown to the organization.
Conclusion
To sum up, we can say ‘kudos’ to all-mighty Google for coming up with such a tremendous tool/platform which is literally allowing multiple users to contribute at the same time with the sole purpose of making Google maps a better application/source. All of us play the role of contributors and users simultaneously and benefit from our acts. So c’mon LGs, we have a bigger role to play…
Source: Internet open sources
