The Impact of Crowdsourcing

I enjoyed Wednesdays class lecture on crowdsourcing which has got me thinking about the impact it has on the community in not only connecting us in ways that were never available before, but also in bringing us together to create opportunities.  The lecture on Wednesday made me really want to do more research of what crowdsourcing is and the impact it has on society as a whole.

I found this website where it lists five Crowdsourcing businesses that could have an impact on society.

1. Patientslikeme connects allows people to connect with other individuals who have the same medical conditions as them  to track and share their own experiences.  This allows people to connect with doctors, data, and other information from the experiences of other people who have had the same experiences as themselves.

2.TaskRabbit is an online market where people can basically hire other people to do random stuff for them such as waiting in line, running errands, and walking the dog.

3. Waze is an website where people can receive instate news about traffic conditions in their areas.  The website also includes gas stations as well as other viable information that could be useful to all drives

4.  Gengo is a growing company where 5,000 plus freelance translators work and provide translations through an online form.

5. Ushahidi allows other people to share their stories and experiences during natural disasters.  This website has had a huge impact in different places around the world and is a great example of the good that can be achieved through crowdsourcing.






Though these examples are only a few of the impact crowdsourcing has on the world, it is also a great example of how technology and digital culture can be used in a positive way that not only brings people closer together, but also giving us an opportunity to reach out to people outside of our own community.