Want an Answer? Ask the Crowd

Sept. 21, 2006 — -- Do you think you have what it takes to create the next hit commercial or solve an equation that could lead to a scientific breakthrough?

Well, if so, there's good news.

You don't have to be a top advertising executive or scientist to take a stab at success.

A new trend called "crowdsourcing" is allowing the masses to participate for the first time, and anyone who is successful could find themselves in a lucrative position.

Crowdsourcing is a relatively new term.

It's been around for a few years, but it wasn't fully recognized until June 2006 when Jeff Howe wrote about the trend in a Wired Magazine article.

Today, it's emerging as a powerful tool that many companies are relying on for their success.

According to Howe, who coined the term, crowdsourcing is defined as "anytime a company or institution takes a job once performed by an employee and outsources it in the form of an open call."

Examples are everywhere as this term permeates the modern culture, and the practice becomes increasingly prevalent.

Its beginnings date back to Aug. 25, 1991, when software engineer Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux operating system, put his code on the Internet.

"He told users, 'If you can improve the code, please do,'" Howe said. In Howe's words, that was sort of the "big bang crowdsourcing."

The idea worked, drawing thousands of new ideas and fresh eyes.

Today an increasing number of companies rely fully on this labor pool.

Web sites like YouTube, where content consists of viewer-submitted video and Digg.com, where links are submitted and categorized by their popularity, capitalize on the masses' ability to provide viable content.

The T-shirt giant Threadless.com is another example, Howe said.

With humble roots, two design-school dropouts held weekly competitions, where design artists submitted their work for the possibility of it appearing on a T-shirt.

"What began as a fun, little competition has now turned into one of the largest T-shirt companies in America, shipping out 70,000 shirts a month -- all content generated from artist submissions," Howe said.