Crowdsourcing, Incentive, and Value

In this video, Jeff Howe, a contributing editor at Wired and the author of Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd is Driving the Future of Business, presents during a Berkman Center Luncheon on some of the key issues around the concept, including:

• What motivates the contributors in crowdsourced efforts? Specifically, to what extent are monetary incentives a driver as compared to extra-monetary ones?
• What about “crowdsourced” projects which are not creative or knowlege-worker oriented, but outsourced menial labor?
• How can or should “creatives” respond to the rise of crowdsourced alternatives?

Jeff Howe at Berkman Center on Crowdsourcing

Media Cloud(s) On the Horizon

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society launched Media Cloud in early March, though it had been quietly available for a few months before that. It’s an exciting concept, limited in its current implementation but sure to grow in utility as more features get added.

MediaCloud

Read more…

Cultural Significance of Free Software: Two Bits

I’ve mentioned Chris Kelty‘s Two Bits as part of my summer reading list. Although I have the PDF sitting in my “to read” folder I think I’m waiting on the hardcover I ordered from Amazon. Seems like the kind of book that requires more reflective reading.

In the meanwhile, here’s Chris presenting at a Berkman Luncheon Series event on June 17th, 2008:

Read more…