Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A method of outsourcing work over the Internet or similar network by appealing to people to contribute to the project independently or as a collaboration.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun neologism Delegating a task to a large diffuse group, usually without substantial monetary compensation.
  • verb Present participle of crowdsource.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[crowd + (out)source + –ing.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Coined 2006 by Wired magazine writer Jeff Howe. From crowd +‎ sourcing, by analogy with outsourcing.

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Examples

Comments

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  • "Like the long tail before it, crowdsourcing isn't necessarily a new idea, but rather a new name for an existing collection of concepts. In this case, crowdsourcing is the approach to business practices -- especially creation -- that fling open the doors to anyone and everyone interested in participating. Crowdsourcing is the heart and soul of the open source community, and it's this belief in the ability of large, noncentralized groups of people to organize and create something great, solve difficult problems, and accomplish seemingly insurmountable tasks." --Gary Stein, "Crowdsourcing"

    March 12, 2009

  • See roo hullabaloo.

    March 12, 2009