[p2p-research] new crowdsourcing book is out

[Michel Bauwens]

*Acclaimed journalist reveals the process by which the power
of the many can be leveraged to accomplish feats that
were once the province of the specialized few*

*Crowdsourcing
**Why the Power of the Crowd is Driving the Future of Business*

*By **Jeff Howe*

*Crown Business, On-Sale August 26, 2008*



When journalist Jeff Howe introduced crowdsourcing into the American lexicon
with his memorable 2006 *Wired* magazine article, he underestimated the
speed with which this phenomenon would shape our culture and economy--and
the breath of its impact. In an exciting new publication, *Crowdsourcing:
Why the Power of the Crowd is Driving the Future of Business* (Crown
Business, 8/26/08), he follows the trend further: uncovering a business
revolution that will change how we think about the internet, commerce, and
most importantly, ourselves.



In the book, Howe reveals that over the past several years people from
around the world have begun exhibiting an almost totally unprecedented
social behavior: They are coming together to perform tasks, usually for
little or no money, that were once the sole province of employees. Howe
explains that Crowdsourcing activates the transformative power of today's
technology, liberating the latent potential within us all--and given the
right set of conditions, the crowd will almost always outperform any number
of employees. This is a fact that companies are becoming aware of and are
increasingly attempting to exploit. More important, Howe explains, is that
"what unites all successful crowdsourcing efforts is a deep commitment to
the community," he says. "This entails much more than lip service and
requires a drastic shift in the mindset of a traditional corporation."



Through extensive reporting from the front lines of this revolution, Howe
tracks the amazing migration of this new model of production, showing the
potential of the Internet to create human networks that can divvy up and
make quick work of otherwise overwhelming tasks. This phenomenon is sweeping
through all types of industries, ranging from professional photography and
journalism to entertainment and the sciences. For example, one of the most
intriguing ideas of Crowdsourcing is that the knowledge to solve intractable
problems—a cure for cancer, for instance—may already exist within the warp
and weave of this infinite and, as yet, largely untapped resource.  In his
journey, he also uncovers:



   - How four fundamental developments--a renaissance of amateurism, the
   emergence of open source software movement, the increasing availability of
   the tools of production, and the rise of vibrant online communities have
   made crowdsourcing inevitable
   - *Crowdfunding:* The way the crowd's collective pocketbook is being used
   to create new ways of financing everything from micro-credit organizations
   to would-be rock stars


   - *10 Rules of Crowdsourcing* A roadmap on how to implement the
   principles of Crowdsourcing into your own enterprise



In addition, Howe employs a brilliant array of stories that offer an inside
look at the economic, cultural, business and political implications of
crowdsourcing. For example, how were a bunch of part-time dabblers in
finance able to help an investment company consistently beat the market? Why
does Procter & Gamble repeatedly call on enthusiastic amateurs to solve
scientific and technical challenges? How can companies as diverse as
iStockPhoto and Threadless employ just a handful of people, yet generate
millions of dollars in revenue every year?



According to the book, the very concept of crowdsourcing stands at odds with
centuries of practice. Yet for the digital natives soon to enter the
workforce, the technologies and principles behind crowdsourcing are
perfectly intuitive. This generation collaborates, shares, remixes and
creates with a fluency and ease the rest of us can hardly understand. It all
began with a just a handful of computer programmers who showed that a
community of like-minded peers could create better products than a corporate
behemoth like Microsoft. But, as you'll learn in this compelling and
entertaining read, Crowdsourcing is rapidly transforming our culture, our
economy and our politics to become the most far-reaching paradigm shift
since the industrial revolution.



*Open source software revealed a fundamental truth about humans that had
gone largely unnoticed until the connectivity of the internet brought it
into high relief: labor can be organized more efficiently in the context of
community than it can in the context of a corporation. *

*                                                -- Jeff Howe, from the
introduction of Crowdsourcing*



*ABOUT THE AUTHOR*

Jeff Howe is a contributing editor at Wired magazine, where he covers the
entertainment industry among other subjects. Before coming to Wired he was a
senior editor at Inside.com and a writer at the Village Voice. In his
fifteen years as a journalist he has traveled around the world working on
stories ranging from the impending water crisis in Central Asia to the
implications of gene patenting. He has also written for US News & World
Report, Time magazine, The Washington Post, Mother Jones and numerous other
publications. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and children.


-- 
The P2P Foundation researches, documents and promotes peer to peer
alternatives.

Wiki and Encyclopedia, at http://p2pfoundation.net; Blog, at
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Basic essay at http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=499; interview at
http://poynder.blogspot.com/2006/09/p2p-very-core-of-world-to-come.html
BEST VIDEO ON P2P:
http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?docid=4549818267592301968&hl=en-AU

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