I think crowdsourcing is a good idea. And I don't know about any of you guys, but reading Daren's article kind of made me want to join Threadless! The kids who started that website are smart, and that is a good way to conduct business. I was wondering if the websites Daren talked about were the first ones to implement crowdsourcing, or if there were others before them. I also wonder if there are more cases about people being upset for not getting a large enough profit off their work while the website is making a huge profit. The 2,500$ prize sure sounds good to me, but then again if your t shirt keeps selling the website makes a lot of money off of it. Which is why those guys are so smart. But I think it's fair to be upset about not getting more of the revenue, after all they are the ones that created these designs.
It's pretty crazy how people can make a living off just posting their pictures on iphoto. I wonder how many pictures they have to put up, or how often they have to do it to be able to make enough money to live off of it. To go a long with my theme, (interpersonal communication) I think crowdsourcing is definitely changing the way we communicate through business. The people who essentially "work" for threadless are pretty much anonymous. The owners of Threadless never have to meet them, or barely have to have any contact with them at all. While in other business circumstances you know your employers and your employees. You usually have to interviewed to get a job, and there are certain requirements you have to fill. This is certainly not the case with crowdsourcing as a business model.
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Off to a good start - now try to do a little work outside of class by finding articles/current events to connect this to.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree about crowdsourcing--it is a great idea! Reading the article and hearing Daren come in and talk about it made me want to get involved in some sort of crowdsourcing business like threadless. It would be so easy to make some extra money! However I also agree that it is slightly unfair that they only make a very tiny portion of the profit, and the company itself makes the bulk of the money. Even though it is not fair, I guess it's just the price you pay when you choose to make money through that type of thing. It's also an interesting point you raise about how it affects our interpersonal communication--so true. These days people can work together without ever meeting each other or even hearing the other person's voice. It's crazy!
ReplyDeleteYou are right about how the people who work for these sites or contribute idea's don't ever meet their bosses, but maybe one day they can make it more of a personal experience. It gives me a different angle of looking at crowdsourcing that what I wrote about. Adrianne, Lets start our own company and make lots of money!
ReplyDeleteI think that crowdsourcing is an incredibly ingenious idea. Many different individuals put in hours of time and effort into doing the work that will profit a few people who facilitate the contest or program. I think that it can be great in instances like threadless.com where it works so successfully, but it is unfortunate that the creator of the design for the t-shirt isn't given near enough profit as they should, but I'm not sure how one would be able to regulate that in a more successful way...
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