by Monica Hamburg
This is Part 3 of my 4 part Crowdsourcing series. Check out Part 1 and Part 2 if you missed them.
I wonder how this genetic gold rush effects the search for infectious agents? After all, we now know that whatever genetic predisposition there is towards ulcers it’s the Helicobactor pilori that accounts for the vast bulk of the cases. Also, it’s becoming clear that bacterial infections in the walls of blood vessels plays a roll in arteriosclerosis and infarcs. Schizophrenia seems to have an infectious component as well. With everyone tumbling into the genetic gold mine how much science is going to be done searching out infectious diseases?
– From a comment posted on Wired.com by arpad
I began the last article with a rant about the quality of comments posted to YouTube (as an example of why it’s understandable to fear the crowds). As evidenced above, the crowd can respond wisely. And comments on sites such as Wired.com can produce more astute feedback, than say YouTube. (Note, I’m biased here, I can’t love Wired more than I already do – were it a guy, I would blush and wave at him, as I do firemen.)
The attention span component certainly plays a large role in the quality of comments: YouTube viewers are looking for a quick fix (I watch it too, so I’m not judging), while Wired readers often aim to delve deeper into the pot and hence stick around long enough to make often well-articulated, well-thought-out comments. This can sometimes be true as well for the level of participants in crowdsourcing projects, especially when their motivations are primarily based in passion.
And, in a subtle way, we all tap into the wisdom of crowds every time we search for information on the web – initially by using a search engine (Google "which organizes websites based on how they link to each other" or Wikipedia founders’ Wikiasari) and then when we, among other things, assess the poster’s/site’s reliablity.
Wondering how to insert a Windows Media player into your blog? (I was) – well the information is out there, posted by someone who knows more about the subject than you (OK, me). And, just like the companies who employ crowdsourcing, we must filter the information (in our case, choices) to find the best answer (e.g. this site explains it all clearly and is clean and organized: I think I’ll trust it, rather than one that looks like Geocities circa 1998).
Only a select few of the comments on Wired.com, in fact, make it into the actual magazine. Filtering is critical and not everyone’s contribution is focused, relevant or equal.