![[photo-1454923634634-bd1614719a7b.jpg]] Photo by [Timon Studler](https://unsplash.com/@derstudi?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/4f6tTv9LxLA?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText) The importance of reaching customers and other stakeholders is fully realized by the majority of businesses, but only recently we discovered a new emergent approach that will enable to access a massive amount of crowds and employ them in virtually unlimited tasks with a focus on quantity together with quality by leveraging social phenomena and cloud computing as a business enabler. This approach is called **Crowdsourcing** and it allows companies to drive massive collaboration for various purposes. Crowdsourcing is one of the real examples of a shifting paradigm between IT Worlds created exclusively for Business Purposes and Society following their global goals. The crowd in the physical world depends on proximity, however in a virtual world the communities are able to connect anytime, anywhere in the world and most importantly, they are growing and acting exponentially cumulating their “crowd power” by socializing and following community goals. What makes CrowdSourcing so powerful is the broad participation that takes place at relatively no costs. Solutions are generated from volunteers or freelance professionals who get paid only if you use their ideas [1]. The most famous example of Crowdsourcing is Wikipedia, a collaboration of millions of people, concentrated around one goal - to describe the world around us in a structured way; following integrated semantic and reference rules often driven by volunteers. The contribution model is literally spread out into all **social levels** and geographically speaking – everybody is a contributor to this Collective Intelligence product. ## Crowdsourcing or how did we get here To find the roots of CrowdSourcing, we have to travel into far history, when rulers controlled the crowd and social interactions were limited in sense of public knowledge, communication channels, and collaboration options. Crowdsourcing motivation didn’t exist, however, we can recognize hierarchy patterns that evolved in the next stages and opened space for social networks as we know them today. ![[Pasted image 20230709112137.png|fIGURE 1: Labor Evolution]] Leadership Concentration is spreading into smaller groups and the speed of changes is increasing as more people are joining groups, reconnecting in different communities, naturally increasing collaboration density and overall collective intelligence. There are four evolution stages of Labor Evolution, summarized at the diagram above and each stage is further described below: **Feudalism** - this labor stage is characterized by one ruler and strict leadership (1:Many) - shared workers – no feedback or collaboration at any level - one way control over the workers - there’s a flat hierarchy on workers level - social interactions are limited to the physical world ![[Pasted image 20230709112208.png|Figure 2: Feudalism]] **Employment** - this labor stage is characterized by multiple shareholders - company hierarchy depends on corporation size and geographical locations - shared leadership is executed by company board (CxO leaders) and spread out between branches - employees are task oriented and leveled based on various parameters (skill set, maturity, capabilities etc.) - there’s two way communication, hierarchically oriented, secured in digital world - social interactions are limited to corporate and task activities (messaging and internal collaboration) ![[Pasted image 20230709112237.png|Figure 3: Employment]] **Outsourcing** - this labor stage is characterized by multiple shareholders and their partnership connection through Industry Structures - labor is divide between employees and Contractors covered by Partnership organizations - increasing industry role is essential for quality purposes of delivered labor, outsourced from corporation for expansion purposes (limited amount of qualified employees) ![[Pasted image 20230709112321.png|Figure 4: Outsourcing]] **Crowdsourcing** - Labor delivery is massively extended to Communities and Social Networks enabled by Cloud Computing ![[Pasted image 20230709112428.png|Figure 5: Crowdsourcing]] Next diagram, shows Evolution from different point of view with focus on resources and deliverables. ![[Pasted image 20230709112449.png|Figure 6: Relationship Evolution]] Technology advancement together with cloud-based community networks created a true global **job revolution**. The Amateurs can produce professional quality products (Etsy, iStockPhoto) within the shortest possible time, cost, and an incredible quantity. A similar CrowdSourcing model could be applied to “business crowds” (employees participating within the industry) and enhance inter-industry collaboration with the professional crowd via Industry communities. This could extensively increase Collective industry knowledge and professionalism of industry community members. Cloud Computing allows crowds to focus on their social needs and create virtual communities. In the final stage, crowds can influence themselves and create a better world just by participating in cloud-based communities / social networks connected together as an important part of the ecosystem. We will extend "SPHERES and Social Management of Entities - Introduction" in the next articles to articulate motivational aspects, social integration factors and elaborate on Social Influence Model (SIM) to demonstrate conceptual calculations with ecosystem models. ## References [1] MATT H.EVANS: THE POWER OF CROWDSOURCING ## Related to [[SPHERES and Social Management - Composition]] [[SPHERES and Social Management - Motivation]]