My Experiences with Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding

         Since we have talked about the history, the details, the advantages and the disadvantages of crowdsourcing, I feel I should be able to talk about my very own experiences with the medium of crowdsourcing. As someone who spends quite a bit of time using apps and websites that have some of facet of crowdsourcing as well as contributing to those same apps and websites, I feel that it is important to relate my experiences with the concept.

       It is quite obvious that one of the main websites that benefits from crowdsourcing that I use the most is Wikipedia and other affiliated sites. Wikipedia is considered a crowdsourcing site because people are free to create and edit articles as a collective and those articles are used as a means for research. Wikipedia has been my #1 source for getting references for projects and the like since high school and thanks to the contributors, I am able to gain a whole lot more knowledge as well as useless trivia on a number of subjects. I’ve also contributed to Wikis as well, mostly to contribute my own knowledge as well as edit grammar and syntax mistakes by other users. The one’s I’ve contributed to most are Wikis such as TVTropes, a wiki devoted to cataloging tropes and clichés used in different mediums, and LostMediaWiki, a wiki devoted to tracking down and finding information on obscure and lost media.

        Another facet of crowdsourcing that I have found myself getting into is crowdfunding. So far I have crowdfunded four projects in my life. Three are video games and one is an animated short. Since I helped fund each of these projects, not only do I get access to these projects when they are completed as well benefits depending on how much money I gave to the project, but I also receive progress reports on the projects in questions. These usually come in the forms of e-mails telling me what has been done on the projects so far, are there any new ideas that can be added to due to extra funding and the estimated release may be. However, there was one time where I withdrew support for a Kickstarter thanks to project getting constantly delayed and I was not feeling I had gotten my money’s worth for a project that was constantly being delayed.

        In any case, I feel like sharing my experiences with how I have dealt with crowdsourcing has really opened my eyes to how much I do so in my everyday life. Prior to taking this course, I had thought crowdsourcing was just something I did every once in a while. Now that I know that crowdsourcing is a concept that is become more and more commonplace every day, I feel like it has bright future ahead of it.

By: Henry Hancock 

CrowdSourcing in Web Development : Freelancing web developers community.

        With the arrival of web 2.0. developers have the power to collaborate more than ever. It has become increasingly popular among web developers. The idea of freelancing has skyrocketed and developers are contributing huge materials, ideas and solution in this platform. Today, I will be taking a deeper look into some of this platforms, their structure, business model, technological aspect and the freelancing community.         

        Today, we have several sites, where anyone can contribute and get rewarded for the contribution. While most of the open source platform which developers love, are mostly for creative ideas and developments, there still exists plenty of sites like Freelancer.com, bountyio.com, boutntysource which reward who can provide the solution to the problem.Companies lacking the skills or manpower to complete coding projects usually onboard a new employee or contract a freelancer. However, there’s a third, more cost-effective option for one-off projects:crowdsourcing. The strategy seems risky, because it relies on complete strangers, but it works well for nonprofits and enterprises alike.

      In the context of coding work, crowdsourcing involves collaboration between a coding community and a company. When nonprofit Kopernik needed code written quickly and cost-effectively, it worked with Free Code Camp, an online community of aspiring developers willing to do projects for free as a way to hone their skills and building their portfolios. 

             Crowdsourcing draws people in, as opposed to outsourcing, which requires active recruiting. Kopernik started by posting its project details on a virtual bulletin board on Free Code Camp.Platforms like Free Code Camp and CodeCloud.me allow employers to work with coders, save money, and train their employees. There are only a few of these platforms at the moment, but their numbers are growing as crowdsourcing gains more and more popularity.

        

         Companies can get a better quality product because there is a community of thousands working to develop and perfect this software - you can get results like Wiki software (which gives you a Wikipedia-like experience), and WordPress.  When a software’s source code is closed, or not available to the public, which was the traditional path of companies and still is for some big ones, it means that any creation or modification to the code is the exclusive domain of those to whom the owner gives access. As an example, no one can modify and distribute Microsoft Windows except Microsoft. 

                Github, which is a community for open-source and collaborative development, shows you how things are taking shape, and now a lot of enterprises are wanting to move towards this - more flexible in terms of architecture and development.

Conclusion 
         It is obviously clear that with web developers are increasingly using their talent and expertise for greater use. Open sources platforms gives developers ability to collaborate. Surely, crowdsourcing is the backbone that supports the community  and keep them growing. 

References : 

Rauch, J. ( 2015, June 1) Employers Are Crowdsourcing Coding: Here’s Why....Retrieved April 21, 2016 from Recruiter :https://www.recruiter.com/i/employers-are-crowdsourcing-coding-heres-why/

Knight, L. (2016, April 3) Crowdsourcing code: why startups are turning to open-source software...Retrieved April 21, 2016 form Wamda: http://www.wamda.com/2016/04/crowdsourcing-code-startups-open-source-software                                                                                                         

 By :Bijay Tamang

      

Personal Life Experience with Kickstarter (SunFlo)

    SunFlo is a crowdfunding project that I personally launched on Kickstarter.com. Briefly, SunFlo is basically a solar charger project. It is about using solar energy as a renewable, sustainable and reliable alternative. It has flexible solar panels that can charge any device such as smartphone, tablet, laptop, or camera. It also comes with rechargeable battery packs with removable batteries for other uses. 

SunFlo

    According to Kickstarter, Kickstarter.com is one of the world's largest funding platforms that can help you share creative ideas and projects with people. It is basically a tool to get you connected with people that might be attracted to your project or idea, so you make them contribute by funding a project and bringing it to life. Kickstarter makes money with whenever a project is successfully launched and funded. There is a 5% fee to the funds collected. However, if the project does not reach its funding goal, there are no fees. Kickstarter has recently become a benefit corporation. Benefit corporations are for profit companies that are obligated to consider the impact of their decisions on society, not only shareholders (Kickstarter).

    My professor and I were behind the SunFlo project. It was such a great experience even though it went unsuccessfully. We spent weeks building the SunFlo project pages, shooting videos, and brainstorming the rewards to offer backers. Once we got everything ready, we launched the project and shared it with the community. 

Our Presentation

SunFlo Page on Kickstarter

    To encourage people support your project, you should have to have good ways to get the community around you really excited to fund your project. Kickstarter offers rewards section where project owners can post their rewards to get people excited to fund the project. For our project, it took us a while to estimate the profit we could make after offering rewards, because we would not really offer expensive and/or huge amounts of rewards that could get us lose money instead of make money.

    The pictures bellow show on the right side the rewards we offered for our project. The value of each reward was based on the amount of money the backer pledged.

Rewards We Offered (Click on images to display full size)

By: Omar Almutlq