Jeffrey Howe’s book Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of a Crowd is Driving the Future of Business is listed as a source from Davidson’s “Project Classroom Makeover”. The book’s introduction discusses the rise and benefits of crowdsourcing. It discusses businesses such as Threadless which have had millions of dollars in revenue based of crowdsourced designs. It tells how marketing costs are reduced due to marketing done by the designs and amateur designers. The book also covers contributions crowdsourcing has made to sciences, and the recognition it receives. It explains the science behind why people like crowdsourcing as well. The introduction invokes the audience by referencing the inspirations and backgrounds of companies that are now successful due to crowdsourcing. An example would be contests to see who designs the best shirt, the winner getting a monetary prize. It uses statistics and connections that invoke positivity such as the influx of money to in-need countries as a result of crowdsourcing. It also addresses skepticism of crowdsourcing yielding a “Shakespeare play, Beatles song, or Picasso painting,” (Howe 17). The book discusses the chronology of crowdsourcing with the renaissance of amateurism, it then discusses crowdsourcing in the modern world, and gives predictions of the future. The tone of the book is informal as the introduction is told from first-person point of view. The book however does not seem biased as it addresses concerns with evidence to support the author’s viewpoint.
Jeff Howe, Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of a Crowd is Driving the Future of Business (New York: Crown 2008)
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