crowdsourcing

noun

crowd·​sourc·​ing ˈkrau̇d-ˌsȯr-siŋ 

: the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people and especially from the online community rather than from traditional employees or suppliers

Online crowdsourcing strategies that induce masses of people to solve a task, such as locating far-flung items or alleviating world hunger, work best when financial incentives impel participants to enlist friends and acquaintances in the effort, a new study concludes.

—Bruce Bower

These sites take advantage of the phenomenon known as crowdsourcing, or turning to the online masses for free or low-cost submissions.

—Katie Hafner

crowdsource transitive verb

crowdsourced; crowdsourcing

But many people don't know the story behind Legos—how the company, on the verge of collapse, crowdsourced its future by polling its most hardcore fans, or how the little blocks have exploded to become a major force in education …

—Smithsonian

Examples of crowdsourcing in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In a candid live Instagram post, Brad Cooper, aka Coop, talked with visible emotion about how business slowed during the pandemic and didn’t recover — due to factors including rising gas and food prices — which led to a reliance on loans and a recent crowdsourcing campaign. —Roxana Popescu, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Mar. 2024

In Levi’s case, funds from the crowdsourcing campaign, raised on the Israeli website Givechak, were collected by a nonprofit under the auspices of the Israeli settler council in the area. —Julia Frankel, Quartz, 22 Feb. 2024

The card and the polling process have changed little since the beginning and create a crowdsourcing alternative to critics’ opinions. —Richard Sandomir, New York Times, 18 Mar. 2024

Networking and crowdsourcing are more significant than ever, and people (even strangers) are eager and willing to help others. —Robin Ryan, Forbes, 3 Jan. 2023

Founded in 2011 as a way for new mothers in Atwater Village to meet each other, the Atwater Village Mom’s Group has evolved over time to become a crowdsourcing powerhouse with more than 6,000 members scattered across L.A. and around the world. —Deborah Netburn, Los Angeles Times, 6 Feb. 2024

However, the crowdsourcing approach proved wildly successful. —Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 5 Feb. 2024

These tasks are often outsourced to gig workers, via online crowdsourcing platforms such as Toloka, which was where Hassan started his career. —WIRED, 15 Nov. 2023

In the more shadowy corners of the crowdsourcing industry, the use of child workers is overt. —WIRED, 15 Nov. 2023

Word History

Etymology

crowd entry 2 + outsourcing, gerund of outsource

First Known Use

2006, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

crowdsourcing

noun

crowd·​sourc·​ing

ˈkrau̇d-ˌsȯr-siŋ

: the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by seeking contributions from a large group of people and especially from the online community