crowdsourcing

noun crowd·sourc·ing \ ˈkrau̇d-ˌsȯr-siŋ \

Updated on: 17 Apr 2018

Definition of crowdsourcing

: 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

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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

Recent Examples of crowdsourcing from the Web

Jeff Bigham, a professor at Carnegie Mellon who researches crowdsourcing, says asking people to work for free is OK as long as the deal offered is transparent.

— tom simonite, WIRED, "Google Turns to Users to Improve Its AI Chops Outside the US," 5 Apr. 2018
Snyder announced the challenge in February 2017 and solutions were accepted through the crowdsourcing site InnoCentive's Challenge Center from August through October of last year.

— keith matheny, Detroit Free Press, "Invasive Asian carp competition nets $500K in prizes for innovators," 27 Mar. 2018
Senior Luke Pailet set up a GoFundMe crowdsourcing site.

— BostonGlobe.com, "Do all guys wear the same black tux to prom?," 21 Mar. 2018
After their years of conducting toy drives for others, the Litchfield family is hoping to raise money for their Missouri pageant expenses through crowdsourcing.

— janice steinhagen, Courant Community, "Moosup Girl Is Tiny Miss Connecticut," 20 Mar. 2018
This crowdsourcing helped to make MacDonald's study possible.

— sophie weiner, Popular Mechanics, "Sky Phenomenon 'Steve' Is Finally Explained," 16 Mar. 2018
Along the way, he's pioneered new technologies in crowdsourcing and big data that have been used around the globe.

— bruna bortolato, National Geographic, "Opioids Won't Solve the World's Chronic Pain. This Idea Might," 28 Feb. 2018
And for the first time, Statistics Canada is turning to an unconventional method to tackle novel problems posed by this policy shift: crowdsourcing.

— amanda coletta, Washington Post, "Canada’s data scientists want to know: How much do you pay for marijuana?," 10 Feb. 2018
Weiss acknowledges this by relying on a uniquely millennial approach to information-gathering: crowdsourcing.

— rachel waldman, Vogue, "How to Create an Open Environment for Talking About Sex," 23 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'crowdsourcing.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.