Getting the right workers is critically important for most managed crowdsourcing projects. Success depends on a pool of workers who understand and can do the tasks involved. So, while it’s certainly possible to open a project up to the entire crowd and then start blocking poor performers along the way,
Back in 1986 I was fortunate to be exposed to a network of publishing professionals eager to share their knowledge with their fellow colleagues via what was then called The Newsletter Association. A few decades later this same group (now called the Specialized Information Providers Association) carries on this important
Data publishers love structure. Very granular fielded data allows their customers to locate very specific things — for example, all investment banks in Boston that invested in green energy start-ups — instantly. Fielded data allows quick apples-to-apples comparisons, lets you know more about your prospective customers, and makes data analysis
All businesses struggle with seasonality or variability in their labor requirements, in one way or another. Resort hotels are busy in summer and much slower in winter. Tax preparation firms are swamped during the April crunch. Alaskan seafood operations work around the clock in summer and then stop completely in
Those of us in the information business are usually too busy working with our customers and refining our business models and production processes to think about the basic question of “What is information?” but let’s stop for a moment to consider it. Information is not a self-contained “thing” but rather
We received such a positive response to our February Crowdsourcing 102 post that we decided to follow it up with some of the questions we fielded about it, all answered by our resident managed crowdsourcing expert, Kevin Dodds. Q. Have you considered using known answers (KAs) throughout production in addition
Guessing the size of a company in a given industry based on incomplete data is among the most common tasks in the information business. Salespeople, for example, need good “size” parameters to maximize their time and correctly identify their best prospects. Managers need the same information to help them make
In the 1990s, large manufacturers spent millions on software to streamline their supply chains, and they continue to invest in refining processes to make those supply chains as efficient as possible. For those companies whose business is the manufacturing and sale of information, the redesign of “data supply chains” came
There are two primary ways to use managed crowdsourcing to collect data: result consensus analysis, and the creation of semi-private crowds. Consensus Analysis For clearly defined, “only one answer” questions—any piece of data where the format is always the same, usually a URL, an email, or a phone number—looping each
The explosion of data-driven reporting, recent data privacy legislation, and the unfortunate loss of one of the Internet’s leading lights have brought the definition of “public” data back to the forefront of discussions about the information industry. At this late date in the game, it is astounding that there is
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