06-12-2010, 12:31 PM
http://www.gnn.com/article/uncle-sam-wan...is/1111173
Sally can’t figure out how to connect her laptop to her television, so she posts a query on Twitter. Eight people respond and, 20 minutes later, Sally can choose from eight solutions. Sally is crowdsourcing: calling on the collective knowledge to solve her individual problem.
The federal government has problems to solve, too. Like Sally, it is looking to crowdsource.
Next month, the General Services Administration, which oversees more than a quarter of the government’s procurement monies, will launch a program inviting the public to innovate with and for the government, with prizes for best solutions.
The GSA's decision to create a crowdsourcing program comes in response to President Obama's "Open Government Directive," issued in December. The president called on the federal government to be more transparent and participatory, and followed up the directive in March with a memo encouraging challenges and prizes.
Bev Godwin, director of the GSA’s Center for New Media & Citizen Engagement, explains that challenges offer the government more than a solution to a problem.
"You’re not only paying for performance, but through wisdom of the crowds you’re finding solutions, new parties get involved, you’re changing public perception of what’s possible," she told AOL News.
To launch its initiative, the GSA needed a website to host the challenges. It put out an open request to the public for a "no-cost government platform," said Godwin.
In other words, the GSA crowdsourced to find a company to manage its crowdsourcing
Sally can’t figure out how to connect her laptop to her television, so she posts a query on Twitter. Eight people respond and, 20 minutes later, Sally can choose from eight solutions. Sally is crowdsourcing: calling on the collective knowledge to solve her individual problem.
The federal government has problems to solve, too. Like Sally, it is looking to crowdsource.
Next month, the General Services Administration, which oversees more than a quarter of the government’s procurement monies, will launch a program inviting the public to innovate with and for the government, with prizes for best solutions.
The GSA's decision to create a crowdsourcing program comes in response to President Obama's "Open Government Directive," issued in December. The president called on the federal government to be more transparent and participatory, and followed up the directive in March with a memo encouraging challenges and prizes.
Bev Godwin, director of the GSA’s Center for New Media & Citizen Engagement, explains that challenges offer the government more than a solution to a problem.
"You’re not only paying for performance, but through wisdom of the crowds you’re finding solutions, new parties get involved, you’re changing public perception of what’s possible," she told AOL News.
To launch its initiative, the GSA needed a website to host the challenges. It put out an open request to the public for a "no-cost government platform," said Godwin.
In other words, the GSA crowdsourced to find a company to manage its crowdsourcing