How to encourage the crowd?

How to encourage the crowd? A Study about User Typologies and Motivations on Crowdsourcing Platforms Full paper available here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/UCC.2013.98

Daniel Schultheiss, Anja Blieske, Anja Solf & Saskia Staeudtner Institute for Media and Communication Science Ilmenau University of Technology, Germany Schultheiss, Blieske, Solf & Staeudtner: “How to encourage the crowd?” December 9, 2013

Agenda • • • • • • •

Introduction Relevance Crowdsourcing Related work RQs & Method Results Outlook

Schultheiss, Blieske, Solf & Staeudtner: “How to encourage the crowd?” December 9, 2013

Relevance

"Just as energy is the basis of life itself, and ideas the source of innovation, so is innovation the vital spark of all human change, improvement and progress.“ Theodore Levitt, Economist.


Relevance

• ideas and creativity as economic currency • global competition • Web 2.0

Earth Image: CC-BY 2.0 by DonkeyHotey Social Media Prisma: CC-BY-SA 2.0 by Ethority Schultheiss, Blieske, Solf & Staeudtner: “How to encourage the crowd?” December 9, 2013

Crowdsourcing is…

• …the practice of outsourcing corporate tasks to a larger group of voluntary helpers (crowd) via an open call in the Internet.

(Howe 2006)


Crowdsourcing is…

• …the practice of outsourcing corporate tasks to a larger group of voluntary helpers (crowd) via an open call in the Internet. • …crowdvoting

(cf. Howe 2006)

Vote Image: CC-BY 2.0 by Alan Cleaver Schultheiss, Blieske, Solf & Staeudtner: “How to encourage the crowd?” December 9, 2013

Crowdsourcing is…

• …the practice of outsourcing corporate tasks to a larger group of voluntary helpers (crowd) via an open call in the Internet. • …crowdvoting, wisdom of the crowd

(cf. Howe 2006)

Wikipedia Image: CC-BY 3.0 by Wikimedia Schultheiss, Blieske, Solf & Staeudtner: “How to encourage the crowd?” December 9, 2013

Crowdsourcing is…

• …the practice of outsourcing corporate tasks to a larger group of voluntary helpers (crowd) via an open call in the Internet. • …crowdvoting, wisdom of the crowd, crowdfunding (cf. Howe 2006)

US Dollar Image: Public domain Schultheiss, Blieske, Solf & Staeudtner: “How to encourage the crowd?” December 9, 2013

Crowdsourcing is…

• …the practice of outsourcing corporate tasks to a larger group of voluntary helpers (crowd) via an open call in the Internet. • …crowdvoting, wisdom of the crowd, crowdfunding, microwork (cf. Howe 2006)


Crowdsourcing is…

• …the practice of outsourcing corporate tasks to a larger group of voluntary helpers (crowd) via an open call in the Internet. • …crowdvoting, wisdom of the crowd, crowdfunding, microwork, creative crowdsourcing (cf. Howe 2006)

Brain Image: CC-BY-NC-SA by Giulia Forsythe Schultheiss, Blieske, Solf & Staeudtner: “How to encourage the crowd?” December 9, 2013

Crowdsourcing is…

• …the practice of outsourcing corporate tasks to a larger group of voluntary helpers (crowd) via an open call in the Internet. • …crowdvoting, wisdom of the crowd, crowdfunding, microwork, creative crowdsourcing and prize contests, … (cf. Howe 2006)


Related work

• social scientific approach • existing studies: • on single platforms (case studies) • motivational findings (intrinsic vs. extrinsic)

Magnifier Image: CC-BY-NC by 姒儿喵喵喵喵 Schultheiss, Blieske, Solf & Staeudtner: “How to encourage the crowd?” December 9, 2013

Related work

• • • • •

12designer (N=718) 99designs (N>2300) iStockphoto (N>620) Stardust@Home (N=139) Amazon Mechanical Turk (N=431, N=158)


Research Questions

1. What motivational factors influence Internet users to participate in crowdsourcing projects? 2. What kinds of user groups can be identified in crowdsourcing?


Method & Data •

• • • •

Online survey: • motivations, expectations, usage, sociodemographics N=67 participants 32 male (48%), 20 female (30%) mean age: 31 years (SD=12; min.=20; max.=73) over 75% between 18 and 34 years


Results: RQ1 Motivations extrinsic

intrinsic

Helpfulness

Ambition

Incentives

Fun

Empathy

Excitement

Sense of duty

Interest


Results: RQ2

•

•

Variables: usage behavior & sociodemographic data -> hierarchical cluster analysis Four groups of crowdsourcing participants


Results: RQ2 • • •

• • • • •

Cluster 1: “female creatives” (n=5) Platform: CS-platforms, companies’ websites, Facebook Tasks: voting, commenting, surveys, creative ideas Category: creative Gender: mostly female Age: 18-25 Relationship: yes Woman Image: CC-NC-ND by Chris Neal喵喵 Children: no



• • •

Cluster 2: “male technicians”, (n=12) Platform: CS-platforms Tasks: voting, content, writing, commenting, surveys, software tests, complex problems, creative ideas Category: technology Gender: male Children: yes Man Image: CC-BY by Elvert Barnes喵喵


Results: RQ2 • • • •

Cluster 3: “academics”, (n=14) Platform: CS-platforms Tasks: content, commenting Category: education, science

Couple Image: CC-BY by NCACOM Schultheiss, Blieske, Solf & Staeudtner: “How to encourage the crowd?” December 9, 2013


Cluster 4: “alternative all-rounders”, (n=7) Platform: CS-platforms Tasks: voting, digitalization, extract data, tagging, content, writing, commenting, surveys, software tests, creative ideas

Man Image: CC-BY-ND by Ryan Ritchie Schultheiss, Blieske, Solf & Staeudtner: “How to encourage the crowd?” December 9, 2013

Outlook •

Larger sample necessary  “How to target the right group to solve my problem?”  “What reward is adequate for what kind of task?” • European funded project  Real-time user analysis  Collaboration vs. competition


Thank you for your attention!

☺

Daniel Schultheiss, Anja Blieske, Anja Solf & Saskia Staeudtner Institute for Media and Communication Science Ilmenau University of Technology, Germany Schultheiss, Blieske, Solf & Staeudtner: “How to encourage the crowd?” December 9, 2013

LOLCat Image: CC-BY-NC-ND by pinprick Schultheiss, Blieske, Solf & Staeudtner: “How to encourage the crowd?” December 9, 2013