Week 12- Citizens move society: Creating a participatory society through crowdsourcing
Collective Intelligence and Digital Citizenship: Crowdsourcing Fosters Democratic Society
Crowdsourcing is a method in which companies, organizations, government agencies, etc. outsource tasks, problems, and ideas to an unspecified number of Internet users (the general public) (Howe 2006). It is characterized by the fact that tasks that were previously limited to in-house and external experts and companies are now open to the general public via the Internet. Typical examples of crowdsourcing include public competition for logos and catchphrases, outsourcing microtasks such as translation, writing, and data entry, and soliciting open source projects in software development, as well as solving social issues such as gathering opinions on public policies and collecting and sharing real-time information during disasters. Crowdsourcing is also attracting attention as a means of promoting citizen-participation governance and social innovation. In particular, crowdsourcing is being used as a tool to visualise and reflect citizen voices in policymaking and urban planning, making it a place to practice digital citizenships.
Benefits and challenges of crowdsourcing: Utilising collective intelligence and its limitations
The main advantages of this method are cost reduction, acquisition of diverse ideas and perspectives, rapid problem solving, and large-scale resource utilization. On the other hand, there are also challenges to be aware of, such as the difficulty of quality control, motivation of participants, and issues regarding copyright and compensation.
Crowdsourcing and Digital Citizenship: Practices and Possibilities for Supporting Participatory Society
Crowdsourcing and digital citizenship are interrelated in that they both enable individuals to actively participate in society. For example, using crowdsourcing to make policy recommendations, collect disaster information, and solicit opinions on public projects are concrete examples of how people can fulfil their role as digital citizens. In order to participate in these efforts, literacy to discern accurate information and ethical consideration in collaboration with others are essential, so an understanding and practice of digital citizenship is required.
Furthermore, by giving citizens the role of problem-solving, crowdsourcing encourages their involvement in social issues and promotes their participation in democratic decision-making processes. This fosters digital citizens as active participants in the information society, rather than simply recipients (Brabham 2013).
References:
Brabham, DC 2013, Crowdsourcing, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, viewed 9 June 2025.
Howe, J 2006, ‘The rise of crowdsourcing’, Wired, vol. 14, no. 6, viewed 9 June 2025, https://www.wired.com/2006/06/crowds/.












