Practical Crowdsourcing& Citizen Engagement

Paul Dombowsky

Time: 11:30am to 2:00pm

Speakers: Paul DombowskyFounder and ceo of Ideavibes / Fundchange

Follow-up: SlidesDemo of Ideavibes Crowd Engagement Platform

Workshop Overview

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11:36 Welcome and Agenda11:40 Round table introductions - experience with crowdsourcing and

citizen engagement12:00 What is Crowdsourcing? How can it be used for Citizen Engagement

ExamplesBest PracticesChallenges and OpportunitiesEngage4change Case StudyTools

1:25 Q&A1:45 Wrap-up and Evaluation

Agenda

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Opening

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…the world is becoming too fast, too complex and too networked for any organization to have all the answers inside.

• Yochai Benkler, Yale University from the Wealth of Networks

DefinedCrowdsourcing is an engagement process whereby organizations seek input from either open or closed communities of people, either homogenous or not, to contribute ideas, solutions, or support in an open process whereby the elements of creativity, competition and campaigning are reinforced through social media to come up with more powerful ideas or solutions than could be obtained through other means.

Why Bother?Organizations have a difficult time engaging with their communities to strengthen their relationship and be customer/citizen focused. Internal or external, the community has ideas that can be harnessed that come from diverse backgrounds, experiences and education.

Crowdsourcing

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Generations – Who Participates?

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Millennials (born ’91 and after)

Gen Y (born ’81-’91)

Gen X (born ’65-’80)

Boomers (born ’46-’64)

Civics (born ’45 or earlier)

Where is Crowdsourcing being used?

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Citizen EngagementAs a Business Model Corporate

Vancouver

Seattle

NYC

San Francisco

quirky.com

threadless.com

Who is your crowd?

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Customers

Prospects

Mailing Lists

Partners

Brand Fans

Network ExtensionCompetitor’s Customers

Brand Fans

Mailing Lists

Industry Observers

The crowd you know The crowd you don’t know

Social Media Makes the Connection

Community

Open SpaceHow we gather

Social MediaHow we talk

LeadershipHow we inspire &

enable

Open Innovation

CrowdsourcingWhere ideas come from

Where Innovation Fits – Citizen Engagement

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The Appeal

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• Crowdsourcing surfaces new perspectives• Invites participation from nontraditional

sources • Infuses real energy into the process of generating ideas

and content• Empowers people when they feel their voice is being heard• Technology can enable participation by disenfranchised

(ie. PCs in libraries/shelters with citizen engagement campaigns)

• Builds engagement and relationships with new audiences

Crowdsourcing works best if:

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• Focuses on a well-stated challenge• Links to clear, well-articulated outcomes• Balances input from ‘non-experts’ with guidance

from ‘experts’• Targets communities with particular perspective or

experience, rather than general crowds• Makes clear how participating will be valuable to the

crowd

IdeaStorm was created to give a direct voice to Dell’s customers and an avenue to have online “brainstorm” sessions to allow them to share ideas and collaborate with one another and Dell. Their goal through IdeaStorm is to hear what new products or services you’d like to see Dell develop.

In almost three years, IdeaStorm has crossed the 10,000 idea mark and implemented nearly 400 ideas!

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Example 1 – Product Development - Branded

Quirky is an all in one product development shop for inventors.

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Example 2: Product Development - Inventions

Ignite uses crowdsourcing for the source and crowd directed agenda at an upcoming event.

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Example 3: Conference Agenda

NYC Citizen Engagement Program

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Example 4: Citizen Engagement

San Francisco Engage4change Citizen Engagement Program(2 weeks)

• No. of Engagements = 2252• Referrals = 64% from Twitter• Cost = 500 ice cream cones ($1,000)• Humphry Slocombe’s Crowd

= 320,000 twitter followers and Facebook Friends

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Example 5: Citizen Engagement

• Pick the right model• Pick the right crowd• Offer the right incentive (being heard is #1)• Don’t replace employees with the crowd• Benevolent Dictator• Monitor ideas and content to mitigate risk (liability)• Keep in simple – break things down• The crowd is generally right – if you are accessing the

right crowd with the right question

Rules of Crowdsourcing

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• Excessive lobbying and promotion• Narrow crowds product narrow results• No follow-through causes creditability hit• If you say you are generating solutions for X, communicate

what happened and why• Broad ideation campaign descriptions will result in less focused results BUT too narrow will restrict creativity• Dismissing ideas that seem far fetched• Ideation often requires refinement – understanding what

your crowd is saying by ‘x’

Things to watch for

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• Do it on a small scale using basic social media• Facebook Fan Page, Twitter Polls, YouTube

Responses

• Do it on a larger scale using existing applications• Ideavibes, Ideascale, Chaordix

• Partner with a Brand• Pepsi’s project at SXSW – amplified crowds

3 Ways to Crowdsource

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• Easy to set-up and deploy• Able to run multiple campaigns at once• Can run Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding Campaigns• Build stickiness and community around those that engage

(sign-in and see past votes, comments, ideas)• Hosted solution (in Canada)• Able to be implemented on existing website or set-up in new,

destination site• Social Media connected• One of few sub $1000/month solutions

Ideavibes Citizen Engagement Platform

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How Does Ideavibes Compare?

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• Enterprise Collaboration or Idea Management– Large – multi-functioning platforms for Idea Management– Integrated into change management and process improvement

lifecycles• Middle-tier Focused Crowdsourcing Apps– Purpose-built customizable apps focused on crowdsourcing

and crowdfunding– Departmental employee corporations– Multiple crowdsourcing and crowdfunding campaigns

• Ad-hoc website or Social Media widgets– Developed by web teams with basic functionality– Functionality as opposed to business process driven

• “The Wisdom of Crowds” – book by James Sudwecki• “Crowdsourcing” – book by Jeff Howe• Blog: crowdsourcing.org• Blog: blog.ideavibes.com

Resources

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Thank youPaul Dombowsky | 613.878.1681 | paul@ideavibes.com

www.ideavibes.com