What is crowdsourcing?

What is crowdsourcing?

• A. Funding government projects through taxes.
• B. Outsourcing tasks to freelancers overseas.
• C. Raising small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the internet.
• D. Gaining insights from a focused expert panel.

Answer: (C)

Crowdsourcing involves tapping a broad group of people, usually online, to contribute resources such as money, ideas, or work to a project. The option describing raising small amounts of money from many people online fits this idea precisely, as it illustrates how online platforms enable widespread participation from nontraditional contributors. The other scenarios describe different concepts: funding through taxes is government revenue, outsourcing to freelancers overseas is a traditional outsourcing arrangement, and gaining insights from a focused expert panel is expert consultation rather than crowd-based participation. Therefore, this choice best captures the typical crowdsourcing model.

Crowdsourcing involves tapping a broad group of people, usually online, to contribute resources such as money, ideas, or work to a project. The option describing raising small amounts of money from many people online fits this idea precisely, as it illustrates how online platforms enable widespread participation from nontraditional contributors. The other scenarios describe different concepts: funding through taxes is government revenue, outsourcing to freelancers overseas is a traditional outsourcing arrangement, and gaining insights from a focused expert panel is expert consultation rather than crowd-based participation. Therefore, this choice best captures the typical crowdsourcing model.