Finally, a more compelling answer to the question, ‘What is crowdsourcing‘?

When I get asked that (a lot), I first confirm that the person asking knows what outsourcing is - which is when work is transferred to a foreign company, where a company’s employees are replaced by a foreign employees. With crowdsourcing, the work is transferred to its future customers instead, where a company’s employees are replaced by the organization’s existing and future customers. Compensation comes with recognition or reward.

Thanks to innovation consultant Charles Leadbeater and his upcoming book We-think (not to be confused with We Are Smarter Than Me), I can now just point people to the video above.

Of course, if people want a more detailed overview of crowdsourced placemaking, they can check out this document, or Charles’ printed accompaniment, Remixing Cities: Strategy for the City 2.0.