I have a bone to pick with "crowdsourcing." For those not in the know, crowdsourcing is a neologism for taking a job or task once done by an employee or contractor and then outsourcing that task to a large group of people (aka, crowd) asking for their contributions to complete the task, solve the problem, etc.

On its face, it would appear that crowdsourcing would be a great panacea for business. After all, what better way to leverage some hidden (and therefore unknown or marginalized) genius out there who can crack a tough business problem. Some historical precedents come to mind, like figuring out the problem of longitude for the burgeoning global shipping industry in the 1700s.

With the explosive growth of Web 2.0 (another term I'm beginning to dearly hate) technologies, collaboration and social everything have come into vogue, further accelerating crowdsourcing initiatives to the brink of open exploitation. Think about CrowdSpring.com, where a company can ask for a logo and have 40 designers pour in their contributions and the company only has to pay for one, the "winner." I put winner in quotes because I'm not sure that this kind of activity actually drives further business for the designer involved, or provides the business with a valuable service that speaks to their brand and et cetera, et cetera.

(And yes, I fully understand that I'm dipping my wick in a veritable hornet's nest, but I'm all up to date on my antihistamines and pain medications--please correct me where I'm wrong, I'm open to this discussion taking place.)

Mostly I have some problems with the concept of "crowd" -- crowds are big, dangerous things that shift around without any pretense for loyalty or mission. Think soccer hooligans. Think holiday shoppers lined up at the door in the wee hours of Black Friday, ready to trample each other to get at the merchandise. There's very little accountability in the crowd--hardly anyone to call you out for being a douche or for providing malicious or bogus work in response to a request. Crowds are also incredibly unsustainable--as a company, you can keep going back to the well only as long as there are fresh bodies to cough up logos whenever you desire them. It's hard to imagine a quid pro quo situation here that involves a crowd (and if I'm wrong, then call me on it).

Some may argue that what we're seeing with crowdsourcing is really an extension of our need to form bands (as our primate ancestors did on the savannah) or to exhibit flock behavior in response to stimulus or opportunities, but really think about that for a second. A flock, or a band, or a comitatus (think Beowulf's cohorts) aren't a crowd, they're a group of individuals with a bond or tie to each other--a goal, a mission, a source of strength and commitment.

In other words, a community.

Why do I like the whole idea of communitysourcing over crowdsourcing?

• Because it's sustainable. Currently, I have 12 very smart people helping me figure out where to take an iPad twitter client that Andrew Donoho and I have been working on. They're giving us great feedback, and yes, they're doing it as a favor to me. I fully intend to help them in any way they need (and some would argue that they're actually paying me back for a previous favor). I'm not exploiting them, they're not exploiting me, we all have to live here so let's not poison the well. 

• Because it's based in trust. When I go to my closest friends and colleagues (and yeah, horror of horrors, some of those people aren't on social media!) and ask them for advice, or ask them to help me on a project, or to help me find a sponsor, I know they're going to deliver in spades. Every. Time. I can't really say that about a group of strangers, not typically--I might get really great results, but there's no way to stop getting bad advice, or well-meaning advice from someone who has no context. 

• Because it's based in common courtesy. Just like every community on earth, the circles I run in (Writing Mafia, CodeIgniter geeks, various Tweetups, and so on) contain a diversity of opinion and viewpoints. I don't agree with everyone's politics, cultural observations, hangups, or even choice of sandwich meat, but we find a way to work it out. In many ways, social media is helping a lot, because we all get little dribs and drabs every day about each other, and it's hard to scream and yell and be abusive re: someone's religious observations (for example) once you've met their lovely spouse or played with their dogs. 

• Because it brings all the good stuff of the "shop local" movement to the table, but highly optimizes it for this strange new world. When you know me, you also know some kick-ass developers in the UK, fantastic copywriters in Canada, and unparalleled UX talent in Australia--not to mention the sphere of badassery otherwise known as Austin, TX. When a company reaches out to me (and I suspect, to you, you, and you over there) they don't have to feel like they're somehow limiting themselves to the same old, same old. 

So how do we leverage this communitysourcing stuff? It's not enough to give each other big hugs and feel great about each other. I've been on a mission lately, trying to meet and connect in real life with people. Sometimes that means having deep discussions about things we disagree about. In other cases, I meet people who I swear are a brotha/sista from another motha.

After meeting and reaching out, I'm trying to make myself available to help those people achieve their goals (and rest assured, many of those folks are also helping me achieve my goals at the same time!). It's time to start "taking up the slack" in our networks and create the strong bonds that will help us kick ass well into the future.

These are just my initial thoughts. I'd like to hear you chime in. Am I just keying in on labels, do I need to change my flavor of kool-aid, or is there something worthwhile here?