Which Way? (by kevindooley)
You come up to a group of people and ask “which way to Athens?” All but one point to the left. One solitary soul points to the right. Why does it matter? The one pointing to the right is the only one who’s actually been to Athens.
This is of course, a very common, very bad argument against “crowdsourcing.” The argument is constructed such that the masses are uneducated, and only the enlightened can truly provide any real value. See, on this series of tubes we call the Internet, you can find a group of people who just happen to be an expert on anything. As a shiny and related side note, you can also find about a bazillion more groups of people claiming to be experts, who are, in fact, friggin idiots.
The problem with the Interwebs and crowdsoursing, though, is how to you find those bona fide experts. Well, some adventurous souls in the education industry are taking a shot. Einztein, which will start beta testing later this year, looks like they’re trying to create a filter for the plethora of free online courses & materials… and the filter will be experts in the field. Pretty cool. I signed up to be part of the beta. It’ll be interesting to see how this all works… or if it works.
But I think they’re on the right track. Crowdsourcing is great, as long as you can find the right crowd.