Types of Crowdsourcing Platform

國

立 政 治 大 學

‧

N a tio na

l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y

strategies. It can not only help to attain large numbers of users through network effects but also allow transactions to become more convenient and cost-effective.

Crowdsourcing platforms can be applied to diverse industries owing to the rapid and reliable development of ICT along with the prevalence of the Internet, and the concept of CAMS. Prominent companies that have adopted this type of business model

include the English language learning service VoiceTube, the private taxi service Uber, the accommodation service Airbnb, and the funding platform GoFundMe.

2.2 Types of Crowdsourcing Platform

Crowdsourcing platforms have been used pervasively on many applications. We have experienced crowdsourcing being widely discussed and broadly employed, and it is on the verge of widespread industry impact. Hossain and Kauranen (2015) conducted a literature review of crowdsourcing, aggregating applications of crowdsourcing into seven categories based on the main purposes of the services. The seven categories are idea generation, microtasking, open source software, public participation, citizen science, citizen journalism, and wikis. Lebraty and Lobre-Lebraty (2013) also

exhaustively examined the various form of crowdsourcing, presenting and discussing ten categories of crowdsourcing operation, including crowdjobbing, crowdwisdom, crowdfunding, crowdsourcing and forecasting (C&F), crowdsourcing and

innovation(C&I), crowdsourcing and authenticity(C&A), crowdauditing, crowdcontrol, crowdcuration, and crowdcare.

Classification, using either the purposes of the services (Hossain and Kauranen’s type) or the service activities of the platforms (Lebraty and Lobre-Lebraty’s type), is

sufficient for understanding methods of using crowdsourcing and how these services are created, but it might be too scattered for researchers who would like to investigate in greater detail the balancing of two-sided crowdsourcing platforms in a virtuous cycle. For this reason, we distinguish four major types of crowdsourcing platforms, on the basis of what is exchanged on the platform. The four types are Information (i.e.

‧

participation), which are also shown in Table 1 and described in detail as follow.

Table 1.Types of Crowdsourcing Platform

TYPE FEATURES EXAMPLES

Information

 Services for information or knowledge exchange

 Proposing or creating items

 Free or paid access to items

 iStockphoto (2000)

 Wikipedia (2001)

 Help A Reporter Out (HARO) (2008)

Labor

 Services for labor exchange

 Recruitment of micro- and macro-tasks

 Workers paid for tasks

 Recruiters pay for accomplished tasks

 Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (AMT) (2005)

 DesignContest (2003)

 TaskRabbit (2008)

OplusO

 Services for resource exchange from online to offline

 Products or services provided or shared

 Services for creation exchange

 Participation in creative projects or public issues

 Donor receives a gift or benefit when the project succeeds

 Proposer receives funds from donors

 Kickstarter (2009)

 Indiegogo (2007)

 FlyingV (2012)

2.2.1 Information

In the type of Information, crowdsourcing platforms provide services for information or knowledge exchange. People visit this type of platforms to share information and knowledge online with others. They exchange the information and knowledge for free or by paying for access to items on the platforms. Taking the comprehensive, online, worldwide encyclopedia Wikipedia as an example, anyone with Internet access can read, write and edit Wikipedia articles for free. The content on Wikipedia is based on live collaboration and is continually created and updated by crowds. As a similar

‧ 國

立 政 治 大 學

‧

N a tio na

l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y

example, iStockphoto is a web-based company providing a platform for artists to earn money with their original stock photos, illustrations, videos, and audios by licensing them to businesses or individuals who are seeking stock images or clips.

In this information-intensive era, the presence of a variety of information provides people with access to a broad range of ideas, expertise and topics. It is an effective means to obtain information and knowledge, whether it is artwork or a joke, by sharing online. Crowdsourcing provides a good way to create this type of platform, allowing us to stay current with news, to gain new information, to learn new things, and to improve our knowledge. The other examples of information crowdsourcing platform include learning platforms, citizen science platforms, citizen journalism platforms, and so on.

2.2.2 Labor

Currently, people looking for jobs can simply go online and search in ways other than traditionally in newspapers. Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (AMT) is a classic example of using the power of crowds. It is a web-based labor market where people offering work and those who seeking jobs can meet and match on the platform. Such Labor crowdsourcing platforms provide a service for labor exchange, offering an alternative way for recruiters and workers to meet and match with each other more effectively.

For example, the private taxi service Uber, which connects the nearest available drivers to passengers who need a ride, provides better access to transportation.

Through Uber’s app or website, drivers can easily plan their schedule for the day, and passengers can quickly obtain a car to travel anywhere at any time.

Adopting crowdsourcing for the platform with labor, it not only improves on a rapidly consumed hiring environment but also renders the working structure more flexible.

Moreover, the cost of the labor exchange is less expensive than with traditional means. Because the jobs on Labor crowdsourcing platforms are divided into small, uncomplicated tasks, workers are paid relatively little or equal for the tasks they

‧ 國

立 政 治 大 學

‧

N a tio na

l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y

service Pay4Bugs, the grocery delivery service Instacart, and others.

2.2.3 OplusO

Awareness of environmental protection has yielded effective resources to use and reuse. Some people have started to exchange resources to improve their resources utility. For example, the accommodation service Airbnb combines visitors and homeowners. It first offered living quarters and breakfast for people who needed a place to stay for a night but were unable to book a hotel, but it is now a trusted marketplace for travelers to find a local host for short-term stays with low expenses.

Car2Go is a similar example to Airbnb but for car sharing. Spare rooms and spare cars are exchanged through crowdsourcing platforms requested online and transacted offline. Thus, we named this type of crowdsourcing platform as Online plus Offline (OplusO) rather than online to offline or offline to online, which means resources are online and offline and they are exchanged both online and offline instead of meaning online to offline or offline to online transaction process.

People provide or share (spare) resources on the platforms, and others who need them can find them easily, having different experiences with satisfaction. With excess utilization of resources, crowdsourcing platforms are a productive model for solving this problem. Other applications such as the lending platform Zopa which helps borrowers and lenders meet and match on the platform for the sake of money utility (using and investment). Besides, group buying platforms are another example that extends the idea of effective utilization to resources. A merchant can provide many types of coupons to any customer who would like them. Both Groupon and GOMAJI are such platforms that are famous for providing consumers with coupon exchanges.

2.2.4 Creation

There are many creative people in the world, yet not all of their work can be displayed to everyone in the world, and most of the time, they do not have sufficient supports especially money to realize their creation or their dreams. Thus, fundraising is a common phenomenon among these people. Kickstarter and Indiegogo are well-known crowdsourcing platforms for funding. They provide services for participation in

‧ 國

立 政 治 大 學

‧

N a tio na

l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y

creative projects or public issues to be supported. People with ideas can post

proposals on the platform to attract others who have something in common, and those who are willing to join them might donate money. Exposing ideas via the Internet has resulted in many heartwarming stories being spread worldwide. The story of Aktarer Zaman we mentioned earlier is just one example. There are many of this type of crowdsourcing platform around the world for the specific purposes of raising money and connecting to backers who share beliefs and support them.