From Crowd "Sourcing" to Crowd "Solving" There's a Better Way to Use the Wisdom of Crowds

On the game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?", players have the option to "ask the audience" if they are stumped on a question.  When they ask the audience,  a chart shows up and shows how many audience members voted for each answer.  Usually (I've never seen it go otherwise- but I'm not an avid fan), the player picks the answer that the majority of the audience members chose.  The idea is that a group of people is smarter than the individual.

This is also called "Crowd Sourcing" and it's the principle behind IdeaScale and most other research.  But it isn't always the best resource to use.

Check out Andrew Jeavons latest article in Research Access brings up a fascinating discussion about more strategic uses of your crowd in order to actually improve your process and solve real problems.