Crowdsourcing is an emerging paradigm that promises to transform several domains: creative work, business work, cultural cooperation, etc. Crowdsourcing reflects the close-knit interplay between the latest computer technologies, the rapidly changing work model of the 21st century, and the very nature of people. The interplay makes for an exciting but at the same time challenging new field to investigate under the lens of a diverse set of disciplines, ranging from the technical to the social and from the theoretical to the applied.

Early research has focused on an aspect of crowdsourcing known as micro-tasking. Micro-tasks are simple tasks (like image annotations) that anyone could perform. An emerging area is how to utilize crowdsourcing to solve problems that go beyond simple tasks towards more complex ones, that require collaboration and creativity. In juxtaposition to micro-task crowdsourcing, this book investigates macro-task crowdsourcing and its potential.

Shows how to enable collaboration to utilize crowdsourcing for complex tasks that go beyond simple micro-tasks. Demonstrates the current context in which creative crowdsourcing takes place and examines what is needed to enable it to solve complex problems Presents synergies between crowds and machines that can allow for the handling of complex macro-tasks Investigates the social implications for policy makers and citizens

Inhalt
Preface.- Macrotask Crowdsourcing: An Integrated Definition.- Crowdsourcing Coordination: A Review and Research Agenda for Crowdsourcing Coordination used for Macrotasks.- Crowdsourcing Controls: A Review and Research Agenda for Crowdsourcing Controls used for Macrotasks.- Addressing Cooperation Issues in Situated Crowdsourcing.- Hybrid Machine-Crowd Interaction for Handling Complexity: Steps Towards a Scaffolding Design Framework.- What You Sow, So Shall You Reap! Towards Pre-selection Mechanisms for Macrotask Crowdsourcing.- Crowdsourcing and Scholarly Culture: Understanding Expertise in an Age of Popularism.- The Mapping Crowd: Macrotask Crowdsourcing in Disaster Response.