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Crowdsourcing Effort to Conserve Anti-Slavery Correspondence

Feb-02-18 By IdeaConnection
Massachusetts’s Boston Public Library has launched a fascinating project that is calling on the crowd for help.

The library’s new website features a raft of handwritten letters from the US abolitionist movement spanning 50 years, and it's asking volunteers to transcribe them one line at a time.

Crowdsourcing Marijuana Prices for the Canadian Government

Jan-26-18 By IdeaConnection
The Canadian government aims to legalize the recreational use of marijuana by the summer of this year. Sales could reach more than $8 billion per annum according to estimates, but this will be determined by what price is set for the product.

To help assess the drug's impact on the economy the government has turned to Statistics Canada and it, in turn, has turned to the crowd.

Crowdsourcing Hurricane Relief and Rescue Efforts in Houston

Sep-01-17 By IdeaConnection
While the world looked on in shock at the pictures coming out of Houston, Texas, some people swung into action, developing crowdsourcing initiatives to help rescue victims and coordinate relief efforts to flood-hit areas.

Their actions have helped to save countless lives.

Researchers Devise a Way for AI to Boost Innovation

Aug-18-17 By IdeaConnection
In one giant leap for AI and innovation, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have come up with a method that allows computers to mine databases of patents, inventions and research papers, to create new products and solve problems.

What scientists have done is devise a way for computers to find analogies, that is comparisons between very different methods and problems that have underlying similarities.

Crowdsourcing Project for the Health of the Oceans

Jul-14-17 By IdeaConnection
Capelin are small fish found in the North Atlantic, North Pacific and Arctic oceans. They are forage fish, which means they are an important part of the marine ecosystem as a food source of other species such as seals and puffins.  They also play a role in keeping the oceans healthy.

And the more we know about these fish the greater the insights into the health of our oceans and the animals that live there.  But therein lies the problem, because knowledge of capelin is lacking.  And so scientists are calling on the crowd to help.

Crowdsourcing Boost for Businesses in Jerusalem

May-05-17 By IdeaConnection
 

The innovation team at the Jerusalem Municipality in Jerusalem has come up with a crowdsourcing app designed to help entrepreneurs decide where to open up new businesses.

It is called Coming Soon and will rely on the input of the city's residents and business owners.

Open Innovation Inspires TV Drama

Mar-03-17 By IdeaConnection
Open innovation looks set to establish itself further into the public consciousness if a new television series gets off the ground.

It has been announced that actor Jeremy Piven has been cast in the lead role of a new drama pilot from CBS called Wisdom of the Crowd.

How Crowdsourcing Can Help Facebook Fight Fake News

Dec-16-16 By IdeaConnection
In recent weeks Facebook has come in for huge criticism across the globe after some users complained that fabricated news stories had influenced the US presidential election.

And now the social media giant has responded with a raft of new features to fight the fake news and hoaxes, and it includes enlisting the help of the crowd.

Crowdsourcing Reporting of the Iraq War

Jul-15-16 By IdeaConnection
Last week in the UK, the Chilcot Report delivered a devastating critique of Tony Blair and his government’s handling of the war in Iraq.  It said that the threat posed by Saddam Hussein was overstated and the plans for the aftermath were “wholly inadequate”.

The report was the culmination of a 7-year investigation and is some 2.6 million words in length.  That‘s a lot of detail to pore over.  So much so that the Guardian newspaper has turned to the crowd to help it find information that has yet to come to light.

Crowd Insights into U.S. Civil War History

Jun-23-16 By IdeaConnection
History enthusiasts are getting excited with news of a crowdsourcing project that aims to decode U.S. Civil War telegrams.

The nationwide initiative is being led by the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens and also involves a small number of universities, including the University of Minnesota.