Acronym

Another element of what Jeff Howe spoke about in this morning’s Technology Conference keynote speech on crowdsourcing is what he called “agape”—a Greek term used in some contexts to talk about familial love and, later, to denote communal love or what we might call “charity” today. As Howe put it, crowdsourcing "is an example of what agape does."

(See, I knew my religious studies major would come in handy some day!)

One attendee expressed concern that crowdsourcers were giving away their valuable intellectual property, and it's often true that crowdsourcing involves giving away something you could potentially sell. But as Howe put it, crowdsourcing stems from "people's desire to make something of meaning in their lives and have others recognize that meaning." In other words, whatever is being given away in the crowdsourcing process is actually gaining in value because it's becoming part of what the community is creating. Alone, I might have a single photo on my hard drive. Posted to a crowdsourcing community, that photo is something others can comment on, compliment, use, and learn from, and therefore of much greater value to me than it was just sitting on my computer.

It reminds me of a story I heard years ago--I have no memory of when or where. But the story was that a man came to a site where a large group of workers was building a cathedral. He asked one of the workers what he was doing, and the worker said, "I'm building a wall." He asked another worker what he was doing, and the worker said, "I'm installing a window." Finally, he asked a woman who was sweeping up some of the debris from the site what she was doing, and she said, "I'm building a cathedral for the glory of God."

(Hey, the power of Google comes through: It turns out this is a story from Robert Fulghum.)

Based on Howe's talk this morning, I think one of the keys to the success of crowdsourcing is that the members of these crowds are focused on building the cathedral, even as they're doing specific small tasks that don't seem particularly glorious. They're part of something bigger that they're passionate about. I'm guessing that crowdsourcing in associations can find its greatest success when we can tap into members' passion and make them see how what they're doing is part of that greater success.