Whatever the merits of this post (and I’m willing to admit they may be considerable), the usage in the title doesn’t make sense to me:
Hey, let’s see what other people did! Google, google… a bunch of testimonials about people having a great/awful time taking the aforementioned touristy rides…
How did my friend do it? She talks to people about it; asks them for ideas....Her approach is to crowdsource
So you’re using Google—effectively the collective brain of the entire planet—while she’s talking to a few people she knows....and she’s the one who’s engaged in “crowdsourcing”??
I grant you that her approach may be the better one, but do you really think “crowdsourcing” is the appropriate term for this contrast?
I see your point, but I’ll argue that yes, crowdsourcing is the appropriate term.
Google may be the collective brain of the entire planet, but it will give you only those results you search for. The entire idea here is that you utilize things you can’t possibly think of yourself—which includes “which terms should I put into the Google search.”
Yes. The art of Googling can be pretty difficult, and a few brains are still smarter (though less broadly knowledgeable, perhaps) than Google, at this point in time.
A standard name for this is networking: you explain your need to people IRL, or in your blog or wherever, and hope for useful feedback. The replies you get will be customized to you and your relationship with those reading/listening. No one is likely to offer a free plane ride to a total stranger.
We all know that some of the best opportunities are never advertised publicly, be it a plane ride with a friend, a manager’s special at a store, or a covetous job opening. There are many more opportunities for couch surfing than posted on couchsurfing.org, etc.
Whatever the merits of this post (and I’m willing to admit they may be considerable), the usage in the title doesn’t make sense to me:
So you’re using Google—effectively the collective brain of the entire planet—while she’s talking to a few people she knows....and she’s the one who’s engaged in “crowdsourcing”??
I grant you that her approach may be the better one, but do you really think “crowdsourcing” is the appropriate term for this contrast?
I see your point, but I’ll argue that yes, crowdsourcing is the appropriate term.
Google may be the collective brain of the entire planet, but it will give you only those results you search for. The entire idea here is that you utilize things you can’t possibly think of yourself—which includes “which terms should I put into the Google search.”
In real life, you can only ask the people who you’re already friends with. That means you’ll probably share common biases.
Unless you asked strangers. That might be a good way to fix this.
Yes. The art of Googling can be pretty difficult, and a few brains are still smarter (though less broadly knowledgeable, perhaps) than Google, at this point in time.
A standard name for this is networking: you explain your need to people IRL, or in your blog or wherever, and hope for useful feedback. The replies you get will be customized to you and your relationship with those reading/listening. No one is likely to offer a free plane ride to a total stranger.
We all know that some of the best opportunities are never advertised publicly, be it a plane ride with a friend, a manager’s special at a store, or a covetous job opening. There are many more opportunities for couch surfing than posted on couchsurfing.org, etc.