It’s Getting Crowded in Here

And then there's the worry about what, exactly, a "shadow workforce" means for current professionals. If firms can get loosely knit communities to work for next to nothing, will crowdsourcing destroy more jobs than it creates? Why hire T-shirt designers when the crowds at Threadless do just as well? Who needs professional photographers when we have iStockphoto? Crowdsourcing might be to professionals what the roboticized assembly line was to General Motors workers. Ironically, these ill effects will fall most heavily on the shoulders of researchers, designers, photographers—exactly the kind of white-collar and creative professionals who have so far been immune to the pains of the globalization and technological advances.

But Howe is probably right to stay focused on the positives. Crowdsourcing may represent a true revolution in how human communities form and interact, and an early indicator of where the Internet is leading society. And Howe's book does a better job than anything I've seen of convincing you of that fact.

© 2008