Speakers' Corner: Diversity in the Crowd

As I noted in a recent post, I believe that we're entering a transition period in which the maturing of crowdsourcing models allows for invigorated critiques into topics ranging from crowd motivations to efficacy to long-term affects on economic growth. A few academics are already developing such appraisals. They're in the early stages, of course, but from what I've read, they're far more rigorous than the "crowdsourcing = slave labor" or "crowdsourcing = Web 2.0 buzzword" blog posts that have thus far passed for a critical review of crowdsourcing. I'd like this blog to serve as an open forum, a place on which a rudimentary, all-access peer review might flourish. The writer of the following post is Daren Carroll Brabham, a graduate teaching fellow and doctoral student in the Department of Communication at the University of Utah as well as a previous contributor to Crowdsourcing.com. Without further ado, here's Daren on the importance of diversity of opinion in the crowd. —Jeff

I get stuck on this idea that the crowd needs to be diverse to be successful.  Surowiecki, in The Wisdom of Crowds, certainly thinks "diversity of opinion" is critical to a crowd being wise rather than merely a mob.  Jeff Howe, in the June issue of Wired, also writes of wise crowds as needing to be "dispersed" and that the "crowd is full of specialists."  This call for diversity in the crowd should probably be broken down into some smaller pieces.  "Diversity" is a loaded term and people squabble about it in industry and in the academy.  So, I'm putting my ideas out there—welcoming criticism and dialogue in the name of growth—to spell out three different ways of interpreting diversity, and my "take" on how each of these very different varieties of diversity is necessary for a crowd to be wise, and thus for a crowdsourcing application to succeed.

Diversity of identity

According to many scholars who study identity, diversity—in terms of gender, sexuality, race, nationality, economic class, (dis)ability, religion, etc.—is important because each person's unique identity shapes their worldview.  Thus, we can assume that differing worldviews might produce differing solutions to a problem, some of which might be superior solutions because the ideas might consider the unique needs of diverse constituencies.  For instance, if you're trying to crowdsource the development of a product that can then be mass produced and sold back to the crowd, a diversity of identity in the crowd will presumably produce a product that will have appeal for a diverse range of customers.  More than for products and business, though—something I'm constantly pushing—we should think of ways that diversity of identity can benefit our world; intercultural communication scholars, for example, have argued that diversity of identity and the benefits it brings to problem solving can even help foster peace, dialogue, and understanding over conflict.

Diversity of skills

Diversity of skills is a necessary distinction for crowdsourcing applications, too, because, depending on the level of sophistication of a given problem, if the crowd does not possess the basic skills to solve a problem, then there will be fewer good solutions put forth by the crowd. If the problem is to design a clever t-shirt (as is the case with Threadless.com), the crowd must not only possess some degree of artistic creativity, but a critical mass of individuals in the crowd must also own and know how to use illustration software in order to upload t-shirt ideas to the website. If the problem were more sophisticated (developing a crisis logistics plan, for instance), or if the software needed to put forth a solution was difficult to obtain (i.e., too expensive) or difficult to master, or if the skills needed to solve a problem are only available with extensive training or schooling, then a diversity of skills will not exist in the crowd, and the problem will likely not succeed as a crowdsourcing application.

Diversity of political investment

Diversity of political investment is necessary, too. For example, take an environmental sustainability problem posed to the crowd in a crowdsourcing application. If the problem was posted to a website frequented almost entirely by anti-corporate, pro-environment activists, then the chances of getting enough solutions that favored corporations added to the aggregate would be slim. Thus, instead of a sustainable environmental solution that could work for business and for the Earth, the crowd would put forth a solution that businesses would be unlikely to fully embrace. In other words, if you have a crowd whose political stance is not very diverse and you're trying to achieve a solution that will fit multiple political affiliations, you may not get an effective solution.

Under the umbrella of “diversity of opinion” that Surowiecki and others have called for, we have, I argue, diversity of identity, diversity of skills, and diversity of political investment. True diversity of opinion relies on each of these prongs; with one of the prongs missing, the awesome potential of the crowd as a problem solving entity is diminished.

As crowdsourcing applications evolve and new ones launch, diversity of opinion among the crowd will need to be ensured.  The question is:  How do we ensure it?

Though more and more people are getting connected to the Internet—the place where most crowdsourcing applications reside—there is still a giant gap between those who have the access to the technology and those who do not. The digital divide, as it is called, is perhaps the new identity politic upon which some people will gain privilege and some people will be oppressed. Considering that the digital divide follows race, class, and national lines, the fight for social justice must continue to focus on identity and access to technology.

The acquisition of skills is closely related to technology and educational access as well, which falls along race, class, gender, (dis)ability, and other identity lines. And, lastly, diversity of political investment will only be achieved if people begin to open their minds, think critically, and soften their party line long enough to have productive dialogue.

It’s the same drum beat we’ve seen for years: social justice, democracy, education, and critical dialogue. Crowdsourcing may be a laboratory to improve upon all of these things.

Comments

[LRUnger]

"The digital divide, as it is called, is perhaps the new identity politic upon which some people will gain privilege and some people will be oppressed. Considering that the digital divide follows race, class, and national lines, the fight for social justice must continue to focus on identity and access to technology." This is a problem that needs some serious work to be fixed. Too many companies are "redlining" which areas and communities will be wired for high speed internet. We need a national public policy that, like universal service did for the telephone, requires the build out of affordable, high speed networks for everyone. Other countries solve this problem with tax incentives and other programs to make sure this gets done. We need to do that also. Some say it is enough to give people access through libraries and community centers. That is a start but is not close to the same as providing access to people's homes. There are ideas on this at http://www.speedmatters.org

[alan]

Really great post Daren, a much-needed shift back to the bigger picture and particularly the focus upon identifying the myriad components that might determine quality of process and value of any possible outcomes.

I would like to look specifically at identity.

As you so rightly stated “diversity of identity and the benefits it brings to problem solving can even help foster peace, dialogue, and understanding over conflict.” Identity might also be considered the one factor that in truth covers all three of the broader interpretations of diversity you have used.

Identity and worldview are probably so deeply intertwined that any attempt to separate them would be an exercise in futility unless one is open to considering the deeper meanings of life through spirituality, religion and the like. Having said that I do believe that worldviews, yours, or mine are indeed individualized experiences of the world that in fact we presume exists as an empirical reality whereas in reality it doesn’t. Dialog and acceptance must then be the cornerstones of any attempt to build a foundation on which to build anything of meaningful and lasting value.

CS might possibly be considered as a cultural/societal manifestation of a phenomenon that pushes back at the attempt to delineate, marginalize or bind individuals into a consensus trance through materialistic and economic imperatives.

The advent of technologies that give voice to “individuals as a group” who can throw of the shackles of “gender, sexuality, race, nationality, economic class, (dis)ability, religion, etc” is indeed, in my opinion, why the term CS has struck a cord, not as a definition that drives but as definition that suits to describe a cultural process already underway.

The digital divide is just another barrier to those who have voice but are not heard. Unless those who are connected through community, virtual or other wise, economics, professional status, the list is endless, can slip of the mantle of superiority/self need and truly penetrate the issues to exact change for those who are voiceless, they will remain so.

There can be no question that CS as a process and vehicle for maximizing just another wealth producing process is going to take place. The tight focus upon journalism, software development, social/virtual communities and suchlike is to be expected. The question is how can the present technologies and CS be used for the opposite? Will CS be harnessed to make the political, social and cultural changes that will impact the long list of challenges we face upon this earth?

Daren’s last sentence “crowdsourcing may be a laboratory to improve upon all of these things” is profound and I hope it doesn’t get lost in the push and jostle of the crowd!
Alan.

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Earlier this morning I received an email from Christine Maynard, a writer and consultant from Natchez, Louisiana. I'm not sure if she heard me on the radio or came across crowdsourcing in some other way, but she raises an issue I've been wanting to dig into ever since publishing the original crowdsourcing article over two years ago: To what degree could the crowd lend its brainpower to the process of, say, diagnosing or suggesting treatments for diseases?

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