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The Ethics of Crowdsourcing

Page history last edited by Jared Tayco 4 years, 2 months ago

The Ethics of Crowdsourcing

 

May 18, 2012

https://www.digitalethics.org/essays/ethics-crowdsourcing

 "How to Crowd-source the Right Way"  

First Impression:

When I hear crowdsourcing, it reminds me of such websites like Wikipedia or any online fandom.wiki sites you see nowadays. It's one of those things that makes you skeptical and thinking who and what to trust regarding the information.

 

Quote: 

"Crowdsourcing also has substantial downsides, most disturbing of which is its ability to help news organizations cut corners, which can be incredibly tempting in an age when if you don't publish first, you're basically dead last."

 

Reflection Proper: 

The term "crowdsourcing" is basically according to the essay article as Wikipedia describes it, " a portmanteau of 'crowd' and 'outsourcing.'" Generally, it involves outsourcing or gathering information from numerous people who are connected digitally in order to create something; i.e. in the case of Wikipedia, each article is a result of a compilation of information gathered from multiple sources of people who have taken the time to do such research on the article's subject. Sure, all articles may look professional and basically similar to an encyclopedia in the library, but honestly, not all articles are accurate, since information could be false or true. Crowdsourcing may be unpopular on the side of Wikipedia and may have major negative ethical implications such as the use of video and images posted on social media sites by major news organizations, but it has its good sides to others, especially for aspiring journalists and photojournalists, i.e. numerous websites that give the opportunity for everyone to enter into the journalism market and thus giving an  opportunity to develop their skills and produce a professional body of work. Needless to say though, crowdsourcing is basically like any other tool you use nowadays online; it has its good and bad effects, and also even if there are some information within a crowd-sourced article that is wrong, there is always someone or something out there that will correct it nonetheless. My advice to the world regarding crowdsourcing would be this: try correcting articles that have falsified information if you can, but also do it politely and ethically, and to reporters and journalists and all news organizations out there --- always know where you are getting your information, because you might never know when that sort of information you used thanks to crowdsourcing will come back to bite you like a rabid dog hungry for more meat.

5 Things Learned From Article: 

 

  1. I learned about crowdsourcing is not just limited to Wikipedia.

  2. I learned that one shouldn't just believe everything they see or hear on the internet, crowd-sourced or not.

  3. I learned about the true meaning of crowdsourcing.

  4. I learned that crowdsourcing has major negative ethical implications via the use of video and images posted on social media sites thanks to major news organizations.

  5. I learned that crowdsourcing should be used responsively and correctly.

 

5 Integrative Questions:

 

  1. Why do websites like Wikipedia do crowdsourcing?

  2. How would you know if the article you are reading is truthful or biased or missing some gaps?

  3. What's the difference between outsourcing and crowdsourcing?

  4. Do all major news organizations realize that the information they are viewing to the world may or may not be 100% truthful?

  5. How do you do crowdsourcing correctly and what would be your advice regarding this?

 

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