Crowdsourcing finally snags the Netflix $1,000,000 prize.

It was inevitable. The competition that Netflix launched to improve its movie recommendation algorithm by 10% is finally over.

While the challenge took a while to crack the end was apparently tantalizingly close, with different cohorts posting their breakthroughs within minutes of each other.

Crowdsourcing is not new, but this recent application suggests an interesting lesson. While separate teams made strong progress in isolation, they reached a point beyond which they could not advance the algorithm further towards the goal. It took a final step of amalgamating the efforts of different groups and merging their algorithms together. One can only imagine the messy mathematical mash-up that entailed, but it resulted in the crucial incremental efficiency which enabled the 10% barrier to be breached.
















It affirms how much more progress we can make through collaboration when conquering tough challenges. Several heads are better than one (as long as they’re the right heads!).

Full Wired magazine article here...

Crowdsourcing Caveats: NASA Learns The Hard Way

Colbert's chutzpah created colossal cosmonaut calamity.


















In the spirit of modern brand engagement, NASA decided to invite people to vote for the name of a new room in its space station. Crowdsourcing is in vogue because soliciting participation encourages involvement and belonging (hence enhanced attachment). It's also part of a wider democratization, a trend fueled by the internet and social media in which people participate in brands rather than them being formally planned and imposed by anointed architects.

It comes with risks however, as NASA discovered. Its failure to stipulate that choices were only among those listed gave Colbert the latitude to encourage his devoted followers to write-in HIS name, which thousands duly did.

In an additional failure to understand the cultural climate in which it exists, NASA has announced that it reserves the right not to adopt the winning name and select an alternative. Asking people for their opinion and then not listening to it is a sure-fire way to evoke a backlash. Better not to be involved than actively ignored. One hopes that NASA will come to their senses and that next time it will frame participation in a way that avoids unanticipated - and in this instance unwelcome - contributions.