The infrastructure behind crowdsourcing and co-collaboration

Crowdsourcing and co-collaboration initiatives are gaining traction everyday. All around the world, individuals, groups and communities are dreaming up and executing interesting, original and innovative ideas. These ideas are then produced using the combined efforts of many people. All of this is made possible by cheap, easy to use, web-based technologies and services.

But what about turing these ideas into tangible products? Well, it just so happens that traditional production industries are also being turned on their head. A new breed of companies are appearing that enable these concepts to be turned into reality.

These companies are exciting because they focus on the bigger picture. By satisfying both the producer and the end-user they provide a service where everyone wins. This is REALLY important. In 21st century business, every customer is also a potential supplier. Rather than just taking ideas and profiting from them, these companies provide an infrastructure where rewards are shared, thus increasing audience advocacy.

There companies are popping up all the time, but here's a few to get you started:

Threadless uses their community to create unique t-shirt designs. Individuals submit design concepts. These are then voted on by everyone else. Once a design has attracted enough interest, it goes into production. The designer then takes a cut of the profits. Other companies with a similar approach include Spreadshirt and NakedAndAngry

Sellaband's idea is to get a music group to appeal its fanbase to help finance the production of professional quality music. Fans are asked to pledge $10, the proceeds of which go into hiring a production team. The idea is to elevate garage bands to the production level of internationally recognised bands.

Lulu's aim is to shakeup the book publishing world. Anyone can upload a book (as a pdf) and get it printed. This removes the need for a publishing house, thereby decreasing the overall overheads involved in getting a book to press. They achieve this by using digital print-on-demand technology. This makes it cheaper per book and means that there is no need for a minimum order.

Amazon's CreateSpace goes further by letting people publish books, CDs, DVDs, HD DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Once uploaded the finished product is automagically made available on Amazon's website.

I like what these companies are doing. They are providing a useful and easy-to-use infrastructure. They are exciting because they allow ideas to become real. Expect to see more and more companies appearing as time goes on.

Technorati Tags: amazon, co-creation, collaboration, infrastructure, product, sellaband, spreadshirt, threadless

Categories: Crowdsourcing.

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