Written on June 25, 2008 – 6:58 am
Sjors Timmer, Front-end web developer
On the Internet you can find many people who are totally passionate about certain things. This time we will have a look on t-shirts, they are great Internet products, because you can show the whole print online, they are cheap, everyone needs a few new ones each year and has a pretty good idea of what to expect from a t-shirt, and in contrast with music or films it is impossible to download them. A year ago I got the idea that it would be cool if there was a blog that would keep me updated about the latest t-shirts. Of course after some searching I found out that there where at least 65 of those blogs out there. Nevertheless I thought I could add something extra, so I started with Shirtlog and it hasn’t disappointed me yet.
Besides shops and blogs there are also sites who do something more experimental and innovative on bringing the best t-shirts to the mass. I had an e-mail interview with two interesting sites that mix old and new ideas about blogging, community voting, and user generated content. (more…)
I hope you like that post!
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Written on May 23, 2008 – 12:12 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Crowdsourcing is all about diversity. That’s the new message of Jeff Howe, contributing editor at Wired and an absolute hero for all the crowdsourcing experts. His upcoming book, “Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business” is getting him some speaking gigs and for some he even has to cross the ocean. I was present at one of these occasions and saw the inspiring man speaking at SocialStrategyTalk, a new Amsterdam-based speakers event about the social web organized by Sogeti and CreativeCrowds. Howe used to show graphs to prove the power of crowdsourcing - “a stock photo used to cost $300, now only $1″ -, yet he feels this diminishes the power of people. “The term crowdsourcing is misleading, as it sounds like it’s all about a crowd. But this is not how it works”.
It seemed like Howe was a little fed up with telling the same story over and over. Also, he probably felt that some people were running away with the definition of crowdsourcing, giving it their own twist. The result was a 45-minute presentation about special people who can be seen as an example for the beauty of crowdsourcing. Howe: “I Love my people”.
Ever since Howe saw the first signs of the phenomenon later called crowdsourcing, it was about real and special people for him. When he was writing about the music industry, Howe was hanging out with some little rock kids, “a mess of bad creativity, but fun”. He noticed an attitude change. Young people used to say “I wanna make movies”, they now say “Let’s make a cool movie”. With the rise of MySpace, kids started creating their own quality content. Then Converse started its DIY campaign, asking consumers to create an ad for the Chuck Taylor brand. This turned out to be a real hit, which got Howe really excited. “It was full in my nostrils, I could feel this was an article“.
When Howe started looking for crowdsourcing examples, he found great people. Like Nick and Jake, two college drop-outs from Chicago who are avid designers and active members of a t-shirt design culture. In 2000, they started an online weekly t-shirt design competition called Threadless. Contestants could win their own shirt, and everybody else in the community would wear it. This community steadily grew and went viral at some point. Now it’s a profitable company selling 90.000 shirts a month. Most important thing: the users still decide which shirt will be printed. The result? They’ve never not sold out a t-shirt. By letting the community members vote, the selection process is fine tuned to perfection.
If the story of Threadless already amazes you, you’d better hold on to yourself. As Howe summed up some more stunning examples of the power of crowdsourcing. (more…)
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