Do you know what it means?

你知道那是什麼意思嗎？

Crowdsourcing is the process of connecting with large groups of people via the Internet who are tapped for their knowledge, expertise, time, or resources.

群眾外包是指用網路串連一大群人，獲取他們的知識、專長、時間或資源的過程。

This idea of reaching out to the crowd isn't new; even before crowdsourcing on the Internet, we often collaborated with groups of people.

這種向群眾伸手求助的概念不是新的想法。遠在透過網路進行群眾外包之前，我們就經常和其他人合作。

Some people help because they were seeking a reward for their efforts, or sometimes they just wanted to help.

有些人提供幫助，因為他們想從努力中獲取報酬；或者有時候，他們就只是想幫忙而已。

Let's go back to 1714: Sailing the Seven Seas was necessary but really dangerous to navigate.

讓我們回到1714年。當時航行七大洋是必要的，但航海非常的危險。

So, the British government held a contest, asking people for a solution.

所以，大英帝國政府舉辦了一項比賽，向人民尋求解決方法。

John Harrison answered the call, he invented the marine chronometer, and was awarded a large cash prize.

約翰·哈里森響應了這個行動，發明了航海經線儀，並獲得大筆財富作為獎賞。

Sailors used the marine chronometer to determine the ship's longitude, with the help from the stars.

船員運用航海經線儀，配合星星的指引來確定船的經度位置。

Let's move forward a bit to 1858⏤a group of scholars created the first Oxford English Dictionary.

讓我們前進一點點，來到1858年。一群學者編輯了第一本牛津英語詞典。

It was a huge project, and they needed help.

那是一項龐大的計劃，所以他們需要幫手。

So, they asked for lots of volunteers to write about different topics according to their expertise, and then they put it all together.

所以他們徵招了許多自願者，讓這些人依自己的專長來撰寫不同的主題，再把全部內容彙整起來。

The point is, relying on the crowd isn't really a newfangled idea.

其實，靠群眾的力量來完成事情不算是什麼新奇的概念，

But it wasn't until we all got connected that crowdsourcing came about,

但是直到我們都被串連在一起，才出現「群眾外包」，

because with the Internet, you can reach lots of people very quickly, and you can direct and organize their work.

因為有了網路，你可以很快地接觸到很多人，還可以指揮、組織他們的工作。

Think of it like this: Crowdsourcing is a way of solving problems and producing things by connecting online with people that you otherwise wouldn't know.

這樣想吧：群眾外包是一種藉由網路連結你根本不認識的人，來解決問題、創造事物的方式。

Anyone can use crowdsourcing: companies, governments, groups, and individuals.

任何人都可以用群眾外包：企業、政府部門、團體，還有個人。

They can use it to grow their organizations or support their causes.

他們可以用它來壯大組織，或支持自己的理念。

There are four different ways crowdsourcing works.

群眾外包有四種不同運作方式：

The first enables you to access a large online labor force.

第一種讓你能接觸一大群線上勞動力。

You can identify and select workers, or you can just post your work and let the workers find you.

你可以找出並挑選人為你工作，或者你也可以把工作內容張貼到網路上，讓其他人來找你。

The second allows you to ask the crowd to help you find a solution to a problem.

第二種是讓你請群眾幫助你找到問題的解決方法。

A third is when knowledge exists, but you need help finding and organizing it.

第三種是當知識存在，但你需要人尋找並整理。

The fourth is when you need ideas from the crowd and their opinion and feedback.

第四種則是當你需要群眾給你想法，還有意見和回饋。

So, as you can see, there are different ways crowdsourcing works, and there are different things you can do with crowdsourcing.

所以，如你所見，群眾外包有很多運作形式，你也可以靠群眾外包做很多不同的事情。

When you use the crowd to help collect and organize information, we call this "Accessing Distributed Knowledge".

當你用群眾的力量來幫忙蒐集、整理資訊，這就叫做「分散式知識獲取」。

"Crowdfunding", where you can raise capital from many individuals who believe in your venture or cause,

「群眾募資」就是向許多相信你的事業或理念的人募集資金。

each making small donations that add up to a lot.

每個人捐一點點錢，最後加總就有一大筆。

When you use crowdsourcing to connect with an on-demand scalable workforce to perform a broad range of tasks, we call this "Accessing Cloud Labor".

當你用群眾外包來連結一群能因應需求、有擴展潛力的勞動力來執行許多工作，就叫做「雲端勞動力獲取」。

"Open Innovation" is where you use crowdsourcing to reach diverse and creative people for new-idea generation and problem-solving.

「開放式創新」則是你用群眾外包接觸許多不同和有創意的人來產生新的想法和解決問題。

Crowdsourcing can be used to access the world's creative communities to design and develop original art, media, or content; we call this "Crowd Creativity".

群眾外包可以用來連結世界上的創意社群，設計和發展出原創的藝術、媒體、或內容，我們稱之為「群眾創意」。

There are many tools available that can be used in crowdsourcing that support collaboration and communication among distributed groups of people.

有很多可利用的工具能被用在群眾外包上，幫助分散的群體互相合作及溝通。

You want to know more, right? I thought so.

你還想知道更多，對吧？我就知道。

Visit crowdsourcing.org for everything you want to know about crowdsourcing.

歡迎造訪 crowdsourcing.org，這個網站會告訴你關於群眾外包的一切。

Take a step further,

更進一步，

and visit masssolution.com for assistance with your crowdsourcing initiatives and to learn how to benefit from crowdsourcing.

可以去 masssolution.com 瞧瞧，幫助你開始群眾外包，學習如何從中獲利。