crowdsourcing

Breadcrumb News…

I wrote Crowdsourcing Sustainability’s first newsletter in May 2018 for 91 people. Five years and 200+ newsletters later, over 200,000 people in 150+ countries are subscribed. As I was reflecting on the last five years to figure out what…

Just a few quick things to share with you this week! Origin Story Podcast Hear From the Experts on Multisolving & Electrifying Your Home Workshop: How to Be an Effective Local Climate Leader! Origin Story I was recently…

Just a few quick things to share with you this week! Origin Story Podcast Hear From the Experts on Multisolving & Electrifying Your Home Workshop: How to Be an Effective Local Climate Leader! Origin Story I was recently interviewed…

Just a few quick things for you today! Our latest podcast episode with Seattle’s Director of Sustainability Upcoming workshop on community climate action We’re hiring a Content Publishing & Social Media Manager Local Climate…

Today I’m happy to share Crowdsourcing Sustainability’s 2022 annual report with you! We’re very proud of what our scrappy startup nonprofit was able to accomplish last year in partnership with all of you. You can find the full report…

Back in March, Rachel and I had the pleasure of speaking at Harvard’s Social Enterprise Conference about “The role media plays in shaping climate change narratives”. It went really well! Lots of great people, questions, ideas, and…

Over the last 5 years, Crowdsourcing Sustainability has educated, inspired, and empowered tens of thousands of people to see the world differently and take meaningful climate action. Together, we have made a remarkable impact since…

Learning about the reality of the climate crisis and the destruction of ecological systems that sustain life can bring up these kinds of emotions in us because our body and brain correctly interpret this information as threats to our…

It’s the level of government where things can be done the quickest. Local policy and investment decisions have the potential to reduce a significant amount of emissions (e.g. roughly 35% of emissions in California). And perhaps most…

First I just want to say thank you! After publishing the “CS is Ending” newsletter, I heard from well over 200 people. Thank you all for your outpouring of gratitude, well wishes, and for sharing your stories of what Crowdsourcing…

We hope you enjoy the change of “scenery” as we move into the summer months!   Contents    Base Map   This challenge focuses on ALL SCHOOLS, including General Schools, Elementary Schools, Middle Schools, High Schools, Colleges /…

Contents  Base Map   As you can see from the map below, a decent amount of work has already been completed for these states. However, that was quite a long time ago, and if we overlay the points with no edit history (see below), there’s…

Credit: CC0 Public Domain Recent research has found a way to leverage the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to more efficiently screen…

Mobile Gov Experiences are agency stories about creating anytime, anywhere, any device government services and info. This entry is a story shared by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Release Mako App was…

Thanks to the tremendous work of challenge managers across federal government and the support of the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, the Challenge.gov program at GSA has been named one of the top 5…

Thinking about crowdsourcing and incentives as innovative ways to tackle problems within your agency? Want to talk to someone who has done it? Better yet, want to talk to somebody within your own agency, or someone who has run…

This week the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released its second comprehensive report detailing the use of federal challenge and prize competitions. Read it and you’ll find details about the fiscal benefits of…

This week we're down to 56 Points with No Edit History. Let's give it one more week to see how much closer to 0 we can get. The National Map Corps appreciates the completion of another year of your dedicated participation. Have a…

This is a phenomenal month for federal challenge and prize competitions with 12 new programs launched in February. The challenge.gov platform usually averages four to six new challenges a month, so we’re excited to see the year…

What is a Challenge? In a challenge, a “seeker” challenges “solvers” to identify a solution to a particular problem, or rewards contestants for accomplishing a goal. The solutions may be: ideas, designs, logos, videos, finished products,…

Federal agencies now have the ability to create a challenge competition website that accepts submissions and allows public voting with a new, no-cost tool. The Challenge.gov team unveiled and demonstrated the capabilities of GSA’s…

Breadcrumb News…

The mobile health (mHealth) market is projected to become a $50 billion industry by 2020, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been actively contributing to the rise of the mHealth applications. The agency uses…

Breadcrumb News…

There is some confusion about how “ideation” fits into challenge and prize competitions. Often, we hear from agencies that they would like to ask the public for ideas, to survey them on a specific question, or to request proposals…

After leading a complex effort to crowdsource ideas to solve a problem facing your agency, the last thing you want to hear is that the innovative solutions you received don’t actually help remedy the issue. More than 20 federal…

As highlighted in this Trends on Tuesday post, time spent on mobile phones—about 3 hours per day—has surpassed that of daily PC usage. This yields a significant opportunity for consumer interaction with federal agencies’ mobile apps, not…

Got innovation? Well, we do! On Wednesday May 28, the Challenge.gov team gathered the Challenges and Prizes Community of Practice. The group covered two topics: Highlights from challenge competitions run in 2013. Concepts and tips for…

Mobile devices are moving closer to the center of the social universe, according to this Sproutsocial article. Platforms like Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter are overwhelmingly used on the go. Comscore predicts that there will be…

The more public information is digitized, the more it lands on or sprouts from social media channels. This is why there needs to be a greater level of awareness and consideration for those who can benefit most from that…

Challenge and prize competitions are competitive and not always squeaky clean. There is money at stake, pride, honor, and awards. So this Quartz/NexGov article, Crowdsourcing Behavior Encourages Malicious Behavior, Study Finds,…

If you have a hand in contracts for crowdsourcing initiatives and challenge and prize competitions, here are some helpful hints for you. We’ve gathered this list from the expert businesses that provide competition services. Haven’t…

This month we’ll be highlighting articles about crowdsourcing. These are the programs that use a variety of online mechanisms to get ideas, services, solutions, and products by asking a large, diverse crowd to contribute their…

Mostafa Fawzy, Hemera, Thinkstock In one sense, almost any type of user research is crowdsourced—you’re talking to people and using that information to improve your system. But in a true sense, crowdsourcing is more than just…

In May 2015, we’re hosting the second DigitalGov Citizen Services Summit “Spring 2015 DigitalGov Citizen Services Summit”). This round we are looking to you—federal innovators across government—to help build the agenda. We want to get…

Fighting malaria in Botswana with a group of high school students in D.C. Contributing to the Ebola response from the West Bank. These scenarios may not fit the typical image of humanitarian aid efforts, but technology has…

Crowdsourcing and prize competitions can take many forms, which makes them a great open innovation tool. A large group of federal agencies and other partners has launched a competition that also involves a secondary crowdsourcing…

Crowdsourcing has created new paths for public interaction with the government, as we’ve been highlighting on DigitalGov with this month’s theme. However, crowdsourcing can also be used to harness support for internal agency…

Mobile devices allow the public to interact with government in new and game-changing ways and users expect those interactions. As a result, many agencies are taking advantage of native apps for crowdsourcing projects. The White…

Bplanet / iStock / Thinkstock We’ve had an excellent year of training and community events for the federal challenge and prize community, so for the month of December DigitalGov University has taken a look at the events we’ve hosted…

Crowdsourcing is a critical corner of the digital government landscape, and our December theme articles have covered the topic from a variety of angles. Before we head into January, where we will discuss upcoming trends on the…

“I tell the interns: In this lab, we’re all about failure. If you’re not failing, you’re not really doing anything.” –Sam Droege, USGS biologist, in Audubon magazine The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is actively working with…

cherezoff, iStock, Thinkstock Innovative wearables, stronger wifi and more 3D printing have been among the many projections for the future of mobile in 2015. Whatever comes to pass, we can be certain that the anytime, anywhere user…

I recently found an app that provides a great service through crowdsourcing. Be My Eyes connects visually-impaired people with volunteers. Using the smartphone’s camera, the volunteers can perform tasks such as reading an expiration date…

When people hear about challenge competitions, they most often ask about the results. What worked and why did it work? Two great examples are featured on the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy site, which include…

The rise in mobile device usage has created a rise in expectations: the public wants new and innovative interactions with all organizations, including government. Incorporating social media in mobile websites and native apps is one way…

To promote crowdsourcing, one effective tool is, well, crowdsourcing. Today, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Federal Community of Practice for Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science (CCS) unveiled…

NASA recently announced the winners of a smartwatch app interface competition. A Canadian duo won the design competition, and NASA’s plan is to build the app with 2016 funding to have it available for astronauts to use when they…

This month we’re highlighting articles about challenge competitions and crowdsourcing across the federal government. Federal agencies can gain a wealth of ideas, services, solutions and products by asking a large, diverse crowd to…