Blog 3: Response to the Crowdsourcing Readings

After reading the articles, and watching the TED talk, I have a new understanding and appreciation for crowdsourcing.  It’s a really awesome concept, and I feel it can be used for a lot of good.  By opening up projects on a broader scale, such as global, I feel like it can be used to bring people together by having them work towards a common goal.  It can bring people who would never meet together and possibly introduce them into something they never would have encountered.

I feel crowdsourcing has the potential to be used to produce some real good.  For example, Wikipedia is a fantastic example of crowdsourcing doing something beneficial.  In the TED talk, Jimmy Wales discusses how Wikipedia is meant to be a free, open-source repository of human knowledge.  Personally, I feel this is a truly awesome and admirable thing.  I feel people should have access to the information they need.  It’s more beneficial for people to learn what they need to than be denied it simply because they cannot afford to pay the money to buy a book.  It can really benefit humanity as a whole to make information more widely available so everyone can learn.

When applied to filmmaking, I feel it can be really spectacular to see what a bunch of people can do to help make a film.  The Johnny Cash Project is a prime example.  People from all over the world can contribute to the project, and it has lead to many variations of the same video in unique and exciting styles.  It is also great to see when people can come together to support endeavors through crowdfunding, like on Kickstarter.  One of my favorite web series, Video Game High School (or VGHS for short), was made with crowdfunding by fans of the creators previous works.  It involved the talents of the people at Rocket Jump, which consists of people behind the Freddiew youtube channel among others, who were able to make a great series with the support of fans.  They are once again relying on fans, who have answered the call, to make the second season of VGHS.  I feel crowdsourcing, and crowdfunding, can help make interesting and exciting content for people to enjoy.  It shows people don’t need super expensive film equipment and software to make a cool film.  All they need are people and the tools to give people the power to create.  Though, it doesn’t help to have some good editing software to compile it all.