Crowdsourcing

I really love the idea of crowdsourcing. If you aren't familiar with the term, crowdsourcing is essentially using the power of thousands or more individuals to solve problems or create something great. It's using volunteers from the masses to do great stuff. The Johnny Cash Project is a form of this. I was blown away by the drawn-frame video Leeper showed in class last week and I adore the idea of all of his fans being able to contribute to a project that celebrates his work like that. Not only is it an awesome concept, a lot of powerful art was created, and the way each individual frame works together makes it even more beautiful. The video wouldn't be nearly as powerful if a single person drew a bunch of frames all the same, one after the other. It was also brilliant to limit the colors to greyscale and the different kinds of brushes the contributors could use. It allowed for just barely enough unity and made it really powerful.

Another cool example of crowdsourcing is the game Foldit. Foldit is a puzzle video game developed by biologists in which the players help discover how proteins fold and bend in nature. To read more about the game, here's the link. Very few, if any, players of this game are trained or educated in complicated sciences. As a biology ed major and a DMA enthusiast, I think this is the coolest idea. Gamer power! :'D