Crowd Sourcing, Unity, the Good and the Bad


Crowd sourcing really is a double-edged sword, when you think about it. On the one hand, you have the notion that two heads are better than one. That certainly often seems to ring true, as the extremes of the individuals are often cancelled out by the consensus of the masses to reveal a very accurate answer. Additionally, unity can be incredibly powerful and can accomplish a lot. However, you could also end up with a groupthink phenomenon if this group becomes too isolated and begins to play off of one another – creating a group polarization effect. There could also be room for a large amount of error considering how (un)reliable eye witness accounts are when you are trying to consult a large number of people to find out something that happened and who caused that something. The Boston Marathon bombing is an example of this. Even with the success of finding the bombers through the use of crowd sourcing, law enforcement still had to contend with large amounts of misinformation that they needed to sift through. Especially when the topic is terrorism, misinformation has the potential to cause destruction of a person’s life on a massive scale. Crowd sourcing also has the advantage of allowing people to see that they are not alone, that they can be a part of a much larger picture. A common goal, especially an emotionally charged common goal, can create unity among even feuding people. It can open up lines of communication that were otherwise unachievable. Just as a common goal can create unity for a positive outcome, it can create unity for a negative outcome. Take the example of terrorism previously mentioned. Not many things unite people like the fight against terrorism. Law enforcement are likely to unite tightly in the pursuit of information leading to bringing a terrorist to justice. This alone could cloud a person’s judgement. Then you have ordinary citizens also wanting to join in the crusade. Their well-meaning – wrong – witness accounts could lead to the pursuit of the wrong suspect. Groupthink could set in among the officers, they may not be able to see the forest for the trees, and therefore, end up destroying a poor person’s life as a result. Like all powerful tools, their use comes with a great responsibility.

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