{
    "version" : "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1",
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    "title" : "Challenges & Crowdsourcing: A Quick Overview and Look Ahead |Digital.gov",
    "description": "Challenges & Crowdsourcing: A Quick Overview and Look Ahead",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/12/08/challenges-crowdsourcing-a-quick-overview-and-look-ahead/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"Challenges \u0026 Crowdsourcing: A Quick Overview and Look Ahead","summary" : "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 contribute their talents and skills. Simply put, crowdsourcing means engaging the crowd. Often referred to as a form of open collaboration or","date" : "2015-12-08T11:43:44-04:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"eric-beidel" : "Eric Beidel"},"topics" : {
        
            "challenges-and-prize-competitions" : "Challenges and prize competitions",
            "crowdsourcing-and-citizen-science" : "Crowdsourcing and citizen science"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2015-12-08-challenges-crowdsourcing-a-quick-overview-and-look-ahead.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2015/12/2015-12-08-challenges-crowdsourcing-a-quick-overview-and-look-ahead.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2015/12/2015-12-08-challenges-crowdsourcing-a-quick-overview-and-look-ahead.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2015/12/2015-12-08-challenges-crowdsourcing-a-quick-overview-and-look-ahead.md","slug" : "challenges-crowdsourcing-a-quick-overview-and-look-ahead","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/12/08/challenges-crowdsourcing-a-quick-overview-and-look-ahead/","content" :"\u003cp\u003eThis month we’re highlighting articles about challenge competitions and crowdsourcing across the federal government.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFederal agencies can gain a wealth of ideas, services, solutions and products by asking a large, diverse crowd to contribute their talents and skills.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSimply put, crowdsourcing means engaging the crowd. Often referred to as a form of open collaboration or innovation, crowdsourcing takes many forms, including challenges (or prize competitions), hackathons, data jams, code-a-thons, workplace surveys, open ideation, micro-tasks or micro-work, citizen science, and crowdfunding.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur articles this month will delve into some of these methods through examples, advice, and project updates from those leading such efforts in the federal government.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"appealing-to-the-citizen-scientist\"\u003eAppealing to the Citizen Scientist\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCitizen science is a hot topic in open crowdsourcing efforts. Imagine how much more agencies can achieve by inviting non-government researchers, scientists, technologists, academics and others into the scientific process to identifying research questions, collect and analyze data, interpret and extrapolate from results.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s small wonder, then, that so many agencies are turning to citizen science for many new and exciting initiatives, including:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://web.ornl.gov/sci/buildings/jump/\"\u003eOak Ridge National Laboratory’s challenge\u003c/a\u003e to increase energy efficiency in buildings\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://ccsinventory.wilsoncenter.org/#projectId/228\"\u003eThe Environmental Protection Agency’s effort\u003c/a\u003e to measure and address the impacts of transit and air pollution on children’s health\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.nps.gov/rlc/continentaldivide/international-partnerships.htm\"\u003eThe National Park Service’s pilot program\u003c/a\u003e that allows students to study species present in both the Rocky Mountains and a park in Costa Rica.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) also led an effort to \u003ca href=\"https://crowdsourcing-toolkit.sites.usa.gov/\"\u003ecreate a toolkit\u003c/a\u003e for those wishing to carry out their own citizen science and crowdsourcing projects. The \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/communities/crowdsourcing-citizen-science/\"\u003eCitizen Science\u003c/a\u003e community of practice worked to establish the toolkit and now is ramping-up coordination efforts in this area, including development of a central online database for federal citizen science initiatives.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe partnership between GSA and OSTP also will help establish coordinators at each agency who can help manage contributions to this database.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou’ll read more about these projects in another one of this month’s articles.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"it-takes-all-kinds\"\u003eIt Takes All Kinds\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the biggest advantages of crowdsourcing is the sheer number and diversity of people that come together to tackle an issue, regardless of education, age and other factors.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBuilding a community of problem-solvers is a crucial aspect of any successful challenge competition. Those that have run challenges for the government have used a variety of strategies to reach out to potential participants.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis month, you’ll read about some of those tactics and how agencies even have focused on target audiences, such as high schoolers or younger students, to add a key educational component to their competitions.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eExamples of this include:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe National Science Foundation’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/gennano/\"\u003eGeneration Nano Challenge\u003c/a\u003e, which calls on students to think up superheros and equip them with gear inspired by nanotechnology\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe \u003ca href=\"http://www.congressionalappchallenge.us/\"\u003eCongressional Apps Challenge\u003c/a\u003e, where students in more than 160 congressional districts are designing original apps for a chance to be recognized by their member of Congress.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"incentives-stimulate-innovation\"\u003eIncentives Stimulate Innovation\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLet’s face it: There’s nothing like a monetary prize to motivate the public. But dollars aren’t the only drivers of public engagement. In the absence of a cash prize, agencies are crafting other creative incentives to motivate citizen problem-solvers to take action.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIncentivized, open competition has become a standard tool for federal agencies to solve mission-centric problems. Well-designed competitions allow agencies to:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEstablish “big” goals and pay only for success;\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eExtend beyond the agency’s known network of vendors to a wider range of problem-solvers;\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBring out-of-discipline perspectives to bear; and\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMake for more affordable solutions that maximize the return on taxpayer dollars.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe U.S. government’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.challenge.gov/list/\"\u003eChallenge.gov\u003c/a\u003e website is the official hub of competitions open to the public. It is a one-stop shop for the public to discover challenges and engage with federal agencies that are running crowdsourcing competitions.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFederal agencies have run more than 630 challenges since the site launched in 2010, tackling a variety of creative, business, technical and scientific problems, including:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.rebuildbydesign.org/\"\u003eBuilding resiliency\u003c/a\u003e in communities damaged by natural disasters;\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.wordgapchallenge.hrsa.gov/\"\u003eRaising literacy levels\u003c/a\u003e for low-income students;\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://catalyst.energy.gov/\"\u003eJumpstarting technology development and startups\u003c/a\u003e in the energy sector;\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.challenge.gov/challenge/nutrient-recycling-challenge/\"\u003eCreating environmentally friendly and economically feasible products\u003c/a\u003e to recycle nutrients in livestock manure on America’s farms; and\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.ebolagrandchallenge.net/\"\u003eDesigning new gear\u003c/a\u003e to help healthcare workers stop the spread of Ebola.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou’ll read more about those last two in one of this month’s articles on how public-private partnerships are pushing challenge competitions to new heights. You’ll also read a first-person account from one of \u003ca href=\"https://www.challenge.gov/mentors/\"\u003eChallenge.gov’s mentors\u003c/a\u003e on the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s foray into its \u003ca href=\"http://nistdata.devpost.com/\"\u003efirst app contest\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the meantime, you can learn more about the Challenge.gov program by viewing a comprehensive \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd9b-GuOJ3nFeJeAHAn3Z5opohjxIw8OC\"\u003evideo playlist of training, tips and additional resources\u003c/a\u003e or by \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/topics/challenges-and-prize-competitions/\"\u003ereading articles in the Challenges category\u003c/a\u003e of this site.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe hope enjoy all the articles this month and that the work in crowdsourcing inspires you to get involved or launch your own initiative.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you have any questions about this theme or want to contribute a story about your agency crowdsourcing efforts, please contact us via \u003ca href=\"mailto:challenge@gsa.gov\"\u003eemail\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}