Some more crowdsourcing sites for filmmakers include wreckamovie, or crowdfunding via Indigogo, KickStarter, Fundabreak, etc.

I’ve written a few case studies of films that have been successfully using this method – most recently Iron Sky. http://yetanotherstrugglingwriter.blogspot.com/2010/06/iron-sky-crowdsourcing.html

The aspect I’d like to add is the evolution we can see crowdsourcing going through right now. I think 2 models are emerging.

The first model relies on a contest-style where contributors work on a speculative basis. Their motivations can include career advancement, creative expression, game playing and personal achievement.

The second model relies on technology to organize contributors and match the right people to the right tasks with the right compensation.

While this second model may seem less radical I believe its the superior model.

A number of crowdsourcing companies have made this same discovery, including the company I founded, AdHack.

We’re creating a crowdsourcing model that balances breadth of choice for buyers with an open creative process and fair compensation for contributors.

Without this more progressive model I think crowdsourcing risks becomeing a race to the bottom for professional-generated content (PGC). Low prices chase out quality. Quality moves to platforms that generate returns commensurate with skill.

To use more inflammatory language, crowdsourcing without a more progressive model is strip mining the hopes of creative people. They become ‘digital sharecroppers,’ to use Nick Carr’s term, whether there are incentives to continue to play the game or not.

I know because we used to ask people to work for free in a contest-type model and we could see the results.

Now we’re working hard to build a new, fair model on AdHack that uses matching technology to connect the right creative people with the right opportunities in the right process – a sustainable way or working that unlocks value for everyone involved.

The old models will soon fade – where the producer of goods is at arms length from the creator of the goods, be it soft goods, such as music, film, design, or hard goods such as products – it will all soon be done through optimized “platforms of participation”, as we are are building at Talenthouse. Consumers and producers will soon coexist / co-mingle and interact directly with each other, removing yet another layer of marketplace inefficiency, leading to customers getting the products they really want, at a lower and lower price.

In short, I agree with you – this is a big deal.

I like to believe an inclusive crowdsourcing culture is forming, one that engages the “out crowd.” I’m excited about these times, and how innovative social design can infuse this emerging culture with values that foster diverse participation. I had a look at World of Warcraft (via the Seely-Brown article), and saw that “The gender of your character is purely a cosmetic feature and has no impact on that character’s abilities or statistics.” Imagine! Copy that, traditional enterprise!

I agree with you that the best platforms must rise to these challenges, and will benefit from making new and unique connections. How will it happen? I look forward to the contest

Also like your take on social design, games and contests. I think you’d be interested in this perspective:

“Reputation and Game Mechanics Are the Future of Social Software”

http://blog.spigit.com/permalink/2010/04/02/reputation_and_game_mechanics_are_the

It is a dynamic, evolving area. There’s a lot to track here.

Hutch Carpenter
VP of Product
Spigit, Inc.