The title of this post has many iterations and this concept appears more and more often in various online discussions and sites dedicated to exploring crowdsourcing ideas.
It’s an odd thing to assert however. The “Democratization of Everything” (DOE, pronounced “d’uh?”) can never diminish the gap between amateurs and professionals just because they play in the same sandbox (where on any typical open CS platform there is virtually no true collaboration between members of the crowd). That’s not to say that either group – including the continuum of amateur to professional – can not learn from each other through observation. A good teacher always learns from their students. But the assertion that an open crowdsourced platform narrows the gaps between the expert and the novice assumes that the experience, principles and learning that an expert brings to a problem is the same as a novice who has none of those things to offer apart from a passion to compete.
The germ of the idea can truly be sourced from absolutely anyone. But to nurture it, to make it truly special, requires an expertise that takes years of education and practice.
So why do brands bother with the CS platforms in the first place? (Post on this topic, to come)
