Crowdsourcing usage in design and product development activities

Much thought has been given to the fact that the society is actually a living organism and transforms into certain forms throughout time. With the developing information technologies (IT), knowledge have been globalized, reaching to furthermost rural regions as well as urban areas. While, with the ever expanding internet user counts, every household has become a potential target for IT businesses, computers and internet have played a substantial role in diffusion of global information and knowledge. The individual, who is now introduced to brand new means of improvement through connecting his computer to the global information network, acquired necessary means to improve and develop his existing capabilities and knowledge while, simultaneously, forming new organizations and communities in the global network. Crowdsourcing, which is an outcome of such formations and is translated as mass resource use in work, is firstly cited by Jeff Howe in 3 articles published in Wired Magazine in 2006. This concept, moreover, is defined in various other forms by different individuals or institutions in the course of time. Crowsourcing is the presentation of a work to masses by a company in exchange for an award in order to obtain their solutions, suggestions and contribution regarding to the work done. Thus, it is a short term cooperation unlike processes that require specificly defined long term agreements such as outsourcing. In this study, which discusses the new approach that the mass resource usage brings to idea or product development, the effectiveness of the bond that developed between the company and the creative class is examined. Moreover, the tools of the model that are employed by the companies in order to explore unique solutions and establish a stronger and convincing company identity are quoted along with the results obtained from using those tools. Furthermore, through surveys conducted of furniture companies, awareness regarding mass resource model in their designing and product development activities is questioned and in concluding remarks, a general assessment has been made in accordance with the study's findings. Keywords: Crowdsourcing, Design, Industrial Design, Product, Internet, Global Creativeness