The wisdom of crowds

摘要

Only one reader's letter appeared in the first issue of The Economist in 1843. Even today, readers contribute no more than one, or sometimes two pages to the newspaper. But at Economist.com, through comments and debates, they discuss everything from American politics to particle physics.rnThis is just a small example of what Jeff Howe calls "crowdsourcing": using an enthusiastic community to provide material for websites or solve problems. Mr Howe aims to show that groups of amateurs can often produce better results and do so far more cheaply than professionals.