It’s been a strange and potentially tragic week as Malaysia Air flight 370 disappeared seemingly without a trace on March 8th.
Since then, numerous efforts have tried to locate the plane. The navies of countries from around the world are searching for the plane while international organizations such as the United States’ FAA and mapping organization EROS (located in my backyard) are working to piece together the data.
The most amazing work, however, is not being done by a government, aviation company or international organization. Individuals are volunteering to help, crunching data on an unimaginable scale.
This effort shines a spotlight on the fact that in major projects, there are some tasks that only experts or collaborators can do. However, there are also microtasks that thousands or millions of supporters can voluntarily do. Enable your supporters to help with microtasks, then your major project is suddenly achievable.
Crowdsourcing the Malaysia Flight 370 Search
Many of us have been anxiously watching the stories of the missing Malaysia flight 370, praying for a safe resolution.
Over 100,000 people a minute however are jumping online to help.
The company Tomnod is enabling this massive collaboration often referred to as crowdsourcing. Thousands or even millions of people want to help find the Malaysia Air plane, so Tomnod gathers together all the satellite images it can from the search area and invites individuals to look through and tag potential rafts, oil slicks, wreckage or anything that looks out of the ordinary.
Each image is shown to multiple participants to triangulate the data and to find potential issues that the navies and professional organizations of the world could then investigate.
By combining the time and passion of these participants, Tomnod is able to conduct a search over a 1,000 square mile area with little to no resources.
Solving Problems with Barn Raising
Crowdsourcing expert Patrick Meier has long advocated for this microtasking approach to humanitarian disasters. As he recently noted, the same technique being used to search for the Malaysia Air flight has been used to find internally displaced people in Somalia, human rights abuses in Syria and provide rapid damage assessment after hurricane Yolanda.
Microtasking thus seems like an effective way to undertake major humanitarian efforts. It can also help on a smaller scale.
In many rural communities, the idea of a barn raising is a perfect historic example of crowdsourcing. The community doesn’t have to build the barn, design the barn or pay for the barn. For a short moment in time, they simply come together to raise the walls of the barn.
Much like crowdsourcing, this is a voluntary effort (maybe with potluck as a reward) with no ongoing time commitment. Also, like crowdsourcing, this enables people who want to help to pool their resources (muscle in this case) to achieve something that is impossible for a single person.
Microtasking as the Foundation of Major Projects
In most major projects, we find three types of participants: experts, collaborators and supporters.
Experts are the ones we expect to be involved. The folks either paid to participate or who have the education or skills that few can offer.
As a local example, I think of the United Way employees I recently met in Yankton. The director of the local United Way is the expert, paid to organize events, call potential donors and spread the word of why people should support their organization.
Collaborators are individuals or organizations that have a shared interest or skill set that makes them want to get involved. In the Malaysia Air example, organizations like the FAA or EROS have unique abilities that put them in the position of collaborators.
Locally, businesses looking to support their community might collaborate with the United Way to provide in-kind sponsorship, call on their network for donations and attend live events.
Supporters are the individuals who casually want to get involved or support the cause. In the search for Malaysia flight 370, these are the thousands of people logging in every minute to help look at satellite images.
For local organizations like the United Way, donating might be the only way supporters can currently be casually involved. Empowering them to market, raise funds and attend could lead to amazing results.
Plus, with tools like GoFundMe, Kickstarter or StayClassy, it has never been easier to empower your supporters to make a big difference in a short amount of time.
Build Your Pyramid
Think about your company or organization as a pyramid.
On top you have a few key employees and staff.
Under them you have key partners which could be sales partners, consultants or mentors who just share and help what you’re doing.
On the bottom of the pyramid, you have a base of supporters.
Grow your base of supporters. You might not know yet how they will help you, but by articulating your mission you can grow the number of people who are your fans. You’ll have a network of supporters ready to help when you have microtasks that need doing.
When the time comes to ask your supporters for help, make it easy for them to get involved. You’re not outsourcing key functions that your experts and collaborators are working on, but rather tasks that are best tackled by a large number of passionate people.
Finding the Plane
Over the coming days and weeks, we’ll hear more theories and hear more about the efforts underway to find Malaysia Air flight 370.
What’s unique is that now we can do something about it. You can login and help with the search.
For centuries we could help others raise their barns, but only if we lived nearby. Today we can help anyone anywhere raise their barn.
The challenge is thus to make it easy for people to understand why they should help you and how they can quickly and easily make a difference.
The power of the crowds is what built the Pyramids in Giza, the Great Wall in China and barns throughout rural America. Imagine what your supporters can help you build.
