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Crowdsourcing

What is crowdsourcing?

Crowdsourcing is an e-participation method used worldwide and more specifically as a means of enhancing democratic engagement in the EU. Crowdsourcing can be a complementary tool to existing frameworks in order to expand the number of contributors to EU policy-making, remove potential barriers to participation and “engage the unengaged” throughout Europe.

  • Description
  • About Crowdsourcing

We see crowdsourcing as a way of solving problems and producing new ideas by connecting online with people that you otherwise wouldn’t reach, giving citizens the opportunity to learn from others, collaborate and participate in the decision-making.

With our ECAS crowdsourcing platform we aim at:

✔ encouraging citizens to speak up on issues directly affecting them;

✔ increasing citizens democratic participation in political life;

✔ stimulating citizens engagement with the EU;

✔ improving citizens understanding of EU policy-making processes.

  • A new Deliberative-Collaborative e-Democracy model is emerging worldwide and crowdsourcing legislation is a part of it. It can contribute to a more open and inclusive form of policy-making by involving citizens through the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
  • The definition of crowdsourcing provided by Brabham (2008) is: “an online, distributed, problem-solving and production model that leverages the collective intelligence of online communities to serve specific organisational goals”
  • ECAS is part of the EUCROWD project led by Institute for Electronic Participation  (INePA) and in collaboration with Democratic Society, Stichting Netwerk Democratie, Science for You (SciFY), ManaBalss.lv, Open Ministry and Démocratie Ouverte