How crowdsourcing will change the way the world works.
As the amount of digital work increases and the amount of physical work
decreases, our notions of employment and work change profoundly. Digital work doesn't require roads and factories; it requires a laptop and an Internet connection–equipment that people have access to in their homes. The need for offices, supervisors and rigid employment arrangements
diminishes.
As technology improves, companies should theoretically be able to access in real-time the perfect person for a given job–the one who will do the job the best, enjoy it the most or do it the fastest. All these factors combine in a way that will change the landscape of work. Here's what I think that will look like:
–Within a decade résumés will become less important as we continue to adopt newer, multifaceted ways to measure the quality of a candidate's work. Current hiring processes often involve online research about candidates on sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. Articles, portfolios, presentations and papers by potential job candidates are increasingly
found online. Companies like oDesk and Elance rate workers based on past work rather than on what college they attended.
Phi Beta Iota: This is of course precisely what OSS.Net, Inc. has been doing since 1993, in sharp contrast to the beltway bandit “butts in seats” high overhead approach. HOWEVER, the world will be divided into three workforces:
A. Digital work done from anywhere by high end digital workers.
B. Analog work done from anywhere by low end physical workers with a simple cell phone–e.g. eyes on observations.
C. Analog work done at a fixed place because the tools or the raw materials or other factors demand a fixed location.
The five billion at the bottom of the pyramid are at C and need to be moved toward B in order to create infinite wealth. That is the insight that governments and corporations refuse to grasp, despite the fact that the annual income of the five trillion is FOUR TIMES the annual income of the one billion rich.
