This talk was presented on Saturday 8 March at SXSW Interactive 2008. The internet and web technologies have torn down a lot of walls. But for every new, empowering opportunity, there’s some slimeball trying to make a quick buck off “harnessing user-generated content.” As artists, how do we tell one from the other? And as creators, how do we invite community participation with the respect it deserves? Join internet pioneer Derek Powazek for an inside look at how forward-thinking companies are innovating media by empowering readers to become writers, consumers to become creators. Powazek will share his experiences from Pixish, his new creative community source, and Fray, a book series that sprang from a virtual community; as well as insights on community-first companies online.

1. Weird Turn Pro
Crowdsourcing for Creatives
South by Southwest Interactive, 8 March 2008
Derek Powazek
CEO Pixish
www.pixish.com

2. “When the going gets weird,
the weird turn pro.”
– Hunter S. Thompson

3. Three Lies
1. Everyone on the net is an idiot.
2. Good stuff is too hard to find.
3. You can’t make any money.

4. Lie 1: Everyone on the net is an idiot

5. Kim Pedersen’s Backyard Monorail

6. Wikipedia

7. Lie 2: Good stuff is too hard to find.

8. Human
Traditional Editors
Nontraditional Editors
Moderators
Finding the Good Stuff

9. Human Computer
Traditional Editors Text Search
Nontraditional Editors Google’s PageRank
Moderators Technorati
Finding the Good Stuff

10. Human Hybrid Computer
Traditional Editors Flickr Interestingness Text Search
Nontraditional Editors Community Vote Google’s PageRank
Moderators Best of Both
Finding the Good Stuff

11. Flickr’s Interestingness

12. Flickr’s Interestingness

13. Wisdom of Crowds

14. Design for Selfishness

15. Learning from Assignment Zero

16. “Using crowdsourcing as a cost-saving
measure doesn’t work.
Communities must be cultivated,
respected, and managed if they are
to create economic value.”
– Jeff Howe, who coined the term “crowdsourcing”

17. Lie 3: You can’t make any money.

18. Threadless

19. Threadless

20. A Threadless Story

21. A Threadless Story

22. Hooray for happy endings!

23. Pixish

24. Cautionary Tales

25. Yahoo Games Wii Site

26. Yahoo Games Wii Site

27. GM Tahoe Apprentice Campaign

28. Community is Grown, Not Built

29. How to Grow Community
1. Give people tools they want.
2. Trust them to do good.
3. Reward good contributions.
4. Punish bad contributions.
5. Expect the unexpected.

30. Ever Forward
www.powazek.com