Crowdsourcing: A New Civil Rights leader?

 

  

Do you ever get the feeling it’s time to let go of  “The way things used to be attitude"? Well, you are not alone. As a student of Communication it is becoming more and more evident the word is “Change”.   It is mentioned routinely in my blog, because it is the foundation of growth. In order to fully appreciate and embrace the advancements in communication, we must willingly move out of our comfort zones. Last week we discussed the metaphorical firing of the Wizard of Oz by Citizen Journalist, Blogger and Digital Democracy. This week  our new concept is Crowdsourcing. According to Wikipedia it is the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contribution from a large group of people and especially from an online community, rather than from traditional employees or suppliers. In other words, it is very similar to the traditional process of outsourcing. However, the major difference is instead of targeting a specific individual, company or group; crowdsourcing, solicits the general populations.  If the Wizard of Oz was metaphorically fired  Crowdsourcing is his replacement. 

Jeff Howe, contributing editor at Wired Magazine, first published a definition for the term “ crowdsourcing” in a companion blog post to his June 2006 Wired magazine article, The Rise of Crowdsourcing” which came out in print just days later.” The truth is the term is new but the concept dates back hundreds of years.  Think about it. “The process is often -used to subdivide tedious work or to fund-raise start up and charities, and also occur offline. It combines the efforts of numerous self-identified volunteers or part-time workers, where each contributor of their own initiative adds a small portion of the greater result” Wikipedia.

 In other words, Crowdsourcing, is nothing more than a modern day form of Amish barn raising.   Web definitions: A barn raising is an event during which a community comes together to assemble a barn for one or more of its households, particularly in 18th- and 19th-century rural North America.  An article in the American Amish describes Barn Raising as “ Frolic" sounds similar to how we view social media? However, if you want to build a barn today  the Internet  would allow you to reach out to communities across the globe. Crowdsourcing, much like Citizen Journalism, in the hands of ordinary people has proven to be about more than just business transactions or product branding. It has demonstrated the ability to influence and change society on a deeper level. As in the case of Paul Lewis who demonstrates the power of using Social Media to engage the input of average citizens.

“Paul Lewis is a British journalist at The Guardian best known for his award-winning investigation of the death of Ian Tomlinson at the 2009 G 20Summit protest in London. Paul uncovered the truth by persistently questioning and challenging the police account, by following up on the family, and assiduously garnering eye-witness evidence, until finally he obtained incontrovertible video evidence from a bystander who filmed the incident. In achieving this Paul used every method now available to a modern journalist, online and in print, to keep pushing and nudging at the story until he established what had really happened. His work led to internal and independent police inquiry, extensive and international public comment, and has changed the way police behave in potential riot situations, and how they receive and investigate complaints into such incidents. All in all, his story was a triumph for the assertion of civil liberty, as well as a revelation about policing conduct.” Ted Talk

  
  

I found this story heartbreaking, fascinating and inspiring.  It took courage for this one man to become so consumed by a case he refused to let go until justice was served.  His story pierced me in a place I had  been guarding for a longtime. It made me think “Do we really understand what this means for our society”.  By simply tweeting questions and asking for witnesses to come forward individuals were held accountable for the death an innocent man. 

What started out as simply a class assignment, suddenly became personal for me. For the past ten years my nephew Brandon has been serving a twenty-six year sentence in a State of Florida prison.  He was arrested for one reason and by the time he got to court he had multiply charges. His sentence tore at the heart of our family. It  was then  and  still is extremely difficult. Brandon was only 21 at the time of his sentencing.  There is no denying he made some poor choices. Yet, prior to this incident he only had one misdemeanor on his record. Yes, he expected to face the consequences for his actions.   Which is why having the proper legal counsel was so important. He deserved to get a fair and honest trial. I can still remember the night he called me from the jail to tell me about all of the additional charges. He said " Auntie, they are trying to put a lot of charges on me for things I did not do".  I could tell he suddenly realized he was at the mercy of a system he could not fight. Well, unless he had thousands of dollars. The twenty-six years he received is a tragedy.  In America, individuals do not receive twenty six years in prison for murder, rape or other horrible crimes.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  “It suddenly hit me”  could Crowdsourcing be used to solicit multiple attorneys across the world  to review Brandon's court records? After all court documents are public records   . Yes, of course it could be used in that manner. The amazing part ,I was holding the power to launch the project in my hands. I had access to a laptop; the Internet;passwords to my  to Facebook, You Tube, Twitter and Linkedin accounts; a Smartphone and the ability to write. "Dorothy, you had the power all along,

What makes Crowdsourcing  so powerful is individuals choose to become involved. There generally is not a pay check or a promotion driving participation. It is basically  the human desire to make a contribution of some kind. Much like the men and women in history who have fought for the civil rights of other; most do it simply because they feel  it was the right thing to do. Hats off to Paul Lewis and all the brave individuals who are using Crowdsourcing to make our world a little bit better.

Across the Generation: 

This week’s I am dedicating this section to my nephew Brandon Waldrup and my family.  Hopefully, as demonstrated by the actions of Paul Lewis, Crowdsourcing can be used to stand up for changes in our justice system.  It is time money no longer determines whether someone goes to prison or walks out of the courtroom a free man.

If you are interested in finding out details surrounding Brandon or have feedback on ways to assist, please feel free to add  a comment or contact me via email at levelsevenglobal@gmail.com. Who know perhaps someone reading this blog will be moved to investigate my nephew’s case and ensure he received only the punishment he deserved not the results of a case "padded" with unsolved crimes or a sentence based upon not having a hired attorney.