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Crowdsourcing Tourism.
Sunday, 9th March 2014
Source : Louise Osborne ~ Exclusive from ITB 2014
Everyone knows that age-old adage, 'if you want something done well, then you have to do it yourself', but crowdsourcing firm Clickworker has gone completely against the grain instead deciding that, if you want something done well, then you have to get tens, or hundreds or even thousands of people  to do it.

4Hoteliers Image LibraryIn a presentation to delegates at ITB Berlin, Ines Maione, marketing manager at the firm explained how the model works and how it could be useful in the field of tourism.

The idea is that the internet opens up a world of talent that could be helpful in making a product successful from designing, writing and information gathering to development and marketing of a particular, tool, app or website.

"There is a big pool of know-how, ideas and knowledge," said Maione. "And one can find people through a big social network or through a crowdsourcing offering."

Clickworker works by recruiting people to carry out minijobs working in parallel to each other to do small tasks, which means they can put together a big project very quickly, she told those gathered.

This method has allowed the firm to evolve to having access to 500,000 workers from 136 countries since it launched in 2005 and put together mobile phone apps covering tourism information for 10 big cities, providing virtual guides for restaurants and sights together with photos and information about amenities including cafes and theaters.

But although the projects can include hundreds or thousands of people, Maione said they were careful to make sure the quality coming from the "crowd" did not suffer.

"People must register what skills they have, what their mother language is and their data," she said. "We need to know what they can do. They must have an online qualification with us and then everything gets reviewed to make sure it is done correctly."

This is strictly an exclusive feature, reprints of this article in any shape or form without prior written approval from 4Hoteliers.com is not permitted.
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Louise Osborne is a correspondent and editor based in Berlin, Germany. She began her career working at regional newspapers in the UK and now works with journalists across the globe as part of international journalism organization, Associated Reporters Abroad (ARA). Living abroad for the second time, she continues to be fascinated by places both near and far, and boards a plane eagerly, as often as she can.

Besides the ITB Berlin 2014 live coverage, Louise also writes a weekly exclusive column for
4Hoteliers.com

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