Crowdsourced Archive

Cameesa is a recently launched startup that wants to do for fashion what IndieGoGo is doing for movies. Unlike crowdsourcing where you get free labor, crowdfunding is where people "support" an idea and help is move to fruition.

Here’s how Cameesa works:

• Artists upload their fashion designs into the Cameesa system
• Supporters then provide funding to help the fashion design turn into a real product
• Assuming the product gets fully supported (100%), the fashion becomes an actual item for ordering in the Cameesa system
• At that point, the artist gets paid, the supporters get paid and buyers can place orders for the fashion item

Kristen Nicole reviewed Cameesa last month and noted, "Some could argue that such a model for fronting money isn’t necessarily worth the rewards, unless sales become scalable on a large scale. The question remains whether or not it’s worth it to artists and supporters in the long run. Part of that answer could be boiled down to promotional options provided by Cameesa, and the drive of both artists and supporters. Some widgets, badges and third-party applications on social media sites could begin to help out towards this end." 

I agree with Kristen around the need for strong marketing. While I assume that the artists will be pushing their designs to their friends and family, Cameesa’s success lies in their ability to draw in enough supporters to bring enough fashions to catalog products.

Earlier today Google announced that Google Knol is now open to the public. Danny Sullivan has an awesome overview of how Google Knol works.

I thought this would be a good time to compare three crowdsourced encyclopedias: Mahalo, Google Knol and Wikipedia. Each one takes a different angle on why you should contribute.

Do you participate in any of these crowdsourced encyclopedias? If so, what factors helped make your decision? Was it to help the "greater good" or was it a financial decision?

Here are some thoughts on each encyclopedia and why people contribute to each: