Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Should Crowdsourcing Be In Your Mix?

Crowdsourcing: Jeff Howe coined the term and wrote the book; many companies are buying into the idea. Wikipedia defines it as "the act of taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people, in the form of an open call.”

To use the collective intelligence of many to do the work of a specialized few is good in theory. When it saves companies money, all the better, right? If you have a large, diverse group of qualified people, the knowledge of the crowd is a useful resource.

Is crowdsourcing the answer to the growing need for translations?

Crowdsourcing translation work for free has gotten a lot of press lately. No longer are non-profit companies requesting help on the cheap, companies are using free labor for profit. Internet sites like Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn all crowdsource translations and the industry seems to embrace it.

According to Howe, “[i]f there is one industry where crowdsourcing can turn things upside down, it is the translation industry.” Based solely on supply and demand, Howe claims the few hundred thousand translators existing worldwide are not enough to meet the growing need.

What about quality? In general, good professional translators will not work for free. If they do, it is for passion or prestige. Translating is laborious and intensive work. A good translation is not something the majority of native speakers of any language can produce. It is kind of like saying all English speakers are great English writers.

Ultimately, there is a place for crowdsourcing in the mix of human and machine translation but it is not the solution for everyone. It is not a good option for companies concerned about their brand, or in the highly-technical medical or legal fields where precision is unyieldingly required and confidentiality would preclude dumping out content to the masses.

Companies need to consider which solution will yield the best and most cost effective results and plan accordingly. Where quality is less important than cost, and where deadlines are unimportant, crowdsourcing translation projects is effective, but the reality is, you get what you pay for.

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