Why does Procter & Gamble repeatedly call on enthusiastic amateurs to solve scientific and technical challenges? How can companies as diverse as iStockphoto and Threadless employ just a handful of people, yet generate millions of dollars in revenue every year?

"Crowdsourcing" is how the power of the many can be leveraged to accomplish feats that were once the responsibility of a specialized few. Jeff Howe reveals that the crowd is more than wise–it’s talented, creative, and stunningly productive. It’s also a perfect meritocracy, where age, gender, race, education, and job history no longer matter; the quality of the work is all that counts. If you can perform the service, design the product, or solve the problem, you’ve got the job.

But crowdsourcing has also triggered a dramatic shift in the way work is organized, talent is employed, research is conducted, and products are made and marketed. As the crowd comes to supplant traditional forms of labor, pain and disruption are inevitable, and Howe delves into both the positive and negative consequences of this intriguing phenomenon. Through extensive reporting from the front lines of this workplace revolution, he employs a brilliant array of stories to look at the economic, cultural, business, and political implications of crowdsourcing.

傑夫·豪，《連綫》（Wired）雜誌著名資深編輯，負責娛樂産業方麵的報道。在到《連綫》雜誌之前，他是Inside．corn的資深編輯，同時也是《村聲》（Hllage Voice）的著名撰稿人。 在他15年的記者生涯中，傑夫走遍全球，考察各國的市場和行業發展情況，他的報道內容廣泛，影響很大，涉及中亞淡水危機、基因專利的影響等等。同時，他也為《時代》雜誌（Time）、《美國新聞與世界報道》（U.S News＆World Report）、《華盛頓郵報》（Washington Post）、（（瓊斯母親》（Mother Jones）等其他眾多報刊雜誌撰稿。 現居布魯剋林。