Comments on: 3 Applications that Tap Into the Wisdom of Crowds http://flowingdata.com/2008/09/30/3-applications-that-tap-into-the-wisdom-of-crowds/ Strength in Numbers Wed, 23 May 2012 15:48:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Favorieten en bookmarks voor 12 October tot 13 October | Cafe del Marketing http://flowingdata.com/2008/09/30/3-applications-that-tap-into-the-wisdom-of-crowds/#comment-15765 Favorieten en bookmarks voor 12 October tot 13 October | Cafe del Marketing Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:01:45 +0000 http://flowingdata.com/?p=1018#comment-15765 [...] 3 Applications that Tap Into the Wisdom of Crowds - [...] [...] 3 Applications that Tap Into the Wisdom of Crowds – [...]

]]> By: Bob Carpenter http://flowingdata.com/2008/09/30/3-applications-that-tap-into-the-wisdom-of-crowds/#comment-14921 Bob Carpenter Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:06:55 +0000 http://flowingdata.com/?p=1018#comment-14921 I think some of the most exciting work in this area is being done by Dolores Labs, who publish a <a href="http://blog.doloreslabs.com/" rel="nofollow">great blog</a> describing their work. It's reasonably straightforward to combine answers so that the group consensus is much better than the best individual. There's some really promising work Dolores Labs did with the Amazon mechanical Turk along this line, which they describe on their blog and in technical papers. I've been working on Bayesian models for combining such information, as I describe on the <a href="http://lingpipe-blog.com/2008/09/19/filtering-out-bad-annotators/" rel="nofollow">LingPipe blog</a>. I think some of the most exciting work in this area is being done by Dolores Labs, who publish a great blog describing their work.

It’s reasonably straightforward to combine answers so that the group consensus is much better than the best individual. There’s some really promising work Dolores Labs did with the Amazon mechanical Turk along this line, which they describe on their blog and in technical papers. I’ve been working on Bayesian models for combining such information, as I describe on the LingPipe blog.

]]> By: Joao http://flowingdata.com/2008/09/30/3-applications-that-tap-into-the-wisdom-of-crowds/#comment-14920 Joao Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:56:03 +0000 http://flowingdata.com/?p=1018#comment-14920 Please, let's stop confusing what makes systems like Intrade and Wikipedia work with the concept of wisdom of crowds. Wisdom of crowds simply reflects the observation that a group of people, when independently consulted, will provide answers that are better than an average single individual. Intrade and Wikipedia work because their answers, on the other hand, are better than the *best* consulted individual would be able to provide. That is only possible due to a process of selection of information: simplistically, in both Intrade as Wikipedia, the individuals with more expertise in an issue will contribute with more weight to the final decision. Please, let’s stop confusing what makes systems like Intrade and Wikipedia work with the concept of wisdom of crowds.

Wisdom of crowds simply reflects the observation that a group of people, when independently consulted, will provide answers that are better than an average single individual.

Intrade and Wikipedia work because their answers, on the other hand, are better than the *best* consulted individual would be able to provide.

That is only possible due to a process of selection of information: simplistically, in both Intrade as Wikipedia, the individuals with more expertise in an issue will contribute with more weight to the final decision.

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