Crowdsourcing user and design research

Crowdsourcing can be defined as a task, which is usually performed by an employee, that is given out as an open call to a crowd of users to be completed. Although crowdsourcing has been growing in recent years, its application to design research and education has only scratched the surface of its potential. In this chapter we first introduce the different types of crowdsourcing. Then, following the typical design cycle we present examples from literature and cases from an educational setting of how crowdsourcing can support designers. Based on these examples we provide a list of tips for utilizing crowdsourcing for design and user research activities