Time: 2.7 hours
Timespan: May 19 – May 20, 2012
Enrique Estellés-Arolas and Fernando González-Ladrón-De-Guevara. 2012. Towards an integrated crowdsourcing definition. J. Inf. Sci. 38, 2 (April 2012), 189-200.
这篇论文专注与研究“Crowdsourcing”这个词的概念，像许多新兴的词语（比如“Cloud Computing”)， 不同的研究机构和人员对此都有自己的视角和定义，很难产生一个统一的标准，本文试图从现有众多"Crowdsourcing"的概念中提取出共性，并给出一个"exhaustive & consistent"的概念，研究方法如下(S2)：
- 系统地收集现有资料：采用了Delgado的方法，从六个数据库中采集(ACM, IEEE, ScienceDirect, SAGE, SPringerLink, Emerald)。
- 抽取出"differentia specifica"：采用Tatarkiewicz、Cosma、Joy的方法，抽取出共有特性。
- 提出众包定义：根据抽取出的"differentia specifica"，提出作者自己的概念。
- 验证：对于各个实际系统，列出它们的"differentia specifica"的值，检查是否能有效区分出众包系统。
下表是本文抽取出的8个"differentia specifica"，以及本文的结论：
| 序号 | 问题 | 本文结论 |
| a | Who forms the crowd | a group of individuals whose characteristics of number, heterogeneity and knowledge will be determined by the requirements of the crowdsourcing initiative. |
| b | What the crowd has to do | the crowd will need to carry out the resolution of a problem through the undertaking of a task of variable complexity and modularity that will imply the voluntary contribution of their work, money, knowledge and/or experience. |
| c | What does the crowd get in return | satisfaction of given necessity, whether it be econnomic, social recognition, self-esteem or the development of individual skills |
| d | Who is the initiator (crowdsourcer) | can be any given entity that has the means to carry out the initiative considered, whether it is a company, institution, non-profit organization or an individual |
| e | What the initiator gets in return | obtain the solution to the problem via the fulfilment of a given action or task by the crowd. |
| f | What type of process it is | a participative distributed online process that allows the undertaking of a task for the resolution of a problem |
| g | What type of call to user | a flexible open call |
| h | Which medium is used | internet |
综合以上的结论，本文提出的"Crowdsourcing"的概念如下：
- Crowdsourcing is
[类型] a type of participative online activity
[发起人类别] in which an individual, an institution, a non-profit organization, or company
[参与者情况] proposes to a group of individuals of varying knowledge, heterogeneity, and number,
[途径] via a flexible open call,
[自愿性] the voluntary undertaking of a task. - [详述任务情况]
The undertaking of the task,
of variable complexity and modularity,
and in which the crowd should participate bring their work, money, knowledge and/or experience,
always entail mutual benefit. - [详述对双方的好处]
The user will receive the satisfaction of a given type of need, be it economic, social recognition, self-esteem, or the development of individual skills,
which the crowdsourcer will obtain and utilize to their advantage what the user has brought to the venture, whose form will depend on the type of activity undertaken.
下表是使用8个"differentia specifica"对11个系统进行验证的情况：
本文一些其他的摘录如下：
1. 文中表3列举了作者收集到的各种"Crowdsourcing"的概念（共40种）。