“Crowdsourcing” the Future of the Wireless Internet

Television and radio are mediums that send information to people without providing any way for people to respond. By contrast, one of the major advantages of the Internet is that it provides a way for end users to interchange data with content producers, making interaction on part of the users significantly more engaging. The next generation of Internet and mobile broadband services may take advantage of a phenomenon known as "crowdsourcing" to collect massive amounts of information from users, and iteratively send it back to them, adding yet another layer to the power of the Internet.



Think about the "first generation" of the concept of something like a guide to bars in a local city. This might have come in book, or even television form, and consisted of an expert's opinion on the relative merits and minuses of bars in a local area. Ways for end users to interact with a book would be limited, basically consisting of reading it and then maybe writing the book's publisher or author with suggestions. The "second generation" of a guide to bars might be a site like Yelp, which provides a way for people to share information about their experiences at bars, as well as a way for people to later access those reviews through wireless Internet or other services.



The "third generation" of a guide to bars would collect massive information about bars in a given city, and it would be updated not just yearly, or even seasonally, but nightly. How is this possible? With the power of the wireless Internet taking advantage of the nature of "crowdsourcing." For example, take a group of bars linked by a common theme, maybe all the gay bars in a given city. A visitor to this city on which "crowdsourcing" information was collected would be able to know which bars are the most popular on a given night and if there were any unannounced problems or specials at the bars just by using his or her mobile Internet service. This is because "crowdsourcing" applications can collect data from hundreds of wireless users at once, for example, the number of check-ins at the bar, and update the data in real time, transmitting it all the while. Users would have to consent to the initial disclosure of such data of course, but after this initial authorization, this data could be collected more or less automatically.



Another example of a "crowdsourcing" application contemplates the word "crowd" not just in the sense of a source of information, but also the additional meaning of the word in the sense of "outsourcing." With Gigwalk, you can outsource the collection of information on business hours, traffic, and other situations that can change without warning to smart phone users who can be paid to go particular places and record particular data sets. It is likely that Internet application designers in the future will come up with even more ways to use the power of the "crowd" for business and entertainment purposes, guaranteeing the success of this idea for the foreseeable future to come.



For information on a WiMax mobile Internet service you can use in "crowdsourcing" applications, visit www.clearwirelessinternet.net/clear-wimax-reviews.html today.