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The term "crowdsourcing" was coined in 2006 by Jeff Howe and Mark Robinson (Wired Magazine) and refers to the collective intelligence and manpower of "recreational workers" in the Internet. These generate voluntarily content, resolve various issues and can be involved in development processes.

According to weandx.de crowdsourcing can be understood as a Web 2.0 outsourcing method. Maybe even a new business model or a new management attitude - the "commitment to customer-and solution-oriented productions and services."

On wikipedia the following explanation can be found:

"Crowdsourcing is a neologism for the act of taking tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing them to a group (crowd) of people or community in the form of an open call. For example, the public may be invited to develop a new technology or carry out a design task (also known as community-based design and distributed participatory design).

The difference between crowdsourcing and ordinary outsourcing is that a task or problem is outsourced to an undefined public rather than a specific other body.

The term has become popular with businesses, authors, and journalists as shorthand for the trend of leveraging the mass collaboration enabled by Web 2.0 technologies to achieve business goals. However, both the term and its underlying business models as well as ethical, social, and economic implications of crowdsourcing are subject to wide debate. (...)"