AP CSP
AP Computer Science Principles / All lessons / Big Idea 5: Impact of Computing
5Big Idea 5: Impact of Computing
AP CSP topic 5.4

Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing gets ideas, services, money, or data from a large group of people, usually online. Examples include online encyclopedias written by volunteers, apps that report traffic, and science projects where the public classifies photos. Citizen science lets ordinary people contribute to real research. The internet makes it easy to reach many contributors, but the quality of crowdsourced data can vary.

Crowdsourcing vocabulary

  • Crowdsourcing: Getting input, work, or funding from a large group of people online.
  • Citizen science: Scientific research done with help from members of the public.
  • Crowdfunding: Raising money for a project from many people, each giving a small amount.
  • Open access: Making research or data free for anyone to use.

AP-style practice questions

Try each one, then open the answer. To save your progress, take this quiz in the interactive course.

Skill: Computing Innovations

1. Which of the following is an example of crowdsourcing?

  1. (A) A company hires one expert to design a logo
  2. (B) Thousands of drivers report traffic and road hazards in a map app
  3. (C) A student writes an essay alone
  4. (D) A teacher grades tests
Show answer

(B) Thousands of drivers report traffic and road hazards in a map app Crowdsourcing collects input from many people, usually online.

Skill: Computing Innovations

2. Volunteers around the world label galaxy photos to help astronomers. Which of the following best describes this?

  1. (A) Citizen science
  2. (B) Lossy compression
  3. (C) Phishing
  4. (D) Parallel processing on one computer
Show answer

(A) Citizen science Members of the public contributing to research is citizen science.

Skill: Computing Innovations

3. Which of the following is a possible problem with crowdsourced data?

  1. (A) It always comes from experts
  2. (B) Some contributors may submit inaccurate or misleading information
  3. (C) It cannot be shared online
  4. (D) It is always too small to use
Show answer

(B) Some contributors may submit inaccurate or misleading information Quality can vary when anyone can contribute.

Skill: Computing Innovations

4. An inventor raises money for a new device by collecting small donations from 5,000 people online. What is this called?

  1. (A) Crowdfunding
  2. (B) Data cleaning
  3. (C) Encryption
  4. (D) Redundancy
Show answer

(A) Crowdfunding Raising money from many small contributors online is crowdfunding.

Open 5.4 in the interactive course