Unmasking the crowd

Participants’ motivation factors, expectations, and profile in a crowdsourced law reform

Bibliographic Data

ID20508201
AuthorsTanja Aitamurto (0000-0001-5159-0387, Brown Institute for Media Innovation, School of Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA, corresponding author), Hélène Landemore (0000-0002-0726-4944, Political Science, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA), Jorge Saldivar (0000-0002-5605-6981, University of Trento), Jorge Saldivar Galli (University of Trento)
Year2017
Volume20
Issue8
Pages1239-1260
Publication date2017-08-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInformation Communication & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1369-118X • E-ISSN: 1468-4462
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1369118x.2016.1228993
OpenAlexW2522508009
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited43

This article examines the demographic characteristics, motivations, and expectations of participants in a crowdsourced off-road traffic law reform in Finland. We found that the participants were mainly educated, full-time working professional males with a strong interest in off-road traffic. Though a minority, the women participating in the process produced more ideas than the men. The crowd was motivated by a mix of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Intrinsic motivations included fulfilling civic duty, affecting the law for sociotropic reasons, to deliberate with and learn from peers. Extrinsic motivations included changing the law for financial gain or other benefits. Participation in crowdsourced policy-making was an act of grassroots advocacy, whether to pursue one’s own interest or more altruistic goals, such as protecting nature. The motivations driving the participation were in part similar to those observed in traditional democratic processes, such as elections as well as other online collaborations such as crowdsourced journalism and citizen science. The crowds’ behavior was, however, paradoxical. They participated despite the fact that they did not expect that their contributions would affect the law

Crowding out · Crowds · Crowdsourcing · Democracy · Duty · Economics · Grassroots · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Law · Mobile Crowdsensing and Crowdsourcing · Open Source Software Innovations · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology

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