If you've been looking for an easy to read book that can help you get up to speed on crowdsourcing quickly, the official Crowdsourcing For Dummies book publishes tomorrow, May 28. Preorders on Amazon are available now.

Crowdsourcing is very often cited for the execution of simple tasks as part of larger jobs, but less frequently is it taken into consideration for the execution of activities of complex, continuous, critical enterprise core business processes. But it is being proven that this becomes a real and immediate option if the crowdsourcing process is able to compete with the outsourcing option that enterprises have.

The art and science of creating technology is very different from the art of marketing. Though one may think that great technology markets and "sells itself", the truth is quite contrary. There are numerous examples in past and recent history where the best or even greatest invention never made it anywhere because the forces bringing it to market were weak or insufficient.

In our line of work, we know innovation is not possible with a mob. Crowds need more than a platform and a connection to a brand; crowds need a sense of community...

Work principles such as crowdsourcing, along with the rise of social media, are shaping journalism by transforming the crowd from an unthinking herd into critical-thinking swarms of citizen journalists. Nowadays, anyone with the urge can share information, images, and video with news outlets or through online forums & add their own perspective.

Tickets to Crowdopolis, the world's greatest showcase of crowdsourcing ingenuity, are now sold out. The world's biggest leaders in crowdsourcing will convene Feb 27-28 in New York City to a sold-out conference. If you were lucky enough to get tickets before Crowdopolis sold out over the weekend, you'll be able to hear presentations from our hand-selected group of speakers

I've been writing a lot about social media and crowdfunding lately, and this guest post is no exception. With so many networks saturating our online experience, it's sometimes hard to see which ones you need and which ones you can do without. With crowdfunding, though, you need the big three: Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus.

323 Media is a video production firm that started in mid-2011. They are a three-person group based in Columbia City, Indiana. This is the story of how this team is cranking full-speed-ahead, thanks to crowdsourcing.

The microtasking side of crowdsourcing is growing at an incredible rate - and there's no way to know which companies are worth pursuing & which are smoke & mirrors. Or, worse yet, which stats are created from thin air. In 2012 I conducted the first research report on enterprise based crowdsourcing to help sift through the clutter to point out what the best uses & platforms of microtasking are.

At Crowdopolis 12 LA, CMO of GE's Healthymagination, Lisa Kennedy, discusses how the Healthymagination program aims to cure cancer with help from the crowd. Kennedy shares their experiences and lessons, pointing out that it takes a village to solve some of the world's toughest challenges.