去年被牛津英語詞典收錄的網絡詞匯除了“粉絲”、“關注”等與社交媒體緊密相關的表達以外，引領新型運營模式的“眾包”（crowdsourcing）一詞也被收錄其中。今天我們就來詳細介紹一下這個詞。

Many of us will be familiar with the established concept of outsourcing, defined as 'an arrangement in which work is done by people from outside your company …'. This definition might fit an instance of crowdsourcing too, but the essential difference is that, whereas outsourcing usually involves a specific, previously known person or organization (often an expert in a particular field) crowdsourcing refers to a task or problem thrown open to an undefined public (the crowd) – quite literally any Tom, Dick, or Harry who could possibly provide the answer.

我們很多人都已經對“外包”這個概念比較熟悉，它的意思是“安排本公司以外的人來完成某項工作”。這個概念在一些特定場合下也適用于crowdsourcing（眾包），不過二者本質的區別在于，外包一般是由某個指定的、之前已經熟識的人或者組織（通常是某個領域的專家）來完成，而眾包則是將某個任務或問題拋給未知的大眾——可以是張三、李四，或任何一個可能貢獻答案或解決方法的人。

Fast establishing itself as a legitimate business tool, the perceived benefits of crowdsourcing are obvious – problems can be explored quickly and at comparatively low cost, and businesses can tap a range of talent that may not exist within the confines of a particular organization. It's also useful for marketing purposes because the crowd may include potential customers – asking people for their response to a problem may also be a way to glean information about what they want from a product or service.

在迅速成長為一項合法運營工具的同時，眾包的優勢也是顯而易見的——問題解決得更快，而且花費相對較低，企業可以開發出各種各樣的人才，而這些人才是不可能在某個公司同時存在的。同時，眾包對市場營銷也有幫助，因為這里的“眾”可能就包括潛在的客戶——向人們征詢針對某個問題的看法也可能是在征集有關他們對產品或服務的需求信息。

Crowdsourcing is therefore catching on in a variety of contexts. The popular social networking site Facebook, for example, has enhanced its global popularity by crowdsourcing the translation of its many web pages. The ice cream manufacturer Ben & Jerry's recently launched a "Do the world a flavor" campaign, in an attempt to crowdsource inspiration for new varieties. Even President Obama has become an advocate of crowdsourcing, using it for example to source campaign funding prior to his election, and more recently to canvas opinion and galvanize constructive ideas from the public in a web-based enterprise catchily described as White House 2.0. (Source: macmillandictionary.com)

于是，眾包在各個領域風生水起。比如，廣受歡迎的社交網站Facebook通過將其很多網頁的翻譯任務眾包而提高了在全球的知名度。冰激凌廠商Ben & Jerry's近期還推出了一個“給世界加點味兒”活動，希望通過這樣的眾包方式激發出新的冰激凌品種。連美國總統奧巴馬都是眾包的倡導者，比如，他在大選前向公眾征集競選經費，最近又通過一個網絡公司向公眾征集意見和建設性想法，這個公司有個很吸引人的名字，叫“白宮2.0”。

相關閱讀

Crowd pleaser 受公眾所愛的人或物

什么是“比特幣”？

萬維網演變為“分裂網”

今天你“威客”了嗎？

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen）

點擊查看更多英語習語和新詞