Crowdsourcing = Good Policy?

 

Yesterday I was talking with Amy Whitaker about the digital culture book I am reading, Crowdsourcing, by Jeff Howe.  We were talking about how the crowd can usually produce some great ideas and function more effectively than even a group of top experts, given that the crowd is somewhat familiar with the subject in question.  Amy brought up a great point, and one that I have been thinking about since last week

How would crowdsourcing improve politics?

I think it would be interesting to see what the crowd could do with important issues like heath care, immigration reform, budgets, and many other aspects that congress works at but just isn't able to get done.  It would make for an interesting experiement.

I am still working this idea over and hope to write more about it later, but I thought I would throw it out there to see what the readers of this blog think about the subject.  I used the email me link on Jeff Howe's blog Crowdsourcing to ask this same question.  When I get an answer I will let you know what was said and further talk about my thoughts on the subject.