AP CSP Topic 5.4 Guided Notes - Crowdsourcing
Big Idea 5: Impact of Computing · Topic 5.4 · Guided Notes (Student)
Crowdsourcing — Guided Notes
Fill these in during class or catch up here if you were absent. Print this page or work on paper — then check yourself with the CFUs on the Topic 5.4 page.
Print these notesTopic 5.4 lesson pageAll CSP topics
Today’s objectives
- Explain how widespread access to information and public data helps people identify problems, develop solutions, and share results (LO IOC-1.E)
- Define crowdsourcing and citizen science, and explain how collaboration via computing enhances what people can accomplish (LO IOC-1.E)
Bell ringer
10,000 strangers on the Internet will each give you exactly 60 seconds of their time — one minute each, then they are gone forever. Design a project that becomes POSSIBLE only at that scale.
Sketch it: what does each stranger DO in their minute, and why would 10 helpers — or even 100 — not be enough? Name the thing only a crowd can give you.
01. Problem-Solving at Scale
Key Vocabulary (LO IOC-1.E)
| Term | Definition (write it) |
|---|---|
| Crowdsourcing | |
| Citizen science |
Why the Crowd Can Do What You Can't
- Open access to public data makes it easier to find problems, build solutions, and .
- Collaboration via computing enhances .
- Computing changes Topic 1.1's collaboration skills by letting them operate .
Watch out — “Crowdsourcing Means Asking Experts Online”
Myth: Crowdsourcing works by locating the smartest specialists on the Internet — a crowdsourced project is really just a clever way to find a few brilliant experts.
Explain why this is wrong:
Stop and think
- Your bell-ringer project needed 10,000 strangers rather than 10 experts. Using the definition of crowdsourcing, explain why the strangers' lack of expertise doesn't disqualify the project.
- A city posts its bus-delay records as free public data. Within a month, riders spot the worst routes, volunteer programmers release a rerouting app, and a local news site publishes the findings. Name the three things widespread data access facilitated here.
- In one sentence: what can collaboration via computing do that a room of 30 talented people cannot?
Answer in complete sentences. Then check yourself with the matching CFUs on the Topic 5.4 page.
02. Two Shapes of Crowd Power
One Definition, Two Famous Shapes
Citizen science
Funding & input models
- In citizen science, each volunteer's phone or laptop becomes .
- Crowdfunding counts as crowdsourcing since the input collected is .
- To classify any crowd project, ask what .
AP TIP: Both are crowdsourcing — input or information from a large number of people via the Internet. Ask WHAT the crowd contributes to tell them apart.
Crowd or Not? Classify Five Projects
Read each project. First ask: input from a large number of people via the Internet? If yes, name the model and what the crowd contributes.
Complete the empty cells.
| Project | Crowdsourcing? | Model | The crowd contributes... |
|---|---|---|---|
| An app invites anyone to photograph birds; millions of sightings feed real research | Yes | Data — observations from their own devices | |
| A site collects small pledges from 12,000 backers to launch a new board game | Yes | Funding model | |
| A navigation app merges live speed readings from millions of drivers' phones | Yes | Data — real-time traffic readings | |
| A newspaper hires three meteorologists to write its daily forecast | A few hired experts — not a crowd | Expert labor, not crowd input | |
| An online encyclopedia anyone can edit, checked by other volunteers | Yes | Input/information model |
Deep Dive · Beyond the AP Exam
Deep Dive: From Bird Counts to Published Science
- Volunteer observations become scientific evidence only after .
- Decades of pooled sightings reveal .
Stop and think
- A charity site gathers $5 donations from 40,000 people for storm relief; a research app gathers pollen photos from 40,000 allergy sufferers. Classify each project's model and name what its crowd contributes.
- A friend dismisses the pollen project: 'That's not real science — none of those people have degrees.' Use the definition of citizen science to correct the friend.
- Write the one question you should ask about ANY crowd-project scenario on the exam — and what the answer tells you.
Answer in complete sentences. Then check yourself with the matching CFUs on the Topic 5.4 page.
Common AP Traps
Three ways Topic 5.4 loses points on the exam — one minute now, real points in May.
Experts not required — in your own words:
Data, not just opinions — in your own words:
Scale is the mechanism — in your own words:
Crowdsourcing, in One Slide
- Widespread access to information and public data facilitates identifying problems, developing solutions, and disseminating results.
- Citizen science: distributed individuals — many not scientists — contribute relevant data to research using their own computing devices.
- Crowdsourcing is obtaining input or information from a large number of people via the Internet.
- Human capabilities can be enhanced by collaboration via computing.
- New collaboration models include connecting businesses or social causes with funding.
Exit check — I can…
- ☐ define crowdsourcing and spot its two required ingredients in any scenario (LO IOC-1.E)
- ☐ explain how citizen science lets non-scientists contribute research data (LO IOC-1.E)
- ☐ explain how collaboration via computing lets people solve problems at scale (LO IOC-1.E)
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