The concept of crowdsourcing first gained widespread attention in an article written in 2006 by Jeff Howe for Wired Magazine.

FORBES: The Rise of Crime-Sourcing

Inevitably, perhaps, when you are crowd-sourcing a magazine, one of the crowd suggested Jeff Howe, who is credited with inventing the term.

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By Kathryn Fernholz, Jeff Howe, Steve Bratkovich and Jim Bowyer.

ECONOMIST: Sources and acknowledgments