— original posting from FastCompany.com
Also see:
Computers intersect with sociology to sift through ‘all our ideas’ (from News at Princeton)
Fortunately, an acquaintance referred Moles to Matthew Salganik. An assistant professor of sociology at Princeton, Salganik has teamed up with Princeton computer scientists to develop a new way for organizations to solicit ideas from large groups of people and simultaneously have those same people vote on the merit of the ideas generated by the group.
Called “All Our Ideas,” the survey tool melds concepts from sociology and computer science to allow an organization to quickly set up a free website where large numbers of people can contribute and rank ideas. The system could help governments tap into public opinion and provide sociologists with a new research tool.