Final answer:
Crowdsourcing is C. tapping the latent talent of the online crowd, a process that is enhanced by modernization and involves collecting services, ideas, or content through a large group of people, often facilitated by the web. It is used in business, disaster relief, and as a tool for collective behavior and social change.
Step-by-step explanation:
Crowdsourcing can be defined as C. tapping the latent talent of the online crowd. It's a process that leverages the mass collaboration enabled by the internet to achieve business goals, such as obtaining services, ideas, or content.
Instances of crowdsourcing span various domains, including the creation of digital content like Wikipedia, funding initiatives through platforms like Kickstarter, and even assisting in disaster relief by organizing crucial data.
Modernization has been significantly influenced by crowdsourcing, as it has introduced more communal and participatory processes into areas traditionally handled by specific individuals or organizations.
For instance, during the Haiti earthquake disaster, crowdsourcing was instrumental in disaster relief by tracking essential data, which allowed agencies to prioritize and respond to the most urgent needs efficiently. In this way, crowdsourcing is not only a tool for business innovation but also a method for collective behavior in response to societal challenges.
Moreover, crowdsourcing contributes to social change, as it embodies a shift from centralized to distributed models of production and problem-solving. Again, this is a hallmark of modernization, where technology facilitates the democratization of input and participation on a global scale.
This shift is evident in our society's growing reliance on technology, particularly the web, for achieving outcomes conventionally produced by more centralized means.