Wisdom of the Crowds: Crowd-Based Development of a Logo for a Conference Using a Crowdsourcing Contest

Abstract

Background Crowdsourcing methods have been widely used in business, but rarely in sexual health research. We evaluated a crowdsourced logo contest as part of an international HIV conference. Methods A logo crowdsourcing contest was conducted for the 20th International AIDS Conference. Crowdsourcing has a group of individuals solve a task, often as part of an open contest. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants including contest organizers, contest contributors, and conference attendees. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using a content analysis approach. Results In total, 22 interviews were conducted with three contest organizers, seven contest contributors, and twelve conference attendees. All individuals reported that the crowdsourced logo provided benefits beyond branding the conference, including creating a shared sense of purpose among diverse conference participants and explicitly demonstrating the strong community orientation of the conference. Conference organizers and attendees all reported deeper engagement because of the story of the Tanzanian artist who won the contest. Most conference attendees (11/12) preferred the crowdsourced logo compared to the previous company-organized logo, and all (22/22) supported the logo contest continuing. Implementing a logo contest was simple and relatively inexpensive. Stakeholders identified several ways to enhance crowdsourcing logo contest methods including wider promotion of the contest to encourage broader participation, greater transparency in the selection process, and a different prize structure which acknowledges the contribution of more contestants. Conclusions We found that a crowdsourcing contest helped engage local and global communities in the lead-up prior to and during an international conference. Similar participatory events may be useful for sexual health conferences and research projects.

Joint international consensus statement on crowdsourcing challenge contests in health and medicine: results of a modified Delphi process

“…Quantitative studies can examine the crowdsourcing activity itself and may include the number and quality of contributions, the number of website views and related social media metrics. [37][38][39] Such evaluations can be used to determine the overall reach and level of participation in a challenge contest, which can further indicate the interest of stakeholders in addressing the health problem targeted by the contest. Observational studies can provide useful information about challenge contests such as the acceptability of the challenge contest for relevant stakeholders, the impact on related participant behaviours and motivations for participation.…”

Crowdsourcing to design a marketing package to promote a WHO digital mental health intervention among Chinese young adults

“…It can take the form of a contest with a purpose of solving the health problem ( Brabham et al, 2014 ). Although it is a relatively new tool, especially in healthcare areas, it was deemed feasible and successful in several studies ( Tucker et al, 2017 ; Tucker et al, 2019 ; DePasse et al, 2014 ; Burdine et al, 2010 ; Brabham et al, 2014 ; Zhang et al, 2015 ; Ong et al, 2017 ). DePasse and colleagues addressed the three core principles for crowdsourcing event: problem-based approach, participation from diverse disciplines, and challenging existing paradigms ( DePasse et al, 2014 ).…”

“…It is considered as a cost-effective “bottom-up” approach to collect crowd input, comparing with conventional “top-down” approach where only experts and professionals are involved [16]. Crowdsourcing contests also show positive results in community engagement ( Ong et al, 2017 ).…”

Strategies for enhancing uptake of HIV self-testing among Nigerian youths: a descriptive analysis of the 4YouthByYouth crowdsourcing contest

“…20 21 It has also been used in a broad range of settings and sectors to address multiple health issues including enhancement of hepatitis B and C testing, creation of multilingual public health promotion materials and promotion of HIV testing among at-risk men in China. [22][23][24][25] However, such approaches have not been assessed with respect to HIVST among youths in sub-Saharan Africa.…”