LiveBook – Crowdsourcing Meets Literary Art

In the time since Jeff Howe of Wired Magazine popularized the term crowdsourcing, the 'wisdom of crowds' has been implemented in several varying ways across the web resulting in virtually eliminated “cost barriers that once separated amateurs from professionals.”

Digg and StumbleUpon are two examples of crowd wisdom where most of the labor is provided by the user community completely free of charge for each of the companies, though others such as CambrianHouse, iStockPhoto and Threadless compensate users/sellers through royalties and commissions earned for each idea used (in the case of CambrianHouse ), photograph sold (iStockPhoto), or T-Shirt design sold (Threadless).

Now, however, LiveBook is out to utilize the popularity of both crowdsourcing and social networking to create a literary experience controlled completely by the users of Facebook and Bebo, with each site having its own book specifically for members of that network.

Members of Facebook have a story entitled “Helen and Her Facebook” with which to make their own, while Bebo users will have free reign over the journey of “Brian From BEBO.”

“The books are written entirely by the community – each Facebook or Bebo user is free to propose their versions for the course of events in the life of the corresponding hero. Will the user’s sentence be entered into the book or will it be rejected – the community decides, voting 'for' or 'against.' The first sentence to collect the necessary number of votes is entered into the book, and the work is continued on to the next sentence. So gradually, line by line, the story of the heroes of the book unfolds before our eyes. What happens to them and what awaits them in the future can be seen in the appropriate LiveBook”

Those who wish to join either of the active LiveBooks must first be registered for the corresponding social network. After that, the LiveBook app must be installed within your user profile, and then you are free to contribute to the story whether by submitting your own sentences or voting on the next sentence from user submissions.

To keep users from flooding the LiveBook with suggested sentences and from abusing voting privileges, each user must maintain 'special points,' starting out with 10. Points are then deducted from a user's account for submitting content (5 points for a simple sentence; 20 points to start a new chapter) as well as for voting (1 point per vote). Additional points are earned by successfully inviting new users into the story.

The fate of both Helen and Brian are in the hands of their social network communities, so it will be interesting to see what happen to these heroes. As of this writing, the stories have yet to make it beyond the first sentences, but the sentence submissions and votes are already coming in, painting a thinner line between amateur and professional when it comes to literary art. Don't expect any compensation for helping with this novel though.