Maximizing the 'Wisdom of Crowds'

When faced with complex problems, it is often true that the knowledge necessary to solve those problems is distributed across many individuals, each with their own perspective and biases. Research on the wisdom of crowds has studied various methods to take advantage of this collective wisdom - for example, taking a vote or averaging quantitative estimates. While it is often successful, the "wisdom of crowds" approach does not always work well. In this talk, Professor Jack Soll will discuss factors that can improve crowd judgment and how to get the most out of a crowd's collective wisdom.