Below is an archived version of the Berlin StartupDigest Events List – a weekly curated listing of the best tech startup events in Berlin. If you would like to get next week’s digest on Monday, sign up here. ——————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Why are there so many events on Tuesdays?
 
StartupDigest Berlin is curated by: Holger Dieterich - holger-dieterich.de

Webmontag: Crowdsourcing
When: Monday, December 12, 7:30 PM
Where: mobilesuite Coworking, Pappelallee 78/79, 10437 Berlin
Cost: free
Speakers:
- Raul Krauthausen will talk about Wheelmap
- Manuel Schmutte will give an introduction on crowdsourcing
- David Link – “Kickstarting a crowdsourcing business — A lean approach”
- Daniel Nielsen will talk about Mundraub
- Karolin Mülhaupt wants some crowd feedback for their relaunch of overblog Beer and Lebkuchen will be sponsored by Reqorder.  
 
Silicon Curry
When: Monday, December 12, 8 PM
Where: Mittelbar, Rudi-Dutschke-Straße 6, 10969 Berlin
Cost: free
A networking-event for entrepreneurs, startups and all the digital natives of the German capital.
Topic: “Going viral.” Special Guest: DER GERÄT (Check this video). There will be talks (in German) you usually don’t hear in the Berlin web scene, e.g. Tarik Kara from Mustafa´s Gemüse Kebab. And did I mention there’s free currywurst for everybody?  
 
Hackernews Meetup
When: Tuesday, December 13, 8:30 PM
Where: Spreegold, Rosa-Luxemburg-Str. 2, 10178 Berlin (near Alexanderplatz)
Cost: free
A meetup for fans of the YCombinator news aggregator Hackernews and all topics discussed there. Highly recommended.
   
Hack and Tell
When: Tuesday, December 13, 6 PM
Where: c-base Raumstation, Rungestrasse 20, Berlin
Show your hacks to get feedback and learn, discuss and most of all inspire others. No pure slide decks, only demos + code.  
 
Girl Geek Dinner
When: Tuesday, December 13, 6:30 PM
Where: Nokia, Schönhauser Allee 180, 10119 Berlin
Cost: free
Talks:
- Duana Stanley: “My Top 3 Mistakes in Software Development”
- Jess Erickson of 6Wunderkinder: ”Working international – successful PR and Launches from Berlin”
- Nadine Bruder of justdamnright: ”Creative Coding” Men are welcome, but only if they are accompanied by a woman. :)  
 
upfront usergroup
When: Tuesday, December 13, 8 PM
Where: Lugosi, Reichenberger Straße 152, 10999 Berlin (a smoker’s bar :( )
Cost: free
This month the upfront usergroup will be hosting a crowd-based experiment in collaborative consumption (of cookies and beer) in the festive atmosphere of a bar named after an actor known for playing Dracula, Santa’s arch nemesis. So it all makes sense.
  
Soundcloud Last Christmas Party
When: Friday, December 16, 11:30 PM
Where: Prinz Charles, Prinzenstrasse 85f, 10969 Berlin
Cost: guestlist only    
 
 
Top Upcoming Events
December 21 – CocoaHeads meetup
December 27-30 – Chaos Communication Congress 28c3
January 19-20 – Online fundraising2.0 camp & conference
March 9-11 – SEO campixx
March 13-14 – droidcon
March 18-20 – StartupCamp Berlin
April 5 – TEDxChange
May 2-4 - re:publica
May 8-9 – next12
May 26-27 – UXcamp Europe
June 4-6 – Webinale

For newcomers: StartupDigest Crowdsourcing is the members-only weekly email newsletter of the best articles in the crowdsourcing community.

You can become a member for free here.

Welcome back to StartupDigest Crowdsourcing, the members-only guide to what you need to read in the crowdsourcing community every week.
 
This week in crowdsourcing we turn our attention to the fashion industry. Many e-commerce sites have been starting to integrate some “crowd” features like voting on designs before they are made – but this week we take a look at two women’s fashion sites operating more like Quirky. Users submit sketches, the crowd picks and can pre-order, and then the company produces the line. There was a fundraising announcement for Udemy that just closed $3M from Lightbank. And lastly YouTube and Google demonstrate how cool crowdsourcing is with SpaceLab and Dead Sea Scrolls.
 
StartupDigest Crowdsourcing is curated by:
Josh Breinlinger – Senior Associate at Sigma Partners
 
 
 

SocialAttire to Use Crowdsourcing to Help Fledgling Fashion Designers

By Roberta Correia, WWD

Looks like a nice site, appears to have launched 7 months ago, and claims 3,500 members.

Fashion Label Uses Crowdsourcing to Design Product Range

From l2thinktank.com

VelvetBrigade looks like one to watch as well – the Quirky of women’s fashion with plans to open retail stores as well.

Crowdsourced Learning Platform Udemy Raises $3 Million From Lightbank And Others

By Paul Sloan, CNET News

Congrats to Udemy. And check out this stat: “The result, Biyani said, is that dozens of instructors are making $5,000 to $10,000 a month through the site.”

Google’s Dead Sea Scrolls is latest crowdsourcing project

By Melissa Bell, The Washington Post

Pretty sweet that we can all contribute to things like this now. Unfortunately, my Hebrew is a little rusty. See the scrolls.

YouTube launches Space Lab, the latest in crowdsourcing academia

By Melissa Bell, The Washington Post

I love it. NASA gets some help designing experiments from a bunch of teenage students. They could probably get some crowdfunding too if they need it.

For newcomers: StartupDigest Crowdsourcing is the members-only weekly email newsletter of the best articles in the crowdsourcing community.

You can become a member for free here.

Welcome back to StartupDigest Crowdsourcing, the members-only guide to what you need to read in the crowdsourcing community every week.
 
This week there’s some further bashing of the “crowdsourcing” buzzword, a great interview with the founders at MobileWorks, a new GigWalk style mobile app for mystery shoppers, and the big news this week – a patent lawsuit filed against Kickstarter.

StartupDigest Crowdsourcing is curated by:
Josh Breinlinger – Senior Associate at Sigma Partners
 

Can Crowdsourcing Make a Dent in Unemployment? Ask MobileWorks

By Wade Roush, Xconomy

A good interview with the founders of MobileWorks and how they perceive the crowdsourcing movement contributing to global employment. I’d skip to the interview transcript part.

Stupidest Technology Category Award: “Crowdsourcing”

From SYS-CON Media

Ok, fair enough. The word is over-used, and I don’t follow any strict guidelines as to what I’ll consider crowdsourcing either. The debate continues over the definition and the taxonomy.

Kickstarter Faces Patent Suit Over Funding Idea

By Sarah Jacobsson Purewal, PCWorld

Well, at least Kickstarter can afford some good lawyers now. It will be interesting to see how this shakes out, especially since there are at least a dozen other crowdfunding sites that the patent holder, Brian Camelio at ArtistShare, could go after.

Brands Winning: GoSpotCheck Reinvents Secret Shopper with Crowd-sourced Missions

From LAUNCH

This is another cool mobile app that lets users earn a bit of cash for doing local work. I like the model from this TechStars graduate that launched publicly a couple months ago.

For newcomers: StartupDigest Crowdsourcing is the members-only weekly email newsletter of the best articles in the crowdsourcing community.

You can become a member for free here.

Welcome back to StartupDigest Crowdsourcing, the members-only guide to what you need to read in the crowdsourcing community every week.This week’s edition focuses on House Republicans embracing at least one proposal in President Barack Obama’s jobs package: changing the rules to make it easier for closely held companies to raise money without going public, online design marketplace 99designs launching a localized edition of the site and planning to double the size of its Australian team in the coming months, how criminals are applying crowdsourcing techniques, a challenge of traditional “wisdom” on crowdsourcing, and crowdsourcing equity investment.

StartupDigest Crowdsourcing is curated by:
Josh Breinlinger- Senior Associate at Sigma Partners

 

What You Need to Read This Week

U.S. House Republicans Embrace Obama Push to Ease SEC Rules
By Phil Mattingly, BusniessWeek

Great news for all crowdfunding sites as Congress is pushing to ease regulations and they appear to be supportive of the trend, while of course looking for tighter fraud prevention controls.

99designs begins Australian push
By Brenton Currie, iTechReport.com.au

Looks like they’re starting to spend some of their $35M war chest.
From crowdsourcing to crime-sourcing: The rise of distributed criminality
By Marc Goodman, O’Reilly Radar

“In perhaps one of the most ingenious uses of crime-sourcing seen to date, a bank robber in Seattle utilized Craigslist to recruit a crowd of unwitting participants to facilitate his escape.” Genius! How do I invest in this guy?
Is Everything I Know About Crowdsourcing Wrong?

By Hollis Tibbetts, SYS-CON Media

This one mostly just says that crowdsourcing is on the rise — and is the big trend for 2010s. I agree, obviously.
Crowdsourcing Equity Investment
By Tim Worstall, Forbes

The writer discusses a few differences between UK and US crowdfunding opportunities. Mentions of even more new crowdfunding sites like CrowdCube. Also ran across this one recently, Pozible.

 

For newcomers: StartupDigest Crowdsourcing is the members-only weekly email newsletter of the best articles in the crowdsourcing community.

You can become a member for free here.

Welcome back to StartupDigest Crowdsourcing, the members-only guide to what you need to read in the crowdsourcing community every week.

First – we have a hilarious story about crowdsourced game “development” that I believe could be a good example for new startups. More investments in the space with a fresh $3.5M for user-generated content site, Top10.com. One more crowdfunding site for indie game developers launched recently and looks to further the engagement of fans in the development process. And last, the crowd scored two more huge win this past week by discovering new planets and a potential cure for AIDS.

 

StartupDigest Crowdsourcing is curated by:
Josh Breinlinger – Senior Associate at Sigma Partners

 

 

 

What You Need to Read This Week

Lurkers, Griefers And Ponies: Monaco’s Experimental Fling With Crowd Sourcing
By Patrick Klepek, Giant Bomb

Awesome story – read it! And there’s a not-so-subtle knock on Kickstarter in there too.

Videogame crowdfunding service Alphafunding announced
By Leigh Harris, MCV

A slick looking crowdfunding site for games joins the ranks of AppBackr, Games-Plant, and 8-Bit Funding in the games vertical. They claim to keep fans more engaged throughout the process though, including things like alpha testing games.

List-Mad Top10.com Gets $3.5M From Accel, Others
By Parmy Olson, Forbes

Accel is keeping their buying streak going in crowdsourcing companies with Top10.

In 3 Weeks Video Gamers Defeat Biochemical Puzzle That Scientists Couldn’t Solve for Years
By Aaron Saenz, Singularity Hub

Bam! Pretty impressive feat and certainly a Game with a Purpose.

Citizen Planet Hunters Help Scientists Locate Distant Worlds
BY Nidhi Subbaraman, Fast Company

Another big success for the crowd.  

 

For newcomers: StartupDigest Crowdsourcing is the members-only weekly email newsletter of the best articles in the crowdsourcing community.

You can become a member for free here.

Welcome back to StartupDigest Crowdsourcing, the members-only guide to what you need to read in the crowdsourcing community every week.
 
A quick shout-out to the crowdsourcing companies that I saw this week at TC Disrupt:
Eleven Learning (crowdsourced textbooks), EnHatch (crowdfunding medical devices), CloudFactory (MTurk competitor), and MinuteBox (expert network).

StartupDigest Crowdsourcing is curated by:
Josh Breinlinger – Senior Associate at Sigma Partners
 

Hollywood duo launch movie script pre-testing firm

By James Verrinder, Research

Oliver Stone’s son is starting a company called FilmFunds, which is a nice looking platform for crowd selection and promotion of films.

You Gotta Love Lego – Crowdsourcing meets Open Innovation!

From 15inno.com

Maybe it’s the 8-year-old kid in me, but I still just love LEGO.

9 examples of crowdsourcing, before ‘crowdsourcing’ existed

By Stuart Thomas, memeburn

An interesting read to see some historical examples of crowdsourcing at work. It’s always been awesome.

Syria: Crowdsourcing Satellite Imagery Analysis to Identify Mass Human Rights Violations

From irevolution.net

A great way to get involved and make better use of the tons of satellite imagery we capture each day. See some before and after shots from massive human rights violations.

For newcomers: StartupDigest Crowdsourcing is the members-only weekly email newsletter of the best articles in the crowdsourcing community.

You can become a member for free here.

News this week revolves around a good discussion happening over at the Daily Crowdsource. Two interesting news items related to maps products from Google and Apple. A big win for another crowdsourcing company out of Finland as they landed Nokia. And last but not least, a product my girlfriend is dying to buy “for her friends.”

 

StartupDigest Crowdsourcing is curated by:
Josh Breinlinger – Senior Associate at Sigma Partners

 

 

What You Need to Read This Week

Preparing a Good Crowdsourcing Taxonomy
By David Alan Grier, Daily Crowdsource

 

An important discussion over at Daily Crowdsource has some of the innovators chiming in on a proper taxonomy. It’s certainly needed, since no two people agree on a definition of crowdsourcing.

 

Closed, Says Google, but Shops’ Signs Say Open
By David Segal, The New York Times

 

Google Maps and Places makes it easy for users to add data – including whether a business is closed. This also makes it easy for business owners to “permanently close” their competitors shops.

 

Apple May Evolutionize Map Searches With Crowd Sourcing
By Bryan Chaffin, The Mac Observer

 

More rumors are circling about an Apple maps product that would return search results based on the number and frequency of user visits.

 

Nokia is crowdsourcing its next Nokia Tune ringtone
From Music Ally

 

Nokia is the first big company participating in a new crowdsourcing company for original audio tracks. Check out AudioDraft – the 99Designs of Audio out of Finland – prices start at $209.

 

Crossing a USB drive with a vibrator is worth over $50,000
By Kevin Hall, DVICE

 

Perhaps this one was a bit too controversial for Kickstarter, so the founders used rival crowdfunding site, CKIE. They’ve achieved 497 percent of their goal for a current total of $74,613.  

 

For newcomers: StartupDigest Crowdsourcing is the members-only weekly email newsletter of the best articles in the crowdsourcing community.

You can become a member for free here.

This week brings us news of Facebook and their latest crowdsourcing effort. They were pioneers in crowdsourcing translation and now they have already experienced success with the “bug bounty program” for identifying security risks in their platform. Three other new projects show some strong potential to increase fuel economy, balance the budget, and reduce corruption. And check out the last link for this week’s novel application of crowdsourcing.

StartupDigest Crowdsourcing is curated by:
Josh Breinlinger – Senior Associate at Sigma Partners

 

 

What You Need to Read This Week

Facebook’s ‘Bug Bounty Program’ Uncovers Security Threats within the Platform with Help from Experts
By Erica Thinesen, ITProPortal

While Facebook has paid out just $40K in rewards to users that have identified bugs and/or security risks in their platform, the value to Facebook is substantially larger. A quote from their blog: “our bug bounty program, that in a short time has proven valuable beyond our expectations.” This is yet another opportunity for a new crowdsourcing platform.

SignalGuru Uses Crowdsourcing To Time Stop Lights & Save Gas
By Richard Read, All Car Tech

The results? In Cambridge, Massachusetts, drivers who used SignalGuru in a pilot program saw a boost in fuel economy of 20 percent. That’s substantial.

Crowdsourcing Deficit Reduction
By Amir Efrati, The Wall Street Journal

A new company called WideScope, started by a Stanford professor and an ex-Googler, aims to give the task of balancing the budget to the crowd.

Singularity University Graduates a Class of Tech World Changers
By Dean Takahashi, VentureBeat

An interesting summary of startups coming out of the program. The crowdsourcing angle is related to one of the startups called Corruption Tracker that empowers users to report incidents.

Astronomers Plan Crowdsourced Megamovie of 2017 Solar Eclipse
From technologyreview.com

Cool stuff – and we only need to wait 6 more years to see it happen.

 

For newcomers: StartupDigest Crowdsourcing is the members-only weekly email newsletter of the best articles in the crowdsourcing community.

You can become a member for free here.

Welcome back to StartupDigest Crowdsourcing, the members-only guide to what you need to read in the crowdsourcing community every week.

I didn’t see many financings closed this week – it is August after all. So, this week is a little more best practice focused. If you’re thinking about crowdsourcing initiatives, these are worth a read. Also, check out MobileWorks as one to watch in the space. And there’s one final story about a cool effort to add a time dimension to San Francisco maps. 

Shoot me an email if you have any feedback, tips, or suggestions for future editions.

StartupDigest Crowdsourcing is curated by:
Josh Breinlinger – Senior Associate at Sigma Partners

 

 

YC-Funded MobileWorks Aims To Be A Hands-Off Mechanical Turk
By Jason Kincaid, TechCrunch

Kudos to the founders of MobileWorks. The industry has long known that there are lots of issues with MTurk, and MobileWorks is addressing some of those with their new platform.

 

Detroit firm perfects art of crowdsourcing

By Mia Pearson, The Globe and Mail

Ok, the author is using the term pretty liberally in this article, but nevertheless, there are lessons to be learned. This sort of local, open innovation initiative is interesting to me because it’s tapping in to some of the more intrinsic motivations of the participants.

 

Bold Innovation In A Conventional Setting: Crowdsourcing at SWIFT

By Steve Denning, Forbes

Very nice to see financial institutions participating in open innovation. I think that bodes very well for the crowdsourcing tools industry. If banks can do it, almost any organization will consider it.

 

5 Tips for Crowdsourcing Your Next Marketing Campaign
By Todd Wasserman, Mashable

Read for some good tips for creative crowdsourcing and contributions from some of the leading “mass collaboration” ad agencies.

 

Mapping Project Reveals Pre-1906 Quake San Francisco
By Lauren Sommer, KQED News

Sweet initiative. The end result could be an interactive map that allows you to scroll back in time.

 

For newcomers: StartupDigest Crowdsourcing is the members-only weekly email newsletter of the best articles in the crowdsourcing community.

You can become a member for free here.

Welcome back to StartupDigest Crowdsourcing, the members-only guide to what you need to read in the crowdsourcing community every week. 

Two more financings have been announced this past week for ChallengePost and oBaz. Momentum in the space continues.

Shoot me an email if you have any feedback, tips, or suggestions for future editions.

StartupDigest Crowdsourcing is curated by:
Josh Breinlinger – Senior Associate at Sigma Partners

 

What You Need to Read This Week

Lightbank-Backed oBaz Launches Crowdsourced Haggling Service
By Leena Rao, TechCrunch

Crowdsourced haggling seems to be a stretch title for this one — I’d call it more like a user-generated Woot. Either way, it was kind of inevitable we’d see something like this and will probably see a bunch more. They are trying to haggle for discounts on iPads – good luck guys!

Crowdsourcing Platform ChallengePost Raises $4 Million
By Peter Kafka, AllThingsD

Opus Capital led a $4M Series-A round in ChallengePost to take on Innocentive in the Open Innovation space. There are 14 interesting challenges going on right now.

“Towards a New Taxonomy”
By Jeff Howe, Crowdsourcing.org

Thoughtful piece that is worth reading. This is a significant debate in the community right now.

With Skillshare, everyone can be a teacher
By Ryan Kim, GigaOM

This one is a little more P2P, but I’d consider it in the “cloud labor” part of Jeff’s taxonomy. And if you want to go sailing, check out my sailing class for entrepreneurs.

Crowdsourcing Teems with Promise
From Bloomberg Businessweek

Preaching to the choir.