The EPA now has a YouTube video on the dangers of Radon which they will be distributing as a PSA for a production cost of $2500 (the contest prize).  Go to http://www.youtube.com/groups_layout?name=RadonContest to see samples.

Based on this success, they followed up with a contest on water quality which has initially received over 200 entries.  The EPA sees this as an opportunity to lower production costs, get the public to participate in spreading their messages, and at the same time create messages which resonate with the public.

Now you are saying to yourself, ‘sounds like one of these internet gimmicks which come and go’. Not so fast!  The phenomenon of Crowdsourcing, which a video contest is an example of, has both scientific grounding going back 100 years, as well as notable successes.  James Suroweiki’s Wisdom of Crowds goes through a history of examples of creating solutions by combining wisdom from individuals and he talks about some of the conditions required to successfully solve problems by using a crowdsourcing method.

The most noticeable recent achievement from a contest was the creation of Stanley, a self driven car now on display at the Smithsonian’s American History museum which resulted from a 1 million prize contest in 2005 sponsored by DARPA and the Department of Defense. 

This demonstrates that not only can crowdsourcing create nice videos but also achieve significant steps forward in technology.  The Obama Administration is increasing the emphasis on crowdsourcing as part of their Open Government initiative.   The federal government is not alone in utilizing crowdsourcing to improve citizen services.
The District of Columbia is currently in the middle of its second Apps for Democracy contest to create websites and mobile applications to create better online services for the citizens of Washington, DC.