practicehacker

Recently I exchanged e-mails with Ted Roden, principal of Fancy Hands.  I read about the company on Read/Write/Web and was drawn to the idea right away. Fancy Hands basically acts as a virtual valet and more; carrying out instructions, making things happen, remembering things, following up, etc. Don’t ask who, or where things happen. Just ask for it to be done, and it is. This is exactly what I liked about the vendors at this year’s ABA Tech Show, most of whom were all about practicality (and it couldn’t come at a better time).  

Besides, Fancy Hands is a terrific example of crowdsourcing – an idea that, for one reason for another, never caught on but should have. Why? Because it was really this article in the June 2006 edition of Wired that got me interested in Web 2.0 back in 2006. This was quite a feat considering that the dot.com boondoggle had cost me everything I had, as well as my credibility. But the idea of having thousands of anonymous but earnest participants cooperate in making things happen was too interesting to pass up. What’s more, the Internet seemed like the perfect medium for its rise.

Of course crowdsourcing never did become a force to be reconned with in the new, new, new economy, and today it remains the proud domain of handy-crafters and artisans from around the world (Etsy anyone)? But I still think that Fancy Hands represents the next step in the development of the Internet – from the force “out there” to the network that makes things happen “here.” I like that.

Posted via email from practice (redux)