Capturing »wisdom of the crowds« with web surveys

Primož Čater (2011) Capturing »wisdom of the crowds« with web surveys. EngD thesis.

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Abstract

We implemented a web portal for testing the wisdom of the crowds theory. This theory states that collective wisdom is better than knowledge of a single person. The wisdom of crowds is an interesting concept, which in practice works well under certain circumstances and can be an excellent way of gathering information. Web portal offers its users an eazy and simple way of gathering data and information in a form of web surveys. Users can create their own surveys and can vote in surveys of other users. We implemented user ratings, which are calculated from their correct answers at surveys. User ratings determine which surveys will be shown on first page of portal and thus receive the most attention. We also implemented a graphic presentation of final scores in shape of diagram and pie chart . Surveys are sorted in categories by similarity of content. All closed surveys and their final results are avalible in an archive, which also prevent repetition of the questions. Most of the web portal was implemented using PHP script language and with MySql database. For attractive design and quality of services we applied web technologies Jquery, Javascript, Ajax and CSS. We enhanced our web portal with forum, where users can share and exchange ideas and opinions, express criticism, praises and advices.

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