Crowdsourcing/The Wikipedia way/Summing up

Wikipedia and its sister sites have not come about by planning the expenditure of effort, but by describing in detail the work to be done, labelling it and giving people a variety of ways to contribute, depending on their knowledge, time, skills and confidence. A crucial part of this success comes from a goal which is appealing, attainable in steps, flexible and tangible enough to be understood by, and inspire, a wide audience. If people are to work for free, they need confidence that their work advances a goal that they admire, and that their involvement will have some visible effect.