I think it’s pretty fair to say that I love the internet. What I love most about the web is the paradigm shift of obtaining knowledge: anything is possible to figure out. If someone has the answer then anyone can have the answer.
Before the development of the basic internet, we had things like encyclopedias and libraries (ever heard of these things? Ok, yes: I’m joking. But the scary part is that many kids these days will have never heard of an encyclopedia, but they’ll sure as hell know wikipedia.) With the influx of information onto the static web more and more became possible- there have quickly become websites for everything.
Now, with the rise of the social web even more has become possible. If Google doesn’t have the answer, then move onto the social aspect of the internet: ask a question. Enter- Crowdsourcing. This is the concept that the sum of many is smarter than the knowledge of one. The aforementioned wikipedia is the prime example of crowdsourcing. Anyone can add content and the crowd moderates. Ideally the correct information rises to the top.
So on to the point. I pride myself on my Google skills. I’ve jokingly debated putting “Expert Googler” on my resume because with my extensive knowledge of boolean operations, coupled with my solid understanding of Google’s search algorithm, I can pretty much find anything.
Pretty much.
There’s now something that I cannot find and I wanted to try a crowdsourcing experiment to see if we can come up with the answer as a group.
My friend Dave, who writes the Official Bi-Lingual Chivas USA Soccer Blog, wrote me last night with a question: what is the music in the commercials on this page. And you know what? I’ve been unsuccessful so far and need help.
So, I challenge everyone reading to help Dave out to find the music. Let’s see if we can crack this case together. And if you provide any helpful information at all, then I’ll be really happy and appreciate the help and you’ll receive one “Feel Good About Yourself” credit.
So jump over to the site, watch those commercials, and let us know where we can find this music! Go Crowd, Go!
May 20th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Here’s my contribution:
Link to Wired Article
Find a friend with a Verizon phone, and play the song into it! That should get this challenge moving forward a step!
May 20th, 2008 at 8:47 am
I gave it a listen and I have no idea. I’ll ask my wife since she is generally better than me at these things than me. Good luck sourcing your crowd!
May 20th, 2008 at 8:55 am
@Aaron
That’s a really good idea… but I think I’m going to have to crowdsource to find someone that actually pays for that service.
And Dale- welcome to the blog!
May 20th, 2008 at 9:05 am
@Zach I’ve gotta quibble w/ your definition: I think you are more “lazy-webbing” than crowd-sourcing! :)
May 20th, 2008 at 9:21 am
@Aaron
… yeah, halfway through writing this post I sort of realized that. I had this grand plan to write about that crowd sourcing site that makes stock predictions and sports gambles… but then I couldn’t find it and had to go to work…
Anyway- I’m getting a report that my site’s formatting is messed up. I’ve been told that the sidebar is rendering below the main column- but on three browsers I’ve tested it all looks fine.
Anyone else having problems?
May 20th, 2008 at 9:42 am
I can’t find it - I put in a solid half hour and came up nothing that nobody else couldn’t find I’m sure. Of course now I have this song stuck in my head and I really want to know what it is….
May 20th, 2008 at 10:54 am
The Passenger by Iggy Pop?
YouTube Link
May 20th, 2008 at 11:00 am
@Dave
Wow- awesome, awesome guess! And this made me realize I didn’t divulge the last bit of the email that the other Dave sent me looking for this song:
“I think it might be the impossible to discover – but it is worth looking because it sounds like a song (the Passenger, by Iggy Pop) that I really like.”
So you get huge bonus points for making the same connection.
Also- I’ve learned the formatting issue I mentioned earlier has to do with URLs in comments… so if I’ve edited your comments, I apologize- it’s only to keep things looking pretty until I can figure out what the CSS is up with my formatting.
May 20th, 2008 at 11:53 am
I forwarded this to a friend in hopes she or her husband would know - I’ll keep you posted!
Leslie from Profy.com
May 20th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
I read on a youtube posting that it is not the Passenger by Iggy Pop….
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Turns out the internet actually stumped us on this one. I’m going to try to get in touch with some people at US Soccer to see if they will actually just tell me what the song is. I’m guessing no. But I’ll keep everyone posted.
May 22nd, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Yes, it seems we are stumped. I actually spent another half hour the other night, thinking there would be new info to dive through and got nowhere.
SO- I went all web 1.0 and emailed the production company who created the commercial.
End of day yesterday I received a response that they would try to help us out and would be in touch… still waiting.
I’ll let everyone know if I hear something.