Pair awarded NSF grant to study 'crowdprogramming'

Informatics professor André van der Hoek and postdoctoral scholar Thomas LaToza have received a four-year, $1.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation for their research into what they call “crowdprogramming.” Crowdsourcing leverages the power of mass input by individuals to complete tasks that were previously too labor-intensive to be feasible; van der Hoek and LaToza propose applying those same principles to software development. Their research will address the fundamental question of how the nature of software affects what may and may not be possible in terms of crowdsourcing. In their NSF-funded project, the pair will explore whether crowdprogramming can be achieved and, if so, in what form, under what conditions, and with what benefits and drawbacks. They will also create a publicly available platform, CrowdCode, that will offer a tool set specifically designed to address the intricacies of crowdprogramming.