Princeton Computer Scientists Create Innovative Crowdsourcing Tool, Inspired by Kittens

How do you decide the cutest cat in the world?

That question served as the unlikely inspiration for Princeton sociology professor Matthew Salganik, who, when doing research on crowdsourcing, stumbled across Kitten Wars, a site that pits saucer-eyed felines against each other in a battle of cuteness. Salganik had been developing an online tool to help organizations solicit ideas from large numbers of people, and this Hot-or-Not-for-cats Web site actually helped crystalize his concept.