Abstract: A method and software to allow direct input for projects, either by all users of a network, a defined group of users, or various populations in between. The projects may be, e.g., collaborative design efforts, marketing efforts for a given product, and so on. The system provides a software and service platform that may be implemented either as an Internet-based social collaboration service or a stand-alone software platform. The system provides a social Internet community framework that allows users to create short-cycle projects or contests that present a request, scenario or problem and asks the user community to collaborate on ideas and solutions that solve or fit the request. Anyone in the user community, or outside the user community, can start new projects and participate in existing projects by adding and collaborating on ideas. Through a selection process, e.g., community voting, a prevailing or winning idea is selected and all contributors to the prevailing idea are rewarded.