I just learned about the brilliant site Kickstarter today. On Kickstarter, artists, musicians, inventors, journalists, or whoever can post a project they want to fund. The web site encourages generous people (with disposable income) to make small contributions to the projects. A few examples:
-Two brothers need $10,000 to finish their documentary about Fred Rogers (of “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood”)
-A singer-songwriter needs $3500 to record his debut album.
-A writer needs $5000 to fund a road trip to see various examples of folk architecture for a book.
In exchange donors get rewards from the project planners. If it’s a band, maybe you’ll get a sticker for a $5 donation, a digital copy of their album for $10, and a live performance at your house for $1000. The rewards depend on the project.
It occurs to me that this would be a fantastic way to fund research. It would mean that research was conducted for which there was genuinely popular demand. Maybe the public wants an ethnography of transgendered cowboys in the rodeo circuit, but has little interest in funding a survey on TV viewing habits. It would mean research went forward that matters to people.
Heck, I’d put one of my own future projects up there for funding, but I’m not sure what rewards I can offer. What’s the limit on how many people you can thank in a journal article’s acknowledgement?
Comments 2
Jon — August 21, 2009
Maybe we can get someone to fund Contexts like this... :)
Kenneth M. Kambara — August 26, 2009
@Andrew:: This is quite interesting, particularly since I've been thinking about the future of the university, as well as traditional scholarly publications, given web 2.0 and beyond. The rewards part would indeed be tricky. So, let's think about this. OK, so your research is on news/media. One of the premia could be a "mobile reporting bag," but one of better design than the one offered by the CBC::
http://www.cbcshop.ca/CBC/shopping/product.aspx?Product_ID=CPGEN00256&Variant_ID=RMRBAG&lang=en-CA
You could brand your research project and put a cool retro style logo on one of these bad boys. I'd totally buy one. {I almost bought the CBC bag for my girlfriend, but when I saw it in the CBC store in Toronto.}
I'm trying to think of other ways to sweeten the pot for backers. Special versions of research papers? "Now with extra theory!" "Triangulated! New and improved with multi-methods!" Research bloopers? Access to the reviews and a "guess the reviewer" online game?
It would be interesting to see this type of crowdfunfing approach applied to grantmaking, which I can see both advantages and disadvantages for funders/program officers. Hey, on a soccer note, have you ever heard of Playershare? I think it was for AFC Bournemouth. The idea was to let fans pool money so the team could attract better players, in exchange for perqs.
@Jon:: Put me down for a Contexts mug.