On 3/4/14, 11:33 AM, glen wrote:
Although I haven't participated, I think we can learn quite a bit
from the outright generosity shown by Kickstarter participants.
To me it is important to believe there are things inherently worth
doing, and that there is someone that wants to do them and a means to
get them done. With government funding and venture capital, the
money is mostly controlled by certain types of people with certain
types of values. Those kinds of people won't pursue the diversity of
possible innovations, and they aren't the `best' in any absolute sense
nor `deserve' the control they have. They are just fit for their
environment. So to me it's no more generosity than donating to a
political campaign, it's just that these technical campaigns actually
might modify the world slightly, should they succeed.
Marcus
I've done a little bit of work with crowdfunding... I've supported a few
projects (pre-bought a few items?) and agree that, at least for me, it
is a "vote" for an idea, a creative person, a technology, a product.
My current interest is in "regional" crowdfunding... of helping
neighborhoods/cities/regions collect both $$ and emotional/intellectual
support for projects.
I'll probably trigger Marcus again if I suggest collecting funds to
build a neighborhood park, but that *is* the idea... not just
encouraging neighbors to show up to build/maintain their park but also
to purchase the materials, rent the equipment, hire the contractors,
whatever. I'm not *literally* interested in *this* example, but
thought I'd bring out a dead horse for another whack.
The point of this type project is to measure or demonstrate or even
generate community support for an idea or project. It is one thing to
gather up petition signatures from folks in a city/county/whatever but
another to get them all to kick in $5 or even $100 to make something
happen. County/City/State officials are presumably more swayed by a
project to say... build a skate park.. when locals have thrown down
$100K to do it (even if it is projected to cost $1M)... I believe it
makes politicians and bureaucrats alike take it more seriously...
As an entrepreneur of various sorts, I am enamored of the idea of having
the *market* for an idea/product pre-qualified by pre-purchasers...
this feels like it could apply to public projects as well.
I don't know if it can scale to not-so-big Science ... but maybe... I
think people stepped up for SETI-at-home, and I've seen a few
Kickstarters for CubeSat projects... so maybe this is a place to put our
money where our mouth is?
- Steve
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
