We are keen supporters of crowdfunding. Jonathan is so keen that he is doing a PhD on it. Here are our crowdfunding posts, and some resources that you might find useful.

Our articles about research crowdfunding

• Patronage as a research crowdfunding model, Jonathan O’Donnell, 16 August 2017.
  Sets out the argument for on-going micropayments, rather than project-based crowdfunding.
• Crowdfunding: training that pays for itself, Jonathan O’Donnell, 21 June 2017.
  Crowdfunding as a experiential training program in generosity.
• Breaking funding boundaries, Jonathan O’Donnell, 1 December 2015.
  If you need to break through barriers in academia, consider crowdfunding.
• Publishing in real time, Cindy Wu, 2 June 2015.
  Cindy Wu, co-founder of Experiment, on communicating with supporters.
• In defence of the crowd, Jonathan O’Donnell, 9 December 2014.
  My response to Melonie Fullick’s critique, Milking the Crowd. 
• Worth more than money, Jonathan O’Donnell, 5 August 2014.
  Why the experience of crowdfunding may be more valuable than the funding.
• Are you being ‘grantist’? Tseen Khoo, 22 July 2014.
  The problem of gaining academic recognition for crowdfunding.
• Crowdfunding your research, Jonathan O’Donnell, 8 October 2013.
  A worked example of how to think about crowdfunding as an option.
• Deakin’s crowdfunding success, Jonathan O’Donnell, 2 July 2013.
  Analysis of Deakin University’s first eight crowdfunding projects.
• Kickstarter vs. the National Science Foundation, Jonathan O’Donnell, 19 June 2012.
  Crowdfunding as a research funding model.

#CrowdfundResearch in Australia

• A short introduction to research crowdfunding in Australia, Jonathan O’Donnell, 11 February 2016.
• Data on research crowdfunding by Australian university staff, 2011 – 2015.

Planning

• Research My World: Pilot Project Evaluation, Deb Verhoeven et al, 2013.
  Report on the first crowdfunding projects run by Deakin University.
• Crowdfunding research: institutional and researcher readiness, Deb Verhoeven, 2013.
  A quick way to understand if you and your institution are ready to crowdfund.

Budgeting

• Kickstarter Math is Weird, Marian Call.
  A fantastic worked example of how to budget your campaign, with spreadsheet.

Outreach & communication

• Introduction to outreach, #SciFund Challenge.
  Training on Twitter, Message Box, WordPress, Ignite presentations, & images.
• Video course week 1, week 2, week 3, week 4 & week 5, #SciFund Challenge, 2016.
  Covers filming with your iPhone, editing with iMovie & HitFilm, as well as planning, scripting, editing and sound design.
• Poster design course materials, #SciFundChallenge, 2016.
  1 Illustrator; 2 wireframes; 3 data design; 4 fonts & colours; 5 finishing & presenting.
• A PLN: Friends… with benefits, Lauren Forner, 9 January 2012.
  Great introduction to the idea of a personal learning network (PLN).

Social media

• Instagram class week 1; week 2; week 3; bonus materials, #SciFundChallenge, 2017.
  Great materials on how to use Instagram for research communication.
• Twitter class materials: 1 listening; 2 speaking; 3 engagement, #SciFundChallenge, 2016.
• Social media activities to help crowdfund research, Joyce Seitzinger, 20 June 2013.
  Joyce (@catspyjamasnz) advised Deakin on their social media strategy.

Asking for funds

• The Art of Asking, Amanda Palmer, February 2013.
  Singer Amanda Palmer on the power of generosity. She has a book, too.

#MustCite articles

My Zotero research crowdfunding group has all the references. Here are the ones I really love:

Pomerantz, Jeffrey, and Robin Peek. “Fifty Shades of Open.” First Monday 21, no. 5 (April 12, 2016). doi:10.5210/fm.v21i5.6360.

• A beautiful clear definition of ‘open’, as we understand it today.

Palmer, Stuart, and Deb Verhoeven. “Crowdfunding Academic Researchers: The Importance of Academic Social Media Profiles.” In ECSM2016-Proceedings of the 3rd European Conference on Social Media, edited by Christine Bernadas and Delphine Minchella, 291–99. Caen, France: Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited, 2016.

• Using social network analysis to reveal insights into the progress of campaigns while they are underway.

Kelty, Christopher, Aaron Panofsky, Morgan Currie, Roderic Crooks, Seth Erickson, Patricia Garcia, Michael Wartenbe, and Stacy Wood. “Seven Dimensions of Contemporary Participation Disentangled.” Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology 66, no. 3 (March 1, 2015): 474–88. doi:10.1002/asi.23202.

• Provides a framework that allows clear distinctions and better analyses of the role of participation.

Verhoeven, Deb, and Stuart Palmer. “Because It Takes a Village to Fund the Answers: Crowdfunding University Research.” In Crowdfunding the Future – Media Industries, Ethics, and Digital Society, edited by Lucy Bennett, Bertha Chin, and Bethan Jones, 133–56. Digital Formations. Peter Lang, 2015. http://dro.deakin.edu.au/view/DU:30074013.

• Describes the ‘flipped funding model’, and crowdfunding as a first rather than the final step in the financing process.

Byrnes, Jarrett E. K., Jai Ranganathan, Barbara L. E. Walker, and Zen Faulkes. “To Crowdfund Research, Scientists Must Build an Audience for Their Work.” PLoS ONE 9, no. 12 (December 10, 2014): e110329. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0110329.

• How online engagement leads to a crowdfunded research project.

Leitch, Shirley, Judy Motion, Elizabeth Merlot, and Sally Davenport. “The Fall of Research and Rise of Innovation: Changes in New Zealand Science Policy Discourse.” Science and Public Policy 41, no. 1 (February 1, 2014): 119–30. doi:10.1093/scipol/sct042.

Palmer, Amanda. The Art of Asking: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help. United Kingdom: Little, Brown Book Group, 2014.

• An excellent treatise on the power of generosity.

Ferlie, Ewan, Louise Fitzgerald, Martin Wood, and Chris Hawkins. “The Nonspread of Innovations: The Mediating Role of Professionals.” Academy of Management Journal 48, no. 1 (February 1, 2005): 117–34. doi:10.5465/AMJ.2005.15993150.

• A great description of how different parts of an organisation may work against the adoption of useful innovations.

Lessig, L. “Law Regulating Code Regulating Law.” Loyola University Chicago Law Journal 35, no. 1 (Fall 2003): 1–14.

• Describes the way that software (such as crowdfunding services) are bound by national legislation, and in turn build their own sets of ‘laws’ that circumscribe what users can do.

Kelsey, John, and Bruce Schneier. “The Street Performer Protocol and Digital Copyrights.” First Monday 4, no. 6 (June 7, 1999). doi:10.5210/fm.v4i6.673.

• How giving can fund production.