Posts tagged kickstarter
A Crowdfunded Investigation of Internships
Late last month, ProPublica launched a Kickstarterto cover the costs of hiring an intern to help with our internships investigation. Our intern will create a microsite on the intern economy, traveling around the country to collect interns’ stories that will supplement and enhance our more traditional watchdog reports. But to do this, we need to raise $22,000 by June 27.
Our editor-in-chief Steve Engelberg sat down with ProPublica’s community editor Blair Hickman and news application fellow Jeremy Merrill to talk about our unique approach toinvestigating the intern economy.
“Beyond the Kickstarter, from a reporting perspective and project perspective, what’s particularly noteworthy about this is we’re starting with community and we are starting with data and news applications,” said Hickman about the project. “We’ve said from the get-go, we are investigating internships and we’re doing this in a very open way — which is a little bit different than our normal investigations. And because of that, we’ve gotten a ton of tips flooding in and we’re starting to do news reports off of that. But it’s starting with the crowd.”
FJP: This will be fantastic. Here’s a link to the Kickstarter, and here’s a podcast about the project. Reminds us of Ross Perlin’s Intern Nation, which is a fairly interesting read.
Selling Data, Taking Things in Your Hands Edition
A common truism says that if it’s free and on the Web, you’re not the customer but the product being sold. Also common is the following reaction: what can I do about that. The less common reaction: How can I get in on that?
Try this one on as a thought experiment.
Via Slate:
In a world of privacy-invading smartphone apps and government-grade spyware, keeping personal data personal online can seem like a difficult task. But could you make money by choosing to give away logs of your most intimate data?
Federico Zannier is trying to find out. Emails, chat logs, location data, browser history, screenshots—you name it, the New York-based software developer is selling it all.With a Kickstarter campaign launched earlier this month, Zannier, a 28-year-old Italian-born master’s student at NYU, is offering to hand over a day’s digital footprint for a measly $2. He says he “violated his own privacy” starting back in February for about 50 days straight, recording screenshots and webcam snaps of himself every 30 seconds and tracking his every footstep using GPS technology. He logged the address of each Web page he visited—storing some 3 million lines of text—and accumulated a massive trove of 21,124 webcam photos and 19,920 screen shots.
Zannier’s aim, somewhat paradoxically, is to take ownership of his own data by selling it. He points out that we often hand over our private data unwittingly, given that few people take the time to read the terms and conditions of apps and online services. Companies rake in millions of dollars selling our information to marketing firms while we receive little in return. But Zannier’s Kickstarter is not just out to make a statement about online privacy—he plans to use the funds to create a browser extension and a smartphone app that he says will help others sell their own data. “If more people do the same, I’m thinking marketers could just pay us directly for our data,” he writes on his Kickstarter page. “It might sound crazy, but so is giving all our data away for free.”
So, just as the Web often disrupts, let’s cut out the middle man.
Image: It’s Free, But They Sell Your Information, via Telco 2.0.
Loud Silence
Loud Silence in an innovative approach to video journalism made by local people for Africans and an international community. The days of boring news talk shows and static documentaries are over, as we take stories directly from the streets. — Kevin Taylor, Co-Founder, Loud Silence Media.
Loud Silence, a group of Ghanian documentarians, has begun a Kickstarter campaign to help continue telling stories throughout Ghana.
Here’s some of what they’ve done:
Recently, we have produced pieces on illegal gold mining; discrimination (and murders) against the disabled; amputee football; homes that flood during any rain; waste management and kids who pick through trash for a living; affects of the new oil industry in Ghana; turning garbage into energy; cyber-scammers, and controversial elections and political stories.
Take a look at their Kickstarter and the trailer they’ve created. It’s a good demonstration of the quality and subject matter of their work, and what they’re trying to accomplish within the Ghanian media environment.
FJP: Getting behind local, independent media is important and it would be fantastic to push them well beyond their $12,000 goal.
You can also learn more about them and view their work on their Web site.
Images: Selected stills from the Loud Silence Web site.
How to Raise Funds (by Getting Your Giver to Enjoy Giving)
People give more when they are having fun, or are able to access the joy of giving you funds to do your thing. Charities tap into this by telling stories (because naturally, people are more interested in investing in a story they can be a part of), or by creating events and programs that are fun to participate in so that even people who aren’t directly connected to the “cause” want to participate.
All that is covered in the above video of Peter Sagal (host of the NPR game show “Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!”) as part of The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s ideas and advice on raising money.
FJP: I’ve always been on the fence about raising money for serious causes by hosting (silly and/or alcohol based) events. It works, sure, and I’ve been to and donated at plenty of such events. But there’s always been some sort of unidentifiable moral hiccup in the idea that’s made me uncomfortable. Sagal’s point about connecting donors to (hopefully) a success story they can witness, however, makes a lot of sense. It’s partially why things like Kickstarter work.
Which leads to this TED Talk by Katherine Fulton on crowd-driven philanthropy, the extracted thought being that collaboration is an investment in both fun and experience. Which, in many ways, is where journalism is at, and where its going.
Philanthropy teaches us that people give (time, money or attention) when they are having fun (like, for example, on BuzzFeed) or when they get to vicariously experience success and get some sort of credit for it (see: the FJP’s crowdfunding archives).
It’s not a new thought. But it’s a pretty good truth to keep in one’s pocket when thinking about the future of journalism. —Jihii
Kickstarting the Death Star
Via Kickstarter:
In November 2012 the people asked for a death star. The government said NO!
In light of continuing threats we should build it ourselves.
Initial design (not for kids)
Goal
£20,000,000 for more detailed plans and enough chicken wire to protect reactor exhaust ports.
Stretch Goal
£543,000,000,000,000,00 ($850,000,000,000,000,000) to secure full funding for actual construction.
Open Source
To keep costs lower the entire project will use open source hardware and software.
FJP: Make it so.
Best of Kickstarter 2012
With over 2.2 million people in 172 countries backing projects to the tune of $606 per minute, Kickstarter takes a look back at 2012.
Images: Selected stills, Best of Kickstarter 2012. Select to embiggen.
Before you start a Kickstarter campaign, you better have a long list of people to tell about it. Otherwise, unless you’re lucky enough to have Kickstarter put your project on its homepage, few will even know it exists.
How to make your journalism project succeed on Kickstarter » Nieman Journalism Lab
Looking to fund your next journalism project? Nieman Lab talks with Chris Amico, co-founder of Homicide Watch, about how to create a successful campaign on Kickstarter and the importance of a broader funding strategy to see a project through to completion. The article offers a number of tips and looks at a range of projects, including those that had been funded and those that did not reach their goal (plus a few journalism projects that far exceeded their goals).
(via onaissues)
The Kickstarter Chronicles
Pitching media projects to this online community brings another meaning to the concept “public interest journalism”; success depends on how intrigued people are by the pitch. From the hugely popular to the barely noticed, CJR’s Kickstarter Chronicles is a look through some of these journalistic proposals.
1. The Enthusiast
“A bazillion internet years” (or eight human years) ago this week, Josh Fruhlinger thought a daily blog of criticism and commentary about newspaper comics would be a good way to keep his writing skills sharp.The Comics Curmudgeontook off, allowing Fruhlinger to quit his tech editor job and focus on his freelance career, writing for outlets such as Wonkette, The Awl, and ITWorld.
Now he’s giving fiction a go, with his first novel, The Enthusiast.
Fruhlinger says the money raised will bridge some of the gaps between self-publishing and the traditional model, paying for an editor, a designer, and upfront book costs. The rest will be used as a sort of advance, allowing Fruhlinger to turn down freelance gigs and dedicate as much time as possible to writing his novel. Though he’s already hit his goal, he welcomes additional pledges, which he’ll use to market the book and commission an illustrator - possibly comic strip panels drawn by the some of the comic strip artists whose work inspired him eight years ago.
2. Local: A Quarterly of People and Places
Daniel Webster (no, not that Daniel Webster) recalls sitting on the banks of the Susquehanna River and wondering what to do with his recently-acquired MFA in creative writing. An idea he had years ago resurfaced: a magazine that explored one small town per issue. It’s called Local: A Quarterly of People and Places, and for its first issue, the focus is on Jersey Shore. No, not that Jersey Shore. This one is in Pennsylvania, home of infamous bootleggers, an old pajama factory, an alternate Declaration of Independence, and a historical society that counts among its collection a crown made out of human hair.
Webster says a successful campaign will enable his team to produce their first issue which, he hopes, will bring enough advertisers, subscribers, and bookstore buyers on board to keep Local going.
Read on for more details and to see their videos.
It’s great to see how digital media is helping to keep analog publishing strong. Makeshift Magazine, which launches on Sept. 30, takes a global look at hands-on creativity, and people who improvise out of necessity. With 18 days left on the Kickstarter, the project is massively over-subscribed, with 329 backers pledging $26,000 thus far.
It’s not just for Kogi BBQ anymore…
Introducing the Moveable Type Truck!This is such a fantastic idea by letterpress printer, Kyle Durrie. She combined her love of travel with her love of type to craft a workstyle that was satisfying in mind, body, and soul. Last November she launched a Kickstarter project to help fund her dream of driving around the country and teaching people about letterpress from a mobile print shop in the back of a truck. Less than a year later, the Moveable Type Truck was born!
It’s really inspiring to watch her kickstarter video and know that she and everyone who supported her made her idea a reality. Her project was not only funded, but the amount of her goal was doubled, and it only took two months.
Kyle is on her cross-country tour now, and the Moveable Type Truck is coming to LA this coming weekend for the Renegade Craft Fair, July 16-17, at the Los Angeles State Historic Park. I’m definitely going to check it out!
Finally a food truck that satisfies an intellectual hunger.
Seattle startup ZionEyez might just have glasses for the stealth reporter.
Via Singularity Hub:
The Roy Orbison looking Eyez will feature a 720p HD recording camera, microphone, Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, 8 GB flash memory, and three hours of battery life. Using an iPhone or Android app you can transmit what your Eyez record directly to the web, or you can save and upload it later using a microUSB port…
…As part of their KickStarter funding project, you can get a pair of these video glasses for just $150 (shipping winter 2011), or wait until after July 31st for the general retail release at $200. *Due to the overwhelming popularity of the Eyez, the KickStarter project has already met its goal of $55,000 – it took less than eight days!*.
Ethically speaking, what could possibly go wrong?
Awesome montage of Kickstarter projects looking for funders. What do they all have in common? Nothing. But they do collectively speak the language of the Internet, and demonstrate what technology makes possible in an age of digital natives. Fun!
With Kickstarter, people are preordering your idea. Sure, they’re buying something tangible — a CD, a movie, a book, etc — but more than that, they’re pledging money because they believe in you, the creator. If you take the time to extrapolate beyond the obvious low-hanging goals, you can use this money to push the idea — the project — somewhere farther reaching than initially envisaged. And all without giving up any ownership of the idea. This — micro-seed capital without relinquishment of ownership — is where the latent potential of Kickstarter funding lies.
Over on the Kickstarter blog they report that in its first two years of existence it’s received pledges of more than $53 million.
The majority has gone to film projects ($19.7 million) with music ($13 million) and art ($3.2 million) rounding out the top three.
The company reports that of the $53 million pledged, $40 million’s been collected. The difference is $6 million for projects that are still “live” (money isn’t dispersed until the project goal is reached) and $7 million was pledged to projects that didn’t meet their fundraising goal (meaning, if you sought two thousand and only raised one, the money wasn’t dispersed).
Another amazing factoid: over 590,000 people have backed projects on Kickstarter with almost 80,000 backing more than one project.
Giant kudos from this side of the Web.
The chart above shows the monthly pledge rate from Kickstarter’s launch to March 2011.
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