[open-science] Science Crowd Funding

Fri Apr 12 10:05:21 UTC 2013

Hey Cindy,

I love idea of crowdfunding in science (IMHO lack of bottom-up is the most important problem in the current academia).

However, I have two reservations:
(I do it here in public, as they seem to be related to all crowdfunding projects in science.)

1. 
As I see, most (or all) projects have lay-audience appeal, and perhaps otherwise it would be hard to collect money from, nomen omen, a crowd.
However, the majority of research projects are not as sexy*), as they require specific knowledge (or at least - time beyond looking for catchy pictures and a few sentences of headlines) to appreciate their goal, or their methodology.

Do you know if there is a way around it?
(Well, I may be biased, but I am doing theoretical physics, and I don't think it stands a chance with, say, biology projects.) 

*) Nowadays on conferences (and even more - grant proposals) people do over-advertise implications. But it does not make things better (tragedy of commons, etc) plus often verge on scientific dishonesty (and it is why I wouldn't try to make my projects sexier than they are).

2. 
From amounts raised (or asked for) it seems that the projects are on top of one's academic salary (and, by implication, "normal" projects).
Sure, it patches a hole, where e.g. there is a promising project, but one is not able to obtain funds for it from her/his own university/organization.
Do you plan a step further, when one can actually dedicate months solely to a dream research project?
(Or is it against TOS, or just it is harder to rise that amount of money?)

Regards,
Piotr
http://migdal.wikidot.com/en

On 10 Apr 2013, at 16:41, Cindy Wu <cindy at microryza.com> wrote:

> Hey there,
> 
> I'm one of the founders of microryza.com. I second what Heather said, can the Open Science Space team identify yourself or send me an e-mail at cindy at microryza.com? I'd absolutely love to chat more! We love connecting with anyone that's interested in crowdfunding for research.
> 
> At Microryza, we just raised a substantial amount of funding and we care very much about openness and transparency--look for changes there in the coming months. We're a team of open science geeks from the University of Washington.
> 
> Cindy
> 
> P.S. We're always looking for smart people to join our team (paid)! Just shoot me an e-mail. We're from Seattle, but now located in Silicon Valley.
> 
> -- 
> Cindy Wu
> Co-Founder | Microryza
> cindy at microryza.com
> @cindywu123
> 425-533-8126
> 
> Read about Microryza's founding story here.
> 
> 
> On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 4:00 AM, <open-science-request at lists.okfn.org> wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
> 
>    1. Re: Science Crowd Funding (Heather Morrison)
>    2. Re: Science Crowd Funding (Peter Murray-Rust)
>    3. Re: Science Crowd Funding (Heather Morrison)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2013 09:51:28 -0700
> From: Heather Morrison <hgmorris at sfu.ca>
> Subject: Re: [open-science] Science Crowd Funding
> To: Open Science Space <info at opensciencespace.com>
> Cc: open-science at lists.okfn.org
> Message-ID: <4A9D8332-A576-43FC-88B9-A442BC13933A at sfu.ca>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
> 
> In the interests of openness and transparency, can you say who you are, Open Science Space? Assuming there are humans behind this project? :)
> 
> Your e-mail is organizational, not identifying a person. Your About Us / Meet our Team page does not mention any humans.
> 
> Contact Us is a web form with no human contact information.
> 
> best,
> 
> Heather Morrison, PhD
> Librarian & Academic
> The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics
> http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com
> 
> 
> 
> On 2013-04-09, at 3:31 AM, Open Science Space wrote:
> 
> > Would anyone be interested in crowdfunding for science at a smaller, local level? ? see http://science.funding2013.com/
> >
> > Your thoughts would be most appreciated.
> >
> > Open Science Space
> > _______________________________________________
> > open-science mailing list
> > open-science at lists.okfn.org
> > http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-science
> > Unsubscribe: http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/open-science
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2013 18:34:27 +0100
> From: Peter Murray-Rust <pm286 at cam.ac.uk>
> Subject: Re: [open-science] Science Crowd Funding
> To: Heather Morrison <hgmorris at sfu.ca>
> Cc: open-science <open-science at lists.okfn.org>
> Message-ID:
>         <CAD2k14MVe7bQ=TQ72GhFF6eB_a2Lwz9k_Z8dS9PgNqN9isM=yg at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
> 
> If you go to the site http://www.opensciencespace.com/
> you will find a very large amount of information including a pointer to
> http://blogs.nature.com/naturejobs/2012/10/25/who-gets-funded-you-decide
> which reports in great detail
> 
> 
> <quote>Erik Cox, founder of a project called The Open Science
> Space<http://www.opensciencespace.com/>which hopes to make science
> more transparent, is currently raising funds to
> launch a crowdfunding site dedicated to science-based projects. We asked
> him to explain what open funding is all about, and how it can benefit
> science.
> 
> 
> 
> ?TRADITIONALLY finance for research is accessible to scientists through
> quite limited channels such as research councils. The grant application
> process can be long and laborious, and can often end in rejection or
> require lengthy modification. It is also a process which goes unseen by the
> public who only get to know about individual research when a mainstream
> media outlet picks up on a story. ...
> 
> </quote>
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, Apr 9, 2013 at 5:51 PM, Heather Morrison <hgmorris at sfu.ca> wrote:
> 
> > In the interests of openness and transparency, can you say who you are,
> > Open Science Space? Assuming there are humans behind this project? :)
> >
> > Your e-mail is organizational, not identifying a person. Your About Us /
> > Meet our Team page does not mention any humans.
> >
> > Contact Us is a web form with no human contact information.
> >
> > best,
> >
> > Heather Morrison, PhD
> > Librarian & Academic
> > The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics
> > http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com
> >
> >
> >
> > On 2013-04-09, at 3:31 AM, Open Science Space wrote:
> >
> > > Would anyone be interested in crowdfunding for science at a smaller,
> > local level? ? see http://science.funding2013.com/
> > >
> > > Your thoughts would be most appreciated.
> > >
> > > Open Science Space
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > open-science mailing list
> > > open-science at lists.okfn.org
> > > http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-science
> > > Unsubscribe: http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/open-science
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > open-science mailing list
> > open-science at lists.okfn.org
> > http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-science
> > Unsubscribe: http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/open-science
> >
> 
> 
> 
> --
> Peter Murray-Rust
> Reader in Molecular Informatics
> Unilever Centre, Dep. Of Chemistry
> University of Cambridge
> CB2 1EW, UK
> +44-1223-763069
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> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 3
> Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2013 10:47:28 -0700
> From: Heather Morrison <hgmorris at sfu.ca>
> Subject: Re: [open-science] Science Crowd Funding
> To: Peter Murray-Rust <pm286 at cam.ac.uk>
> Cc: open-science <open-science at lists.okfn.org>
> Message-ID: <62F26A80-653B-44C6-831A-38FF2C69FE19 at sfu.ca>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
> 
> Noted. But you have to read the Nature article to get the name of a person - there is nothing on the organization's website.
> 
> Do you want to contribute money to an organization with no contact listed on its website, or have your project listed on a website?
> 
> I don't mean to suggest that this is a fly-by-night operation, rather the website might give this impression. Open Science Space (Eric Cox??) did ask for suggestions.
> 
> best,
> 
> Heather
> 
> On 2013-04-09, at 10:34 AM, Peter Murray-Rust wrote:
> 
> > If you go to the site http://www.opensciencespace.com/
> > you will find a very large amount of information including a pointer to
> > http://blogs.nature.com/naturejobs/2012/10/25/who-gets-funded-you-decide
> > which reports in great detail
> >
> >
> > <quote>Erik Cox, founder of a project called The Open Science Space which hopes to make science more transparent, is currently raising funds to launch a crowdfunding site dedicated to science-based projects. We asked him to explain what open funding is all about, and how it can benefit science.
> >
> >
> > ?TRADITIONALLY finance for research is accessible to scientists through quite limited channels such as research councils. The grant application process can be long and laborious, and can often end in rejection or require lengthy modification. It is also a process which goes unseen by the public who only get to know about individual research when a mainstream media outlet picks up on a story. ...
> >
> > </quote>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Apr 9, 2013 at 5:51 PM, Heather Morrison <hgmorris at sfu.ca> wrote:
> > In the interests of openness and transparency, can you say who you are, Open Science Space? Assuming there are humans behind this project? :)
> >
> > Your e-mail is organizational, not identifying a person. Your About Us / Meet our Team page does not mention any humans.
> >
> > Contact Us is a web form with no human contact information.
> >
> > best,
> >
> > Heather Morrison, PhD
> > Librarian & Academic
> > The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics
> > http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com
> >
> >
> >
> > On 2013-04-09, at 3:31 AM, Open Science Space wrote:
> >
> > > Would anyone be interested in crowdfunding for science at a smaller, local level? ? see http://science.funding2013.com/
> > >
> > > Your thoughts would be most appreciated.
> > >
> > > Open Science Space
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > open-science mailing list
> > > open-science at lists.okfn.org
> > > http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-science
> > > Unsubscribe: http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/open-science
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > open-science mailing list
> > open-science at lists.okfn.org
> > http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-science
> > Unsubscribe: http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/open-science
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Peter Murray-Rust
> > Reader in Molecular Informatics
> > Unilever Centre, Dep. Of Chemistry
> > University of Cambridge
> > CB2 1EW, UK
> > +44-1223-763069
> 
> 
> 
> 
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