Maggots Hip 'n' Shouldered: Crowd Funding Academic Research ANU 2014

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CROWD FUNDING RESEARCH: MAGGOTS HIP ‘N’ SHOULDERED.

Dr Melanie Thomson – Deakin Medical Schoolm.thomson@deakin.edu.au

@Dr_Mel_Thomson (Twitter)www.facebook.com/drmel.thomson

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Evolution of an Online Academic: NetPrax Project Feb 2013

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Deakin Faculty of Health: NetPrax project

Joyce Seitzinger@catspyjamasnz on Twitter

Colin Warren@colwar on Twitter

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NetPrax project: ARRRRGGGHH!!!

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NetPrax project: Learn to Filter

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There’s an App for that!

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NetPrax for Teaching: Digital Literacy

• Facebook Page• Twitter Hash tag

(#UnitCode)

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Evolution of a Crowd Funding University: ‘Research my World’ Deakin-Poziblepartnership April 2013

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Crowd Funding for Research

Prof Deb Verhoeven

Chair in Media and CommunicationFaculty of Arts & EducationSchool of Communication & Creative Arts

deb.verhoeven@deakin.edu.au@bestqualitycrab on Twitter

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• Deakin-Pozible.com partnership

• Pozible founder Rick Chen, me & Dr Michelle Harvey

Crowd Funding for Research

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Evolution of a Crowd Funding Academic: ‘Mighty Maggots’ Campaign April 2013

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Maggots…can we make them glamorous?

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Mighty Maggots Campaign video 1

Melanie Thomson and Michelle Harvey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRGnbWlJdLM

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Pozible-ly, an exercise in marketing

Second Maggot Video: Maggot Art

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1WJZiflxi8

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Getting $10K for Maggots? It’s !

• 45 days to convince people to give us $$

• No existing ‘audience’• Target Market not as

tech savvy• Ran ‘physical’

outreach campaign as well as online

• Apps used: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Storify

• Diverse Donors

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Pozible-ly, rewarding for donors?

Rewards turned out to be an important part of the process

Best rewards are priceless and worthless!

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Mighty Maggots on Social media

• Facebook Page – Friday Arvo Maggot Racing

• Twitter ‘parody’ accounts

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Twitter Parody Accounts: Panto Villians!

• Used Storify to ‘record’ Twitter arguments b/w the protagonists

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A real life Crowd : Community Engagement

Cons: Can get hostility from punters

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A real life Crowd : Community Engagement

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‘Mighty Maggots’ Campaign

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Crowd Funding for Community Engagement

• ‘Research my World’ Pozible Campaign Tweets and Re-Tweets network by Stuart Palmer (@s_palm)

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Crowd Funding Tips for University Admin

• Requires support from the highest level (VC/DVCR)• Requires support of financial officers in Research Office

and at local Departmental level• Consideration for admin burden of tax receipts ->

Philanthropy office?

• Practicalities: • WHICH PLATFORM? External or Internal?• Official You Tube account• Pay Pal account needed• Multi Media/Comms support?• ‘Coalition of the willing’ team of Social Media Mentors

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Evolution of a Crowd Funding Track record: ‘Hips 4 Hipsters’ April 2014

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‘Hips 4 Hipsters’ - Bought Pro Help

Logo: Cat Donaldson, Faster Pussycat Productions @catherineLdAnimation: James Hutson, Bridge8 @jameshutson

Professional Animation by James Hutson of Bridge8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-OD2gB0Ewg

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‘Hips 4 Hipsters’-Secondary Video (free!)

Mel Thomson – ‘Face of Campaign’ video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebg8i3AJyoI

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‘Hips 4 Hipsters’ Twitter only strategy

• One week on @realscientist rotation account to amplify signal

• Important relationship with science ‘supertweeter’ @upulie -> @colvinius

• Interviewed by @carolduncan on ABC radio• ‘Herd Mentality’ Podcast @adamreakes

• Most donors came from these interactions

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Crowd Funding: Not for the faint of heart!

Cost • Pricey on Time!! (10-20 hrs on top of Academic job!)• $$ return per hour….less than minimum wage• Seen as ‘zany’ = non credible by science establishment??*Benefit• Raised profile in local and national communities• ‘Ripple Effect’ still in action…several further donations• Obtain network of random ‘cheerleaders’

for your science

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‘Ripple Effect’ of community engagement

• Approx $5,000 extra donations (so far!)

• Plus $37,000 Grants

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Crowd Funding for you? The Overworked academic?

• First steps: If you are not on social media professionally…Mak account today!

• Big Three are Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn• Use ‘down time’ while travelling to post stories of interest• Crowd funding is good for raising profile and gaining seed

funds and kudos, but labour intensive & sometimes stressful• Do you have an research idea you can ‘sell’? • Are you comfortable with the ‘hard sell’?• Make sure you do ‘Real Life’ engagement too!

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Social Media for Research Community

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Social Media for Research Community

• @realscientists• #onsci• #emcr or #emcrforum• #microtwjc• #phdchat• #womeninSTEM

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http://www.slideshare.net/debver/crowdfunding-university-research

http://www.slideshare.net/debver/report-evauatinresearch-myworld

http://www.slideshare.net/debver/checklists-crowdfunding-research

http://www.pozible.com/research

My Blog: www.drmelthomson.wordpress.com

1st Campaign www.pozible.com/mightymaggots

2nd Campaign www.pozible.com/hips4hipsters

‘Research my World’ Crowd Funding Links

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

SPONSORS: 129 + 180 individuals @pozible.com +

Jane den HollanderLee AstheimerDeb VerhoevenMichelle HarveyJoyce SeitzingerColin WarrenStuart PalmerRebecca PlantRyan RaybouldWarwick Hadfield

PozibleRick ChenMatt Benetti

Gillian TurnerCatherine DonaldsonJames HutsonKim FoaleMichelle Banks