> Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2010 21:27:12 -0500 > From: Fred Benenson <[email protected]> > [snip] > This is actually something I tend to encourage on Kickstarter: creators > should make videos explaining who they are and why they need support for tier > project. They should sit themselves in front of the camera and give a human > face to the project while explaining how they're going to spend the money > they raise. > > The projects that fail to introduce their creator, but instead opt for a high > level explanation of their idea, tend to do worse. This is anecdotally > explained by the possibility that backers need to feel like their money is > being directed to someone who is accountable and recognizable for spending it > in a responsible fashion. <<
While this makes a lot of sense for a new project on KS, does it map to a fairly mature project like Wikipedia? I assume that most donors have experienced Wikipedia as readers (not necessarily editors) so they ought not need as much of an explanation of the site's value as a potential donor to a new project on Kickstarter might. I'm actually uncertain about the extent to which Jimmy Wales is widely known as "the Wikipedia guy". My assumption has always been that his celebrity reaches only a small percentage of the overall Wikipedia readership. For example, neither his face nor his name has never been on the pages of the site before. Unless you read about Wikipedia in the news, you might not have ever previously encountered him. There is research in psychology (and marketing) about the placement of advertising images relative to eye movement across the screen. I wonder if the presence of something colorful and photographic at the top of WP where we expect white/ black/ blue has been sufficiently disruptive to lead a significant number of visitors to not only acknowledge but CLICK on the banner? (As an aside, it's exciting to see how Kickstarter itself is producing a fascinating body of knowledge/best practices regarding philanthropy and donor motivation. Really cool stuff.) Kevin _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss FAQ: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Fc-discuss
