Sciencemadness Discussion Board

The Citizen Science Quarterly needs mad scientists

kingjacob - 2-11-2010 at 14:41

Hello fellow mad scientists,
My name is Jacob and I am working to organize the creation of a magazine for and by mad scientists. It's called The Citizen Science Quarterly. It will contain protocols, how to's, interviews, feature stories, open source hardware designs, research papers, gene samples and pretty much anything else amazing we can fit in a magazine.

The reason I am posting here is because we don't have any chemists on board yet. And contrary to what alot of biologists I know wish, chemistry is one of the fundamental sciences and it would be a failing on my part if I published a magazine on garage science and did not include chemistry.

That said, is there anyone here that would be interested in putting together something for the magazine (not just in chem)?

Sedit - 2-11-2010 at 15:38

What happens to funded money if you do not reach your goal by Jan 2?

kingjacob - 2-11-2010 at 15:43

Quote: Originally posted by Sedit  
What happens to funded money if you do not reach your goal by Jan 2?
If we dont reach the goal, nothing happens.

From the Kickstarter FAQ:
Quote:
All-or-nothing funding?
Every Kickstarter project must be fully funded before its time expires or no money changes hands.

Why?

It's less risk for everyone. If you need $5,000, it's tough having $2,000 and a bunch of people expecting you to complete a $5,000 project.

It allows people to test concepts (or conditionally sell stuff) without risk. If you don't receive the support you want, you're not compelled to follow through. This is huge!

It motivates. If people want to see a project come to life, they're going to spread the word.

Sedit - 2-11-2010 at 18:22

And once you recieve your funding whats to make sure you put that money to use doing what is claimed to be done?

Sorry to sound abit cynical here with the questions but you can see where im comming from for sure.

kingjacob - 2-11-2010 at 18:40

Quote: Originally posted by Sedit  
And once you recieve your funding whats to make sure you put that money to use doing what is claimed to be done?

Sorry to sound abit cynical here with the questions but you can see where im coming from for sure.
No worries, It's a legitimate question because Technically I could take the money and run. Personally I wouldn't cause for one that would probably result in me being blackballed by the Open Science community which would make my dream of starting a nonprofit Open Science Organization pretty hard(see OpenScienceFund). And second, if I were to try and defraud people I'd probably try and hide my identity better (FYI my name is Jacob Shiach).

Also, you are allowed to change or cancel your pledge at any time before funding ends. So if you aren't pleased with the progress being posted you can just delete your pledge.

[Edited on 3-11-2010 by kingjacob]

psychokinetic - 2-11-2010 at 18:58

Biologists wishing chemistry was not fundamental. O.o

Anyway, I'm sorry I probably won't have much to contribute to the magazine, but I did want to wish you well with it.

kingjacob - 13-11-2010 at 17:21

Quote: Originally posted by psychokinetic  
Biologists wishing chemistry was not fundamental. O.o

Anyway, I'm sorry I probably won't have much to contribute to the magazine, but I did want to wish you well with it.

To those that can't afford to help by writers or fiscally. I just set up a fb page and taking two seconds to press like, actually does a lot towards spreading the word about the 'zine.

Also if you have an idea for an article or anything related to them magazine, there is a contact form set up. Or you can email me directly at kingjacob#gmail.com

kclo4 - 13-11-2010 at 21:02

How many people view this, and are activity involved in the community?

I am sure he is legit, I've talked to people who know about it, and I have talked with him, etc.
Certainly isn't a run by night website, etc.

DougTheMapper - 15-11-2010 at 01:00

Hey, I might be able to help out. I've been working for TextBroker as a corporate ghostwriter for over a year and I've been just itching to write some articles about stuff I'm actually interested in. As for compensation, just having my name on it is good enough for me. I've been looking to generate some writing credentials anyway.

Too bad the magazine has 4% of the needed funding. You should actively seek corporate sponsors in exchange for advertising space. If you can pull this off, I'm in 100%.

kingjacob - 15-11-2010 at 14:26

Quote: Originally posted by DougTheMapper  
Hey, I might be able to help out. I've been working for TextBroker as a corporate ghostwriter for over a year and I've been just itching to write some articles about stuff I'm actually interested in. As for compensation, just having my name on it is good enough for me. I've been looking to generate some writing credentials anyway.

Too bad the magazine has 4% of the needed funding. You should actively seek corporate sponsors in exchange for advertising space. If you can pull this off, I'm in 100%.

Doug, shoot me an email with what you'd like to write about.

Not sure why people aren't pledging, a friend suggested it was cause the video doesn't show how we are going to succeed with the project, So I'll be fixing that tonight. If anyone has any other suggestions, I'm all ears.

Also to raise awareness and support for the print issue, we are launching the online "blog" portion of the zine early, so anyone who doesn't want to wait till Feb to see their article printed or if it's time sensitive, let me know.

Sedit - 15-11-2010 at 15:08

If you get enough articals generated in blog form it could possible generate greater interest in the magazine since it would demonstrate you already have documents prepared ready to be placed into print form.

I would be more then happy to help in anyway but monitary funding since I have been laid off and X-mas is growing nearer meaning funds must be watched closely for the time being.

kingjacob - 21-11-2010 at 19:38

Quote: Originally posted by Sedit  
If you get enough articals generated in blog form it could possible generate greater interest in the magazine since it would demonstrate you already have documents prepared ready to be placed into print form.

I would be more then happy to help in anyway but monitary funding since I have been laid off and X-mas is growing nearer meaning funds must be watched closely for the time being.
It turns out alot of people had the same idea, and so we launched the blog portion of the magazine last week.

If you can't help monetarily,there's lots of other ways you can help with the zine, submit tips or posts.,take photos of citizen science related things, tell a friend, even reading the articles and leaving a comment will help the project succeed. So don't worry if you can't help monetarily.