Kickstarter for Science: How to build a community around your science project

Are you working on a science project that you're excited to share with others? Are you building a new science tool that you'd love to get into people's hands? Having an inspiring narrative around your idea will be a key component of your outreach.

Join us and hear from Clarissa Redwine of Kickstarter, who will walk through the steps you can take to build and engage a wide community. Kickstarter (http://www.kickstarter.com)offers science enthusiasts, explorers, and innovators a unique opportunity to connect with an audience and gather the resources needed to bring ideas to life.

Then Clarissa will lead us in conversation with two different Kickstarter project creators!

Foldscope (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/276738145/foldscope-the-origami-paper-microscope), one of the most successful science projects launched on Kickstarter, is a low-cost microscope that leverages principles of origami and micro-optics. Its creator, Foldscope Instruments, produces ultra low cost tools to enable curiosity for a broader group of people, including those with low economic resources, no electricity, or who live in remote settings around the world.

Digital Farm Lab (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/992471915/digital-farm-lab) is is a place to collaborate on new agricultural technology and showcase this technology to the public. The first cornerstone piece of equipment for their laboratory will be an open-source agriculture platform being developed at MIT’s Open Agriculture Initiative (OpenAg™), called the Personal Food Computer™, which uses robotic systems to automatically control and monitor climate, energy, and plant growth inside of a specialized growing chamber.

Foldscope and the Digital Farm Lab are member companies of Manylabs (http://www.manylabs.org), our host for this event. Manylabs is an event space and coworking community of independent researchers, educators, and makers focused on science for good. Visit http://www.manylabs.org for more information and to apply for coworking space!

Clarissa Redwine, Kickstarter, Design and Technology Outreach Lead for the West Coast
• Manu Prakash, Max Coyle, and Honomi Ijima, Foldscope
• Will Coddington, Digital Farm Lab
• Dvorit Mausner, Executive Director, Manylabs

This event is free with RSVP.