How to Create a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign
如何打造一个成功的众筹项目
Thinking small, being engaging, and having a sense of humor don't hurt.
着眼于小地方、有吸引力、有幽默感，这些没什么不好的。
Those are a few of the traits（特质） of successful science crowdfunding（众筹） efforts that emerge from a recent study that examined nearly 400 campaigns.
最近，一项对近400个科学众筹活动的研究发现，这些都是科学众筹活动成功的一些特质。
But having a large network and some promotional（推广的） skills may be more crucial.
但拥有一个庞大的人际关系网和一些推广技巧可能更为关键。
Crowdfunding, raising money for a project through online appeals, has taken off（风靡） in recent years for everything from making movies to producing water-saving gadgets（小工具）.
近年来，众筹，这种通过网络呼吁为某个项目筹集资金的方式，已经风靡于从电影制作到节水设备生产等各个领域。
Scientists have tried to tap Internet donors, too, with mixed success. Some raised more than twice their goals, but others have fallen short of reaching even modest targets.
科学家们也尝试过利用互联网募捐者，结果好坏参半。有些人筹到了比目标多出两倍的资金，有些人甚至连很小的目标都没有达到。
To determine what separates（分离） science crowdfunding triumphs（胜利） from failures, a team led by science communications scholar Mike Schafer of the University of Zurich examined the content of the webpages for 371 recent campaigns.
为了弄清科学众筹成功与失败的因素，苏黎世大学的科学传播学学者迈克·舍费尔(Mike Schafer)带领的团队对近期371个科学众筹活动的网页内容进行了调查。
Four traits（特征） stood out（突出） for those that achieved their goals, the researchers report in Public Understanding of Science.
研究人员在《科学的公众认识》(Public Understanding of Science)杂志上发表报告称，那些达成目标的科学众筹活动有四个显著特征。
For one, they use a crowdfunding platform that specializes（专门） in raising money for science, and not just any kind of project. Although sites like Kickstarter take all comers, platforms such as Experiment.com and Petridish.org only present scientific projects.
首先，他们使用的众筹平台专门为科学项目筹集资金而非任何项目。尽管像 Kickstarter 这样的网站接受所有项目，但像 Experience.com 和 Petridish.org 这样的平台只展示科学项目。
For another, they present the project with a funny video because good visuals and a sense of humor improved success.
另外，他们用一段有趣的视频展示这个项目，因为良好的视觉效果和幽默感提高了成功率。
Most of them engage with potential donors, since（因为） projects that answered questions from interested donors fared better.
同时，他们大多都与潜在的捐赠者建立密切联系，因为那些回答了感兴趣的捐助者问题的项目进展得更好。
And they target a small amount of money. The projects included in the study raised $4000 on average, with 30% receiving less than $1000. The more money a project sought, the lower the chance it reached its goal, the researchers found.
而且，他们以少量资金为目标。研究人员发现，研究所涉项目平均筹资4000美元，其中30%的项目筹到的资金不足1000美元。项目筹集目标资金越多，实现目标的可能性越小。
Other factors may also significantly influence a project's success, most notably（显著地）, the size of a scientist's personal and professional networks, and how much a researcher promotes a project on their own.
其他因素也可能对项目的成功产生重大影响，最显著的是，科学家的个人和职业关系网的规模，以及他们对项目的推广程度。
Those two factors are by far more critical than the content on the page.
这两个因素远比网页里的内容重要。
Crowdfunding can be part of researchers' efforts to reach the public, and people give because "they feel a connection to the person" who is doing the fundraising — not necessarily to the science.
众筹可以是研究人员努力接触公众的一个方式，人们之所以捐赠，是因为 “他们觉得自己与正在筹款的人有联系”，而不一定是为了科学。
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