A micro-payment experiment
Two weeks ago, David Appell, a full time freelance science writer, start an experiment if he could raise $200 from contribution from his readers, he would publish his investigation of Sugar Association’s pressuring WHO on its diet study.
That’s interesting. Some would obviously think this guy is crazy and his study not even worth the spent of 5 bucks. Some just raise the hand, take the money out of pocket: count me in! Of course 5 dollars is just what you spent to get any single magazine, where you probably only interested in one or two articles inside. If his essay is thoughtful and valuable, why not? That’s a pretty good path to independent journalism.
In Malaysia, RM5 would easily settle a lunch. People here don’t seem value information (or, knowledge?) that much though. The economic model is different. But I wonder if some good writer want to offer an article for RM 0.50, would anyone consider to take it?
David’s experiment outcome seem quite encouraging. He got $370 within 24 hours. And up to May 23, he’d received $425 so far. There are people care and interested in reading about sugar, diet and politics. He got the market, well done.
May 30, 2003 01:53 AM | MovableType & Blogging
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In light of all our nutrition and diet chat on the Monkey lately, I happened upon these 10 Nutrition Pitfalls from registered dietitian and author Leslie Beck ( her website ): 1. ... Skipping breakfast to save calories for later in the day Studies show that breakfast skippers actually have more difficulty controlling their weight because they overeat at the next meal. ... Eating carb-free meals to stay slim Low-carb diets are all the rage, and it?s true that too many carbohydrates can make you fat. ... What?s more, research shows that we ...
the Stupid Diet 'stupid' say scientists I know? I?ll cut out a whole food group. ... But why is it that people will invest large chunks of time, money, and unlimited quantities of meat, eggs, fish and shellfish - not to mention the ability to associate with polite company - in something that often adds up to little more than faddish hokum? ... Whilst at the same time ignoring tried and tested options like eating fewer pies and working up a sweat. ... Whereas eating, say, only raw food or cutting out a food group sounds pretty cool/hardcore.
Let me add that I believe this is precisely the kind of work we should be doing more of in new media studies, digital studies, cyberculture, what-have-you. ... I think there s a lot new media can learn from science and technology studies in this regard: Don MaKenzie s Inventing Accuracy: A Historical Sociology of Nuclear Missile Guidance (MIT 1990) is exemplary. ... As a PhD student in S&TS interested in pushing the field into more studies of new media, I agree entirely (if from the other direction). ... There are a handful of people in ...
