Here is a quick post to show off a new figure based on some analysis of data from our kittybiome Kickstarter to sequence gut microbiome samples from cats. Modeled on similar participatory research projects for humans where participants submit fecal samples for bacterial characterization, we are characterizing the gut microbiome of domestic cats with a range of health conditions, different geographic locations, different lifestyles and different diets. Another project was launched at the same time on Indiegogo by a graduate student in our lab to raise funds to cover costs associated with DNA sequencing for the microbiomes of koalas. The platforms that we used both provide analytics, so you can see where the traffic to your website comes from, including sources as Twitter, Facebook, Kickstarter, your project website, etc. You can also visualize the outreach of your project in terms of page views and contributions. This map of page views by city shows the tremendous outreach generated in the course of the kittybiome crowdfunding campaign. The outreach generated by crowdfunding projects is priceless!
