User:EricJacobson2728/sandbox

Article Evaluations--Crowdfunding

The opening introduction is straight forward, informative, and maintains neutrality. The history section, however, doesn't exactly seem relevant. The introduction defines crowdfunding as a method to raise funds using the internet and yet the history discusses similar fundraising methods in a pre-internet era. The history section does eventually transition into the digital era and discusses the earliest crowdfunding methods used in 1997 for a music campaign. The article then confusingly declares only two types of crowdfunding exist but then carries on discussing six types in six sections.

The article does a good job in the roles section of demonstrating relevant statistics regarding how much funds were raised in particular years using crowdfunding means. These statistics could be more relevant in the form of a chart that contains information pertaining to the last 10 years rather than just 2012.

The citation links are functional and support the claims in the article. Many of the citations are of academic articles and journals but I found a few from the Huffington Post and Forbes magazine which could potentially be biased. There are also a few claims that do not have appropriate, immediate citations.

The article is flagged for being too promotional. I found the Kickstarter section to blatantly demonstrate this, as it seems unnecessary to have an entire section for one crowdfunding company but not others. The article has a section dedicated to risks and benefits of crowdfunding. I am unsure on whether or not this section belongs in the article, as it does not help define what crowdfunding is but comes off as a section dedicated to advising potential crowdfunding participants.

As a whole, the article contains a lot of information and demonstrates the varying types of crowdfunding. The information coincides with what we discussed in class regarding crowdfunding and furthers it with various statistics and applications beyond the nonprofit sector. It does contain too much information on Kickstarter compared to other crowdfunding platforms and even has a whole section regarding a Kickstarter controversy. I believe this has no place on the Crowdfunding page and instead should only be on the Kickstarter page.