The allure of Kickstarter, I think, is that the end product is something that a typical layman can enjoy/use/appreciate, e.g. phone stands, documentary films, weird art, etc. Compare and contrast with the following example, from the algal spore research proposal:<p>"Your support will go towards financing the raw materials to make a device that simulates the types of forces (shear forces) that spores are likely to feel in a boundary layer..."<p>This is cool and I would like to support this research but this is more like a charity than Kickstarter to me since I don't even have a good understanding of the motivation and the mechanism of this work.