Group 1: 312 people who had created a crowdfunding project (regardless of the project)—that is, 312 people who had already raised funds (or tried to) for one or more projects.
Group 2: 446 people who had already made pledges to crowdfunding projects (regardless of the project and the amount pledged)—that is, 446 persons who had already contributed to the funding of one or more projects.
Group 3: 424 persons who had never pledged to or created a crowdfunding project, including 194 persons who had never heard of crowdfunding, and 230 who had heard of crowdfunding but had never taken part in it.
The data collected from these participants made it possible to carry out a quantitative analysis of the practices of project creators and of donors/backers, as well as the third category of players mentioned above. This was done in order to better understand the practices that take place on and through these platforms, upstream and downstream of specific fundraising campaigns. Moreover, the qualitative data collected allowed us to study the organization of ‘internal’ and ‘external’ labour around these platforms, and the logics of cultural homogenization and transnational normalization involved in their use.
Notes
1 Throughout this volume the term dispositif, translated in English by ‘apparatus’, is used in accordance with the notion theorized by Giorgio Agamben (2009). Broadening Michel Foucault’s earlier definition, Agamben envisages it as ‘that which has the capacity to capture, guide, determine, control and implement the gestures, conducts, opinions and discourses of living beings.’ (p. 14).
Introduction
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