Kirsten’s Viewer: final 10 days for funding

Today, the attempt to get Kirsten’s Viewer crowdsourced has just about 10 days left in which to achieve its goal.

So far, some £6,150 ($9663) has been put into the project, representing 25% of the required total of £25,000 ($39279). Whichever way one looks at this, it is a remarkable achievement. However, the fact remains that in order for Kirsten’s Viewer to survive, it’s not enough.

Kirsten, and her rl “avatar” Lee Quick, together with partner Dawny Daviau have been caught-up in moving from Europe back to the UK, and so haven’t been able to maintain full internet access. Nevertheless, I did manage to catch up with Dawny this evening, and asked her if there were any chances of the fundraising effort being rolled forward another 60 days (assuming Crowdfunder allows this – it is something sites like Indiegogo support). Her reply was very clear and very understandable:

Hey Inara, No we won’t. If the target isn’t met the viewer will not return.

So if the Viewer is to be saved, there’s a lot to be done.

Participating in the project can bring with it certain benefits, as defined on the right, making it even more worthwhile for people to get involved.

Over the years, Kirsten’s Viewer has been leading-edge in terms of capabilities and usability, renowned for its ground-breaking support for photographers and machinema makers throughout SL. Many of the innovations found in the official Viewer(s) owe their heritage to Kirsten’s Viewer.

In its more recent developments, the Viewer was the first TPV to offer full mesh upload capability within Second Life (and other grids) and also introduced 3D Viewing to the grid.

For KirstenLee, the Viewer has been a labour of love for more than three years of his life, and only recent and unavoidable changes to his and Dawny’s personal circumstances forced them into shelving the Viewer – while a huge response to the news that development work on the viewer would be indefinitely suspended, coupled with the response to an idea put to the community by Hamlet Au, encouraged them to try the crowdsourcing route.

We’re entering the season of miracles and giving, so if you are a Kirsten’s Viewer user, and you’ve not contributed to the project and are in a position to do so – why not visit the project page (click the image above right, or click here). £18,000 sounds a lot to raise in just 10 days, but if people do pull together, who knows what might be achieved.

And if there is anyone out there with especially deep pockets, a love for virtual environments and who enjoys technology – KirstenLee and Dawny would love to hear from you as well!