As this is post 5 in this ShiftHappens series I don't have to tell you that I really enjoyed it. From the 20 sessions on the schedule several have stayed with me as I reflect on my own Refocus, ReFrame, Remix. In this blog series I've blogged about Liz Hill's session about discovering why the general population don't see the arts the way industry professionals working in the arts do. The social tech I used during the day and love of Vine and Elliott Barnes-Worrell leading me on to Reframing a recanting project idea of my own.

Kate Russell was the fifth speaker of seven in the after lunch time ReFrame sessions.

Kate Russell tech people may recognise from BBC's Click Online program where she presents a round up of the newest apps and favourite discoveries from her network and research that week. (Dream job) Not unlike the Cellar54.tv's 6x6 AppShow where we pick three apps each and share them with our audience. We also did a series of shows called "Crowdworking" where we looked at crowd funding campaigns, products and the perks to provide insight to the inner mechanisms that drive successful crowd funded projects. Phil the lead practitioner at Cellar54 has supported several, showcasing the product when he receives his perk.

Kate's session started with her crowdfunding adventures offering insights to the phenomenon and her involvement in the campaigns persuing her passion to right a novel. She began by asking the audience for help. After Leaving school at 17 with no qualifications and having never published a piece of fiction she fancied being a writer possibly Sci-Fi with bit of 'funny'. Her influence was from the great late Douglas Adams. It was going to take 15 months to write and deliver and if we contributed £5 we'd get an ebook, for £25 a unabridged audio book version. Was anyone interested? The audience nervously laughed very Britishly!

This is what happened when she decided to write here novel after being inspired by video game remake campaign on Kick Starter to produce Elite: Dangerous version for new release. It was this video game that got her into technology at the age of 15.

4 1/2 hours after launching her campaign she reached £4242.00 (Douglas Adams reference kudos there!) After adding some 'stretch goals' (additional perks when the primary perks take up results in the target being reached before the campaign time expires) she ended up with £17,005 and 811 backers all eagerly awaiting the delivery scheduled for March 2014.

But she admitted to over simplifying her achievement a little explaining how, with great associative imagination her campaign came about after investing £4,500 to secure the rights to write a piece of fiction set in the Elite: dangerous universe along with 12 others. That was her investment in the Elite: Dangerous by Frontier Developments Kickstarter campaign A very cool perk. And, a large ready made self invested audience. Elite had 25,681 backers when the campaign expired. Kate has been able to tap in to that audience.

The second half of her session was about the facts and figures of crowd funding. A whirlwind tour of the different types and the platforms associated with sourcing funds from a crowd.

This wasn't the key inspiration for this blog post however although I have to acknowledge the genius of the campaign, it was her new Working The Cloud book which had been published recently with a quirky promotion using an augmented reality viewer called Aurasma where 'auras' make QR codes invisible. Your logo can be your QR (Quick Response) engagement. I had a delightful chat with Kate geeing over apps and aurasma and the influence of a female presenter delivering a flagship technology program.

So much potential in using this mechanism within the arts, culture, heritage and tourism industries. I'm working on producing a set of Auras based around Nottingham's Lace Market. An active proof of concept project.

Want to see? Download Aurasma fire up the app and take a look through the viewer at the book cover on the screenshot below.