Launching A Patreon Campaign For Half Hour Hegel!

Since I first started shooting the Half Hour Hegel videos a little over a year ago, I've had quite a few people express their gratitude for the work I put into them -- and a number of them have sent in donations to support the project.  Over the last several months, we came to a decision at ReasonIO that we'd move away from the rather ad hoc Paypal donation link to something a bit more fully thought through -- and here it is: 

The Half Hour Hegel Patreon Page  

(click it - if just to check it out)

Patreon is something like the better-known Kickstarter and Indiegogo -- a "crowdfunding" site, but unlike those two, which tend to be used to support single-product projects, Patreon allows people to contribute per product (in this case, per video), making it ideal for artists, musicians, cartoonists, podcasters, video-content-producers -- even for philosophers.

You get to donate in order to see more of what you like -- and you get to hold the content-producer to a schedule.  If they produce, they get donations.  If they slack off, and don't produce, they don't get donations until they get it in gear.  (I think you can tell that this is the model I prefer!)

Even better, using Patreon for donations allows me -- or rather spurs me -- to create some "rewards" for supporters.  Here's a few examples:

• access to my Patreon-only Half Hour Hegel feed
• a personalized Thank You note from me
• participation in online monthly Q& A sessions
• a copy of the Phenomenology of Spirit, signed with a personal note from me (to use as we proceed through the work)
• one-hour online philosophy Tutoring Sessions -
• the opportunity to select Classical Theme Music for videos covering one section of the Phenomenology
• a 1-Day Intensive On-Location Workshop on Hegel, led by me

At this point, the 44 Half Hour Hegel videos I've produced so far have had over 55,000 views -- and according to YouTube's estimation, over 600,000 minutes (or about 416 days) of those videos have been watched!  I'd say that for each half hour installment, I probably devote about 4 hours of rereading, reflection, planning, shooting, and editing, so right now, we're looking at about 176 hours of work invested on my own part.

I'm in the process of creating something new with this series -- an entirely online, video commentary covering the entirety of Hegel's Phenomenology.  After just a year, it's helped hundreds of people study this thinker and this work.  These videos are likely to exist on the internet as a digital resource for decades.

So, if you'd like to play some role in supporting the ongoing development of an innovative educational resource providing a common intellectual good for generations to come -- and you'd like to get some personal rewards out of it to sweeten the deal -- here is the opportunity!