JTF graciously funded an initial grant for the design and launch of a website that will create and curate content addressing scientific research and fundamental human questions. That initial grant has laid the groundwork for everything to follow. The site (now called ORBITER) has been strategized, branded, designed, and developed. It is poised for launch -- and now comes the exciting part.
The present proposal is devoted overwhelmingly to the production and promotion of content. We seek funding to gather, tell, reflect upon, and distribute as broadly as possible stories of the people and projects that are advancing our understanding of our world, our selves, and what transcends ourselves. We have established a network of sources. We have terrific content developers and directors. And our aim is to establish ORBITER as the go-to destination for this kind of content, to attract a growing and committed following, and to cultivate a broader public discussion about how scientific and scholarly work illuminates our search for meaning in the world.
Scientists like Galileo and Newton, Einstein and Bohr, and Watson and Crick have irreversibly changed the ways in which we understand ourselves and our place in the cosmos. Paradigm-shifting discoveries are happening just as much today, and any theology worth its salt will learn from it. Those discoveries too often are lost in the cacophony of media noise. Working together with JTF and others, we will develop written content, infographics, animations, and other creative media to engage the public in the exciting work that is being performed in the kinds of projects JTF funds.
Too many academics and researchers have a microphone at conferences but no megaphone to the world. This project aims to provide the people and projects examining the intersection of science and meaning with an effective platform, a broad audience, and sustained impact.
