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Stories about science
We dont think about them very much, but every one of us has a story about science: how its saved our life, or ruined it; how we love it, or hate it; how its inspiring, and just plain fun(ny).
A little over a year ago we set up a microphone in a back room in a Brooklyn bar, called ourselves The Story Collider, and started inviting people to share those stories. And people came and told them: Video editors, temp workers, neuroscientists, writers, game designers, painters, lawyers, burlesque performers, and everybody in between came and told us their personal science stories.
We wanted to bring out the best in the storytellers, so we started working with them to develop and rehearse the stories. We wanted to get voices from outside New York, so we traveled to Boston, Ann Arbor, and Arlington. We wanted to share the stories, so we recorded them, podcasted them, and sent them out into the world.
Now its time to do more.
As we listened to more and more of these stories, something extraordinary happened. We heard from a video editor whose depression was lifted by watching film of the Hubble Space Telescope, from a temp worker whose self-identity was shattered by taking part in a psychology experiment, from an editor who struggled to talk to her coworkers about a medical condition, a game designer whose innovative social game led to real danger, a neuroscientist who was confronted by a research project in the form of his own father. And many, many, many more.
And what weve realized is that these stories are not just fun and enthralling to listen to, theyre also important to tell and to hear. We live in a time where science, technology, and medicine are extraordinarily important influences of many, if not most, people. And in that environment, we need to ask: How do people relate to science? How does it affect them and shape them? How do these discoveries and technologies and questions coming out of our laboratories fit into each of our lives?
This project started as a hobby, run in our spare time, and paid for out of pocket. We need resources to find new ways to discover these stories, and new ways to get them out into the world. And that takes support.
And that, of course, is where you come in.
What we need, and what you get
We dont think about them very much, but every one of us has a story about science: how its saved our life, or ruined it; how we love it, or hate it; how its inspiring, and just plain fun(ny).
A little over a year ago we set up a microphone in a back room in a Brooklyn bar, called ourselves The Story Collider, and started inviting people to share those stories. And people came and told them: Video editors, temp workers, neuroscientists, writers, game designers, painters, lawyers, burlesque performers, and everybody in between came and told us their personal science stories.
We wanted to bring out the best in the storytellers, so we started working with them to develop and rehearse the stories. We wanted to get voices from outside New York, so we traveled to Boston, Ann Arbor, and Arlington. We wanted to share the stories, so we recorded them, podcasted them, and sent them out into the world.
Now its time to do more.
As we listened to more and more of these stories, something extraordinary happened. We heard from a video editor whose depression was lifted by watching film of the Hubble Space Telescope, from a temp worker whose self-identity was shattered by taking part in a psychology experiment, from an editor who struggled to talk to her coworkers about a medical condition, a game designer whose innovative social game led to real danger, a neuroscientist who was confronted by a research project in the form of his own father. And many, many, many more.
And what weve realized is that these stories are not just fun and enthralling to listen to, theyre also important to tell and to hear. We live in a time where science, technology, and medicine are extraordinarily important influences of many, if not most, people. And in that environment, we need to ask: How do people relate to science? How does it affect them and shape them? How do these discoveries and technologies and questions coming out of our laboratories fit into each of our lives?
This project started as a hobby, run in our spare time, and paid for out of pocket. We need resources to find new ways to discover these stories, and new ways to get them out into the world. And that takes support.
And that, of course, is where you come in.
What we need, and what you get
Our goal with this campaign is to cover our production costs for one year. Each month's show and podcasting costs us:
$350: Videography, photography, and graphic design (including printing).
$500: Production time.
$300: Website design, hosting, and bandwidth.
$250: Venue rental.
Total: $1400
We get some of that back from ticket sales. If we have a larger budget we can fly to other cities to run events there, or fly people with amazing stories to NYC to tell and record those.
If we raise $14,000, that will keep us going for one year or more and focus on expanding: to other cities, other ways of telling science stories, and an even wider range of voices.
Team on This Campaign:
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Ben LillieCo-founder/director
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Erin BarkerProducer/Editor
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Brian WechtCo-founder/producer