Inclusivity
Overview
One of the most important meanings of science is communication, which makes the distance between science and the public closer. Creating an atmosphere of science throughout society so that the public also becomes a driving force for innovation and feeds the development of science。
In order to make more people understand synthetic biology, participate in synthetic biology, and further promote the role of society and the public in feeding science, we have expanded the degree of inclusiveness in five dimensions.
In the process, we sought help from experts in various fields to ensure the accuracy of our content, bridged the gap between synthetic biology and the public through artists, held an orienteering competition to make people feel more about synthetic biology, and finally used mobile mask boxes to bring students closer to synthetic biology by printing knowledge about synthetic biology on the masks while making their lives easier.
3D model
In the course of our science and research activities, we found that many non-biology majors in the public showed great interest in how synthetic biology projects are carried out in the premises, the internal structure of the laboratory, and other aspects. In order to help them understand this aspect, we decided to use 3D scanning and modeling to replace the limitations of shooting videos.The 3D model allows users to choose their own angle and zoom in and out to see what they are interested in, greatly overcoming the limitations of video.
We used the 3d Scanner App in iPad Pro for 3D scanning modeling. A total of 9 scenes or experimental apparatus were modeled in 3D scan for PCR room, ultra clean bench, .......A total of two formats are exported: .usdz, .gltf, which can be widely viewed on iOS OS, Windows OS. But there is no way to upload, here is our png image.We hope that our efforts will help more people to understand how synthetic biology is carried out in the scenario.
Language
Language is the most important and convenient bridge between people, but in real life, there are often many people who cannot easily use mainstream language expressions, such as people with hearing impairment who cannot fluently communicate with others around them using spoken language, and people with visual impairment who cannot easily use ordinary books to read, etc.In order to involve this part in synthetic biology as well, we decided to make our micro-lesson part as a sign language video as well as a Braille book.
In order to create a sign language video and a Braille book, we decided to ask for help from Lin Zhifeng, who is the director of the Putian Disabled Persons Federation office and has a lot of experience in community communication for people with disabilities. We hope that with his guidance, we can make our course content into a sign language video and a book in Braille to help more people with disabilities understand synthetic biology and enhance the science of GM food. He provided us with the latest National Braille Program and the List of Commonly Used Words in National Sign Language released by China in 2018, and hoped that we could study the contents carefully to record the sign language video and produce the Braille book. He expressed his willingness to give us further guidance on the recording of sign language videos and the production of Braille books.
Then we had a problem with the Chinese to Braille conversion. We were not very clear about the difference between China's national common Braille and the current Braille, were not sure which Braille was more suitable for the majority of blind people in China, and were worried that most people with disabilities would not be able to adapt to the newly introduced common Braille in 2018. So we contacted Director Zhifeng Lin once again.
When Zhifeng Lin learned of the difficulties we were experiencing, he said that National General Braille was more accurate and time-saving to read compared to current Braille, and that it would also eliminate the huge barrier of difficulty in informing current Braille, and recommended that we use General Braille. In response to our concerns, he said that there was no need to worry, as Universal Braille is an improvement of the original program based on the existing Braille, and that it meets the reading habits of most blind people and is more easily accepted by most blind people. Even if a blind person does not understand the new rules of Universal Braille, it will not affect his or her reading.Finally, he told us how to translate our scientific content into Braille.
Finally, with the help of Zhifeng Lin, we used the Chinese Braille digital platform to convert our science content into universal Braille and gave it to the Braille vendor to produce it and gave it to Director Lin Zhifeng, who said he would put it in the Putian City Activity Center for the Blind for distribution as we requested.
We also realized that color blind people are also visually impaired, and we hope that this group of people can better appreciate our content and have a better browsing experience when they visit our website. So we added a color conversion control in the bottom right corner of the page to help them get a more realistic color.
Our team has in-house group members with experience in sign language dance competitions. Under the guidance of Director Lin Zhifeng, our group members completed several sign language dance videos and placed them on the Shake Shack as well as the Beep Beep platform.
As of October 1, 2022, we have a total of 26.12 RMB from our video accounts on multiple platforms, and we have decided to donate all these online proceeds to the Red Cross to help solve the educational problems of people with disabilities. Although the amount is small, we will improve the quality of our videos in the future to attract more people to watch them. To ensure the standardization and transparency of the whole process, we consulted with Chen Huibai, the Secretary General of the Putian Red Cross. Under her guidance, we successfully completed the process of donating to the Chinese Red Cross Foundation.
Art
The arrival of the epidemic has made people's rich and happy lives stressful and boring. The FAFU team is trying to arouse the emotional resonance of more people, to add fun to a seemingly boring life, and to improve people's happiness in life. The most important thing is to make them feel that science is not boring, but can really give them energy. That's why our team conducts artistic activities in two directions: music and art.
Music
We were fortunate to contact Yuan Zhao at Accademia Teatro alla Scala, who told us that more people are willing to learn music during the epidemic, which can relax people. He also stressed that a good piece of music needs to incorporate deep emotions. This was very helpful for us to create music afterwards.
We likewise reached out to a domestic music producer who has released dozens of songs on NetEase Cloud Music. Our team leader, Cibo Jiao, asked him for some advice on composing and tried to make a simple song to express the feelings experienced during the two years of the New Crown epidemic.
Fine Arts
For the art, in addition to creating a set of synthetic biology comics, we consulted with one Shansi at Riverside Studios. After describing our idea to her, she was very interested in our idea and agreed to create two emotionally relevant pieces for us under the epidemic.
Due to the long creation period of paintings, we have only received two paintings so far. In the future, we will hold a painting event with the theme of "Emotions in the context of the epidemic" and collect a sufficient number of paintings to display in the square on campus.
Sports
In an epidemic environment, in addition to the necessary protective measures, the most important thing is to improve your immune function. And exercise is one of the best ways to improve the immune function.
FAFU iGEM team and the School of Plant Protection of Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University jointly organized an orienteering event with the theme of synthetic biology. In this orienteering competition, we used the knowledge quiz about synthetic biology as the main time limit for the orienteering competition, and the participants' ranking was determined by the length of time to complete the competition.
Serving the Public
According to the school's epidemic prevention requirements, we need to wear masks before entering the cafeteria, but we often forget to wear them in our daily lives. To solve this problem, we decided to place a mobile mask box at the entrance of each of the school's ten cafeterias.
20 masks are placed inside each mobile mask box in advance, and the rule is. All people who forget to wear masks can take them. However, the premise is that only one mask can be taken at a time, and a new, individually wrapped mask must be returned within 3 days, and the last mask taken must be returned before it is taken again.
All the above rules are followed by the public voluntarily, and we count the number of masks left after two weeks. Among them, 20 masks placed in advance in each mobile mask box were specially designed by us. These masks were printed with trivia related to synthetic biology (or applications of synthetic biology) on the surface to help more people understand synthetic biology and stimulate their interest in synthetic biology.
After two weeks, we collected the 10 mask boxes we had dropped off and counted the masks in them. The average number of masks left in all mask boxes was 15.8 masks/box, of which only 0.7 masks/box remained of the special masks we originally placed in the boxes. This indicates that our mask boxes were highly utilized and everyone basically returned the masks consciously, and some of the missing masks were probably just taken by the users and not returned yet.
It's worth noting that we were surprised to find 22 masks in one of the mobile mask boxes, which was more than we had originally placed. We asked about this on the school's online forum and someone contacted us. He told us that after the mobile mask box solved an emergency for him, he returned ten masks as a token of his gratitude, and he hopes that the mobile mask box will continue to help more people.
Through this small activity, we help people understand synthetic biology better and facilitate their lives. After the count is over, we continue to drop off the mobile mask box, expecting it to be self-circulating for a long time and continue to spread the love to more people.
