Overview
Synthetic biology is widely regarded as one of the most cutting-edge fields of the 21st century. However, this impression prevents the general population from accessing and learning about synthetic biology, not to mention how difficult it is for people with disabilities to access this kind of professional field.
To spread the knowledge of synthetic biology to the public, we have organized a series of activities aimed at those who have difficulty obtaining such abstruse knowledge, such as the visually impaired people. The specific activities are as follows.
Audiobook
Target audience: Visually impaired, YouTube users
Vision disability is one of the top 10 disabilities among adults aged 18 years and older, and is one of the most prevalent disabling conditions among children
At first, we recorded the content of the fortnightly and produced audiobooks for people to learn without watching and reading. While most of us can easily acquire knowledge by seeking online resources, most of the resources remain inaccessible to visually impaired people. Furthermore, after recording all the audiobooks, we uploaded them to our YouTube account which we jointly ran with the NCHU_Taichung team. By doing this, we believe that all kinds of people, including the visually impaired and those who could not easily access synthetic biology, can gain knowledge through our audiobooks.
To investigate the obstacles that visually impaired people encountered in learning, we contacted a visually challenged student at NCKU and sent our audiobook to him. Based on his feedback, we realized that we should briefly introduce some proper nouns in the article, which the audience might be unfamiliar with before we started the article. Moreover, a short conclusion is needed to summarize each audiobook. After understanding the experience from a visually impaired person, we realized how to improve, and made an optimized version audiobook. Eventually, with the help of audiobooks, we believe that people with low vision can learn about synthetic biology easier, thus engaging more communities in the universe of synthetic biology. Click here for the latest episode!
[Click Audiobook ep. 1 to listen on YouTube.]
After receiving feedback from the visually impaired student, NCKU_Tainan decided to make an optimized audiobook based on his suggestion. We chose our first topic of fortnightly, National DNA Day, as a demonstration, with specific improvements as follows.
Before starting our audiobook, we first explained some of the professional words that might come up, such as what exactly is a DNA helix structure, since we realized there is a big gap between what an educational film and educational sound files can show. Moreover, the recording of the audiobook was changed from two persons in charged to one person, making it easier for listeners to absorb knowledge. Most importantly, to make our audiobooks easier to understand, at the end of each topic, we summarize the entire article in plain language. All in all, an optimized audiobook is more like a popular science article than an academic journal, and we believe that by doing so, people with low vision can learn about synthetic biology more easily.
Public Questionnaire
Target audience: People of different ages and careers
To better understand the public's cognition and thoughts on the field of space, NCKU_Tainan designed a public questionnaire that includes some consultation such as what would appear in their mind if “space travel” is mentioned, or what difficulties astronaut swould face during the long-time space travel. We received a lot of feedback. This helped us to better understand the public perception of space and also our project, moreover, to break the barriers and make MerSe closer to the public.
Workshop
Target audience: People from different nations and departments
To raise more people's enthusiasm for synthetic biology and space travel, we held a workshop, MerShop, for international students from NCKU. The participants were from different nationalities, such as India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. MerShop allowed them to experience the challenges and joys of being a synthetic biologist, a space agency agent, or even an entrepreneur. The toolboxes we applied during the workshop included stakeholder map, ideation, empathy map, and customer journey map. During this activity, the participants were able to put themselves in these character’s shoes to understand how people from different positions view synthetic biology products.
We wanted to know how people in different regions, with different gender, from different fields view synthetic biology. Furthermore, how they think about our project and the idea of integrating synthetic biology with outer space. From their feedback, it shows that during MerShop, we successfully led people to the field of space. In addition, with MerShop, we not only invited more communities to the world of synthetic biology but also received a lot of inspiration on how we can improve the quality of space travel or even make space a better habitat for humans.
Talk Show
Target audience: People who enjoy humorous performance
We noticed that our previous activities mostly focused on raw knowledge, we hoped to find a humorous and understandable way of communicating to encourage more people to enter the world of synthetic biology. To target Taiwanese young people this time, we had to make the show humorous without losing focus on synthetic biology and our project. After many rehearsals, we finally had two viable talk shows that were fun and knowledgeable. In addition, we also uploaded both recording of our fun shows to youtube for people who missed the show or wanted to watch again. Consequently, people without any background knowledge in synthetic biology can also experience genetic technology without having to read a heavy textbook first. By combining synthetic biology, a specialized subject that requires some basic knowledge to understand, and a talk show, a light-hearted activity that audiences can enjoy and laugh at, we believe it can appeal to people who like humorous performances and can keep them entertained. At the same time, it can make them curious about synthetic biology while enjoying the show.
Fortnightly
Target audience: Social media users and busy readers
In an era where people live a busy life, we know that many viewers may not have time to enjoy a talk show. Hence, we have taken this plain text form of interesting science knowledge for busy people to absorb the most in the least amount of time. Like a magazine, we published an article every two weeks on our official Instagram account and we noticed that people who followed us have different identities, including nationality, age, ethnicity, and profession. We discussed nitrogen fertilizers, covid detection, gene editing methods, and many other interesting topics (see Education & Communication page). The target audience for this campaign is people who like browsing social media. Through regular six bi-weekly postings on our official Instagram account, our posts are viewed in large numbers. As the pictures and texts are easy to read, it not only saves more learning time for modern people but also allows people with non-professional backgrounds to better understand the cutting-edge knowledge of synthetic biology.
Topic Presentation
Target audience: Students and professors
As students, we are responsible for letting our classmates and professors know what we are doing. That is why we held this talk before choosing the final topic. A lot of professors in NCKU are in synthetic biology related fields. We hoped that they could give us some advice on topics according to their areas of expertise. The professors were really enthusiastic and gave us a lot of advice on our topics and how we presented. It was from this experience that we realized the importance of presentation skills and that we should not be afraid to ask for help from experts when needed. During the speech, students from NCKU can learn some basic knowledge of synthetic biology. At the same time, professors are always available to ask us any questions and connect with his/her area of expertise to give us some useful advice.
NCKU Club Festival
Target audience: students interested in synthetic biology
NCKU held a club festival each semester to introduce and promote all clubs in the school to the students. We, NCKU_Tainan participated in this activity to not only introduce iGEM and synthetic biology to people but also invite them to our upcoming iGEM event which is our topic presentation.
During the festival, we noticed that even in university, there were still a lot of people who had not realized the importance of synthetic biology. Thus, it is our job to let people know how synthetic biology will impact the world. We designed several interactive games on our stand to attract more students. By doing so, diverse students in NCKU could experience and explore more about synthetic biology.
References
[1] Fast Facts. Published 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/visionhealth/basics/ced/fastfacts.htm
