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From 2011.igem.org

Public Presence

A big part of synthetic biology is all about being aware of how the science is being perceived by the public. For example, it is important for us to be aware of whether our project is seen as interesting, confusing or even frightening to members of the public without scientific training. Based on feedback we can then convey information in an accessible manner, that can develop interest, expand understanding or allay fears as necessary.

Throughout our project we maintained a twitter account, regular video-logs (which are available on youtube) and one member of our team has been keeping an honest blog on the Life Sciences of Scotland website about her experiences with iGEM.

We also maintained a stop-motion camera operating in the lab. This was partly for allowing people to keep track of what we'd been up to during the day; and also partly because it's incredibly fun to watch a sped up version of yourself tearing around a lab - performing science at break-neck speed, whilst still observing all the safety protocols!

Another thing to keep in mind is that public presence is not just for the benefit of the general public. Through use of directed feedback, it also has some genuine implications for keeping a project relevant, ideas for future applications cohesive and a beleaguered iGEM team motivated!

To that end, we've undertaken a number of different approaches to establish contact between ourselves and parties that we believe might have a vested interest in our final product. These include questionnaires sent to several companies - including NASA and our attendance at a University open day. Attendance at the open day generated feedback from new scientists about our project, including how accessible they found the research and any potential uses they thought it could have.

Public outreach

links to twitter, youtube and Ellinblog

Live-lab

stream of the stop-motion video camera stuff

Letters to companies

Why send a letter and who did we send it to?

LETTER!

Feedback (?)

University Open Day

Description of Day

We made a poster all about the project

We encouraged new students to get involved in Life Sciences by explaining our experiences in iGEM

Pictures of our lovely day and pretty poster