Team:HokkaidoU Japan/HumanPractice

From 2011.igem.org

Revision as of 17:24, 4 October 2011 by Sprkata (Talk | contribs)

Contents

BioArt Gallery

書評・右看板差し替え・Youtubeアップロード後動画リンク予定

1. Summary

We, the iGEM Hokkaido U team, held a science art gallery “BIO ART” at the center of Sapporo City as an event of “Human Practice” this year. This summer, we managed to exchange ideas on science with citizens and had the opportunity to think of new ways of communication between citizens and university students like us. Please take a look at our results.

2. “A society which citizens can think by themselves”

Our team is studying T3SS which is “the smallest protein injector in the world” in wet-lab this year. This system requires a protein complex like a needle, which Salmonella has. What do you think when you hear Salmonella? Some people might say, “How dangerous it is to use such thing!” or “You should not use such harmful system!” However, if we can use this system appropriately, we will be able to get the most useful tool there has ever been. Like the different views and risks of using Salmonella, there is so much misunderstanding of science technologies around us. “What should we do to remove the gap between citizens and researchers?” This was the first question of our Human Practice project. We tried to answer this question through this summer from a student’s prospective that'll be a researcher in the future. We discussed it at length, and finally we figured out what we should do. Our theme was to make, “A society which citizens can think by themselves”. Science technology develops so fast that it is difficult for citizens to keep up with. This has made it difficult for citizens to think carefully about science themselves. To improve this situation, we concluded that by showing the science technologies in a more simple and understandable way to the citizens, they will be more interested in it and be more active to think about science themselves without being lead by the media. They would also need to try to understand what is dangerous and why in order to find their own views towards science.

3. The way to become “citizens who can think by themselves”

In order to achieve the goal of becoming citizens who can think by themselves, we looked at what we could do with citizens. We found a new way of communicating which introduced some factors below,

  • know what citizens already know about science
  • provide them correct knowledge about science
  • have them enjoy science

We think we need to break from our shell of lectures and workshops and make this method to be a more attractive one. From this, a science gallery “BIO ART” was born.


4. The New Communication Tool, “BIO ART”

When we see this opportunity to think about science with citizens, BIO ART has to be simple and understandable. At the same time, “BIO ART” needs to be impressive and be able to produce it again. In order for this event to be successful, we are challenged to create a mixture of entertaining science and art, which it has been along with us from ancient days. From this conclusion, we were able to make this new kind of event besides the simple research presentation or art gallery we usually have. We were able to create this “BIO ART” gallery, thanks to our professors at Hokkaido University, who offered us photos and videos of fluorescent staining of cells and photos taken by an electron microscope. This gallery also has an opportunity to take science outside the laboratory by using art as a medium. By obtaining different materials from Hokkaido University as well as other universities, we are able to share our findings within the test tubes of the laboratory with our citizens. From this, we believe that we can get rid of the confusion that discourages people from wanting to know more about science. Through the “BIO ART” gallery, it'll be possible to appeal to citizens’ intellectual curiosity directly by showing the mysterious of genes and beautiful sceneries of scientific features. As a result, citizen will be able to see science in a new way. As well as improving: communicating with citizens. By talking with citizens about science, we can see how people feel towards science and find the ideal form of sharing science.

<summary ~The merit of BIO ART~>

  • Ideas are simple
  • Anyone can remake this gallery
  • We can enjoy from our insight
  • It is able to communicate with common topic (about science)

Thus, the idea itself is very simple, it’s possible to hold a gallery at a low cost, and to encourage everyone to become more interested in this new communication tool, which has a big potential in itself.


5. The road to “BIOART"

July

-Appoint work to everyone As the management committee lists what needs to be done, we organized these tasks into different roles: Image Collector, Setup Designer, and Advertiser etc. Each of us in the group were assigned to one of them: Management Committee: arrange organize the whole event Image Collector: collect the images, which will be exhibited displayed in the “BIO ART” gallery Setup Designer: design the set up of the event Advertiser: create posters and write a press release Reservation: deciding the location where the event will be held and reserve the location


-Decide the place Last spring in Sapporo, a huge underground walkway, connecting two of the largest central areas of the city, Sapporo Station and Odori Park, was built. The number of pedestrian that use this path can reach up to 59 thousand people a day during weekdays. Luckily we were able to reserve 18m x 4m sized space alongside the wall here.


-Choose Exhibits Have you ever been impressed with clear and beautiful pictures of cells in your textbook of molecular biology? In order to provide an opportunity for everyone to see such images besides the specialist in biology, we started to search for images beginning with photomicrographs. While looking for images, we found a few laboratories within Hokkaido University to provide images of their research.

Cooperation: Hokkaido University Research Institute for Electronic Science Dr.Tomomi Nemoto, Dr.Terumasa Hibi, Dr.Ryosuke Kawakami Dr.Takeharu Nagai Dr.Hiroshi Nishino Nikon Imaging center

Muroran Marine Station,Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere,Hokkaido Univ. Dr.Taizo Motomura

Laboratory of X-ray structural biology, Faculty of Advanced Life Science Dr.Isao Tanaka


August

-Make a demo version of exhibits We thought about a basic layout of the ground using some models of the space panel sizes and locations within the gallery of the displays roughly.


-Arrange of BIOART exhibits It is necessary to narrow which images we would use to be able to exhibit effectively in a limited space. We selected the best out of all the images provided by the various laboratories. Afterwards we requested permission to include them in our “BIO ART” gallery as well as a more detailed explanation for each image.


-Finalize the exhibits We added a title and an explanation to each picture and printed it out. We also made a video with the moving images provided to show during the event. In this video, we showed stereoscopic image of a cell taken by a confocal laser scanning microscope.


-Make the poster We made an introduction poster to display on the wall. We explained the purpose of “BIO ART”, introducing iGEM and a definition of molecular biology.

-Distribution of event advertisement posters We tried to put our posters up in different kind of places in order to appeal to people from different classes: 20 posters on the Hokkaido University campus, 20 posters in subway stations, 3 posters in supermarkets, 3 posters in restaurants and cafes, 1 poster in the library, 1 poster in the shopping mall.


September

■Just before BIOART

-Review books related to genetic recombination and write review In connection with molecular biology, the main theme of the gallery, getting visitors think about gene recombination is one of the targets of “BIO ART”. Therefore, we created a list of books about gene recombination on a leaflet for the visitors. We chose those books regardless of their stand for or against gene recombination, but included information such as; influences of gene combination to health, environment, economy, ethical issues, labeling regulation, etc… We provided these at the gallery.


-Decide contents of questionnaire We considered that it’s important to have a second questionnaire to check the effectiveness of the art gallery, and to get feedback of the people. With this questionnaire rather than only having questions regarding people’s interest in science and knowledge of iPS, we included questions to determine if they enjoyed the gallery. This questionnaire was given at the ”BIO ART” gallery.

-Finish exhibits Print and frame remaining images to prepare them for the gallery. After this we excitedly awaited opening day.


-Hold a preliminary meeting It’s possible we would need to explain parts of the gallery to visitors or discuss aspects they were impressed with and would want to know more about the images and how they were taken. In order to be able to provide this type of information, we deepened our knowledge on the images displayed


■BIOART

-Hold an evaluation meeting A meeting to review the first day was held from 9pm at the university. We talked about how we could improve the knowledge of the staff and the layout of the gallery better for the second day.


■After BIOART

-Summarize the project We totaled up the questionnaires and talked about what was a success and what could be done better next time as well as our future vision. (Staff’s comment and Summary)



6. What BIO ART was like:

First day(7th/September)

Preparation We carried big luggage to the “BIO ART” event hall. It was tough to carry A0 size pictures.

Arranging the event hall We had trouble handling the big pictures. After arranging the pictures, A0 size pictures were very moving.


We set up screens to show videos in two different places. There were recommendation books, questionnaires, and candies on the desk. 11:00(AM) “BIO ART" started at 11:00(AM) (1hour behind schedule due to having trouble with preparation.) At last, “BIO ART” started with hope and anxiety for visitors.

12:00(PM) In the first hour, quite a few visitors came to the gallery. Staff felt anxious to communicate with visitors. Because it was lunch time, people walking through the underground walkway came through “BIO ART”. The staff felt anxious.

13:00 English Dojyo at Sapporo Ekimae-dori Underground Walkway We held English Dojyo near “BIO ART” space. English Dojyo is our team's English practice event and we practice speaking English every day to improve our skills. Today topic is about our future dream.

14:00 After lunch time, the number of visitors increased gradually. Visitors who answered the questionnaire also increased. (Our service toward visitors was improving.)

15:00 We were able to get along with elderly woman (madam?) who loved Paris. She taught us how to learn languages and she also said “Cancer is very fearful disease!!” while watching HeLa cells pictures. We were able to hear honest answer from her. We wish we could see her again...

16:00 During this time, we were able to learn a lot from visitors. A male visitor told us that scientists should use science technology in easier way for citizens to understand. He also gave precious advice for our event and our project.

17:00 Before it was time to go home, many elderly people came to the “BIO ART”. We talked with them about some topics, about pictures and videos, toward chat. They said “Wow! How beautiful they are ” and ”You should hold such gallery again!”. These comments are pleased us.

18:00 We took a rest and held short meeting between our shifts. We all did our best to improve our “BIO ART”.

19:00 There were few people in underground walkway in the last hour. Nevertheless, some visitors came to “BIO ART”. One another university student came and said ”You are lucky because you belong to such a good club”


20:00 First day was finished. Total number of visitors were 178. Total number of questionnaires were 45!! Thanks to all visitors.

Meeting for reviewing After finishing, we held a meeting for reviewing how the day went. To improve “BIO ART” in the second day, we discuss everyone’s shift, how to communicate with visitors, how to explain pictures and videos, good points and bad points. Do our best tomorrow!!


Second day started

To improve negatives from first day, we changed the shift schedule and layout of the “BIO ART” hall. We also keep notes about how the gallery was going. When we noticed something good or bad or when we found something impressive, we decided to write them in the notes. We started the second day of “BIO ART” refreshed and ready to go.

12:00 Though there were many people in the Sapporo Eki-Mae Underground Walkway, few visitors came to the “BIO ART”. (Same as the first day) Staff always thought how to improve our communication.

13:00 This day held English Dojyo at Sapporo Eki-Mae Underground Walkway too. Today topic was ””

14:00 After lunch time, the rate people that visited the “BIO ART” was higher than that of the first day. There were too many visitors to communicate with each person personally. Some staff brought a biology book to learn more in their free time.

17:00 Compared with the first day, we were able to meet many young visitors. Also, many kinds of visitors came to the “BIO ART” gallery.

19:00 The last hour was left. Many visitors answered the questionnaire. All staff spent the last hour enjoying “BIO ART”. Everyone wore a huge smile. The staff notebook was filled with each person's reviews and impressions.

20:00 “BIO ART” was finished!! Total number of visitors were 199. Total number of questionnaires were 56. The two days were a lot of fun. A lot of visitors came to the “BIO ART”.

We recognized the importance of having an opportunity to offer a place to talk about science. All staffs were able to have grand experience. We held a review meeting for the next day.


Final report

Not only to have the visitors enjoy our gallery but what we achieved was big. That is, the way of communication, to hear visitors thoughts directly. Those 2 days made us realized the importance of taking the science out of the lab.

Staff's voice

I should have been more knowledgeable about this subject. There were some questions from visitors that I did not expect. I also felt that dealing with visitors was difficult, such as when to talk to visitors, whether to go toward them and explain or just let them have a look at our exhibitions carefully, and when to have them fill out our questionnaires etc. It was also necessarily to research things besides our gallery.
It was a challenge to change ways of explaining things for visitors from various generations, understandings, and their backgrounds. I think it was a success to offer a place where we can think about science together. I was happy that visitors who are not that interested in science and do not experience that much science were also attracted by our art gallery.
What I felt from this activity is that a lot of citizens are interested in science. Regardless to their knowledge about science, we were able to hear them say “I saw this on newspaper” or “I learned this at the biology class during high school.” And the most impressive thing was that visitors were moved by my explanations of the photos.
If we do the same event next year, there would be some undertakings about the visitors' interest of science to make the gallery more appealing and how to fill out our questionnaires regardless to whether they are interested in biology or not.


7.

Two days were very short, but we still had an opportunity to spend time with a lot of visitors. Our purpose for this event was to communicate with citizens and have them understand and enjoy science. We also made a questionnaire for citizens to fill out in order to improve our event and to know their current understanding towards science. Below is the contents of the questionnaire. Questionnaire Results

The Different Genres of Customers

Dates: September 7, 8, 2011 AM 11:00 ~ PM 8:00 ・Visitors: 377 people ・Questionnaires filled out by visitors: 101 papers ・Ratio of the questionnaire filled out: 27% ・Ratio of the visitor divided by genders and generations:

The place we held the “BIO ART” gallery is an underground walking area “Odori” and it is used for going to school/ work due to its closeness of the subway stops. Up to 590,000 people on weekdays and 420,000 people on weekends and holidays use this area. As you can see from the graph above, various generations of people visited us, but men around 30 years old to 50 years old were less. Most likely, they use this area for only going to work.

The way information is obtained

How people use science in their daily life? (marked all that apply)

Results

  1. Science magazine = 13
  2. Science programs on TV = 36
  3. Newspapers = 33
  4. Televised news = 39
  5. The Internet = 36
  6. Others...
    • Working at a pathology institute = 1
    • Teaching science at the elementary school = 1
    • From the bulletin board at school/ station = 2
    • Nothing = 3

According to the results, people obtain information mainly from using these mediums: TV, newspapers, and the Internet. TV and newspaper have been used for a long time, but the Internet also has come to hold a big role in obtaining information.

Latest Interesting Science Topics

What are people most interested in among the latest science topics? (marked all that apply) Results ■Medical care/ Health - total answers = 126 ・iPS cells 34 ・Alzheimer 26 ・Lifestyle disease 24 ・Organ transplant 23 ■Environmental Problems - total answers = 58 ・Global warming 33 ・Destruction of ozone hole 14 ・Acid rain 9 ・New energy 1 (Others) ・Nature disasters 1 (Others) ■Leading Technologies - total answers = 46 ・Smart phones 14 ・Gene recombination technology 27 ・GFP 5 ■Latest science topics total answers 111 ・Radiation pollution (*1) 37 ・Nuclear power plants (*2) 36 ・”Hayabusa” the movie (*3) 29 ・Suzuki Coupling (*4) 5 ・BSE (*5) 4



The interests among the people are concentrated to nuclear power plants and radiation pollution that are reported from the media a lot and topics that are related to health which is necessarily in our daily life. And we realized that people answered more to negative topics. Also, when we see it from men's and women's perspective respectively, both genders are interested in medical care and health, but women are more interested in nuclear power plants and they 40% of women answered to this. (Men are about 30%). Also, as to iPS cells, 54% of men, 23% of women answered to this respectively. 　

  • 1: The earthquake, which occurred on 11th of March at the east side of Japan, caused a huge radiation disaster.
  • 2: After the earthquake, the topic appeared in the media almost every day.
  • 3: This movie will be released in autumn2011 in Japan.
  • 4: Prof. Akira Suzuki, the emeritus professor of Hokkaido University was awarded the Nobel Prize last year.
  • 5: BSE problem was reported by the media.

3. Yes/ No questions about iPS cells ・a percentage of correct answers Q1...49.5% (M:54.1%, F:50.0%) Q2...20.8% (M.32.4%, F:15.0%) Q3...43.6% (M:56.8,% F:36.7%)

iPS cells was the third place that people were interested in among the science topics. As you can see from the result, comparative to Q1 and Q3, Q2 has a lower percentage. Probably, citizens have a tendency to see the good aspects of leading technologies from the information they get from the media.

4. Interests towards science communication Do you want to participate in events about science after visiting our gallery? ・Results 1. Yes, of course 38% 2. Yes, I think so 55% 3. Not sure1% 4. No, I don't think so 3% 5. No, of course not 0% 6. No answer 3%


5. Suggestions and Impressions ■About “BIO ART” ・I like science, but it made more interested in science. (Man, 10-19) ・It's a good idea to mix science and art. (Man, 30-39) ・This gallery made me feel closer to science. Thank you. (Woman, 30-39, elementary school science teacher) ・It was so impressive showing photos of cell and it was so clear and it made the children interested in science. (Woman, 30-39) ・I did not understand this gallery's concept. (Woman, 10-19) ・It would be better if you stress the purpose of the exhibit and the information about the iGEM team. (Man, 20 – 29) ■Staff and their explanation ・It was informative. The staff's explanation was easy to understand and was very interesting. (Woman, 60-69) ・I think I understand a little from the explanation. (Woman, 60-69) ・They explained me the photo so politely and kindly and it was easy to understand. (Woman, 20-29) ・Photos were so impressive but the staff lacked of experience. I would like to have more information from them. (Woman, 30-39) ■About the contents ・Photos were so beautiful that if there was a book of them, I'd like to buy it. (Man, 10-19) ・It was very beautiful (Man, 30-39 / Woman, 20-29) ・The exhibits were so mysterious. I don't have an opportunity to experience looking at cells so I'm glad to see these very interesting exhibits. (Woman, 20-29) ・I was stopped by these beautiful photos. (Woman, 60-69) ・It would be better if there were more art by the students, not only by professors. (Man, 30-39) ・It's interesting even though I don't know what's going on there. (Woman, 60-69)


8. Review:

After we finished our event, “BIO ART”, we had a meeting to thoroughly review our results in order to broaden “BIO ART” as a better communication tool. We found new possibilities and reviewed what did or did not work for this new challenge. Below, we have provided some reflections of our conclusions:

How to plan this event? -Reserve the place at least 3 months in advance. We held this gallery in early September but had begun planning this event at the beginning of July, which was a little late. Fortunately, we were able to reserve the spot but it would be better to reserve a location at least 3 months prior to when you want to have an event. Since the location we choose is at the center of the city, it is a popular location for other teams to use for commercial purposes. Therefore, as soon as you decide on a location check with the manager of the space to ensure it is available for your desired dates. If we had had more time to prepare, we would have been able to hold a rehearsal and perhaps had an entrance fee. We also would have liked to be able to ensure the gallery was more accessible for disabled guests, including colors used in the images and advertisements for partially color-blind visitors would have liked to enjoy the gallery as well. It is also possible to develop this event to be a city-wide gallery, getting many people involved under co-sponsorship from the city.

・About the Copyright laws: While collecting photos, we must be careful of copyright laws. We had many offers to use photos and videos from the University and our professors were able to verify we were following all copyright laws. It is important to get approval from the source of these materials in order to make the event reliable.

・Where to choose the place? We held the “BIO ART” gallery in the new basement walkway in the center of Sapporo City where there are a large number of people on a daily basis. (Weekday average: about 590,000 people, Sat/Sun/Holidays average: 420,000 people 9/12/2011 current)

We chose a location that had lots of shops as well as a lot of foot traffic from people going to the Sapporo station and subway that still provided enough space to hold events such as a gallery. Despite being held on a weekday, a lot of people came, from around 10 to 80 years old participated in our gallery and talked with our staff about their experience. From this data, we believe that we held our gallery at the perfect location.

Also according to the questionnaire we had visitors fill out, we had a lot of responses saying “We barely have an opportunity to think about science in our daily life, so we would like to participate in this kind of science gallery again if it'll be held close to us.” We were aware of groups that had negative views towards our “BIO ART” gallery however; we had a goal to make it possible to take science outside of the laboratory to the public.

・Our ability to communicate As to the major theme of “BIO ART” which is “communicating with citizens”, it was a little awkward at first because we weren't used to talking to people we met for the first time but we ended up giving visitors a lot of accurate details during the gallery. As a whole, we think a lot of visitors enjoyed our gallery and we had a good knowledge and an attitude toward this gallery.

・Contents At the “BIO ART” gallery this year, we introduced some photos and videos of staining cells, books about gene recombination, a questionnaire, and a poster explaining about molecular biology. We believe this information was enough to fulfill our purpose and utilize the space of the gallery. Below, we would like to include more recommendation and details.

・Photos We were able to display the cutting edge technology of the research laboratories and exhibit this information at the “BIO ART” gallery thanks to our professors providing us with their photos. Also, by creating catchy names for each impressive photo, we were able to increase visitor’s curiosity and imagination.

・Videos We introduced videos with new technologies, such as 3D videos restructuring slices of photos taken by confocal laser scanning microscope and 3D videos of the brain of a mouse taken by two-photon microscope. Playing videos with photos, we were able to make visitors more interested in our research and share more of our knowledge with them.

・Questionnaire We did a questionnaire to know people’s interest in science and to improve the quality of the “BIO ART” gallery. As a result, the number of visitors who answered tbe questionnaire was over 100 people. We are still evaluating how this gallery will affect citizens and their society, which we will attempt to do next time. Please take a look at the results from the link below:

/*アンケートページへのリンク貼る */ ・Introducing books about gene recombination We read a book about gene recombination and wrote a review, respectively. We were able to have an opportunity to offer accurate knowledge to citizens by passing out leaflets that were printed about these books. We learned a lot from reading these books and we think that this process was very valuable in understanding the content regarding “human practice”.

・The poster explaining about molecular biology and the activity of iGEM team: In order to have citizens interested in molecular biology and the activity of iGEM team, we created and displayed a poster explaining about what we did and our purpose. This poster was also an advertisement that caused some citizens to first be interested in our gallery.

・Advertisement The thing we believe was most necessarily to improve the most was the way of advertising for this gallery. We needed to think of more effective ways to advertise. What we did for the gallery this time was only put up posters at some shops and subway stops in the suburbs of Sapporo City. Some other ideas to increase our ability to advertise to more citizens are to utilize other medias such as newspapers, radio and TV. Also, having support from the city by putting advertisements in the city magazine would be a good idea. To increase citizens awareness of the “BIO ART” gallery, and extending the methods of advertising is a necessarily factor which can be very useful for the next science event.

At the end, from these reviews, we would like to consider what could do for the future events.

9. To the Future

This year’s “BIO ART” gallery was a fusion of two existent mediums: science and art. It was also thought as a new communication tool and was able to exchange thoughts between us and citizens accordance to science. But we need to be constantly active in order to achieve “a society which citizens can think by themselves”, which is our major theme. And moreover, we think that it is necessary to cooperate on this “human practice” activity together, which iGem team has been representing in various places. So, first of all, to broaden this “human practice” activity and research to a large area, we made two pages on Facebook, “iGem HokkaidoU” and “Human Practice”. Our purpose was to exchange knowledge about “Human Practice” among “iGEMers” (people who belongs to the iGem team) in the world. Of course, the way of sharing information such as OpenWetWare was already settled, but Facebook was better to expand due to its popularity in the world and the atmosphere in which we feel we can communicate more freely and honestly. In addition, we felt it would also be a way for citizens to recognize iGem easily. Furthermore, from the view of ways in publishing and the impact of the Internet towards the people who was discovered from the questionnaire, Facebook was the better way. Moreover, we are thinking of developing further this “BIO ART” gallery after this. This gallery was held only in Sapporo for the first time this year, but it would be better if we could do this event in various places in Japan at the same time, and eventually, develop this event to an iGEM EXPO which will be held all over the world. We will continue to work on this activity to achieve our goal in the end.


Retrieved from "http://2011.igem.org/Team:HokkaidoU_Japan/HumanPractice"