Team:University College London/HumanPractice/SpeedDebating

From 2012.igem.org

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==Overview ==
==Overview ==
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''"Will the world be a safe place if we make biology easy to engineer? How do the lessons of the past inform the discussion going forward? Think beyond just convincing people that 'synthetic biology is good'."''
 
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''"Will open-source biology create value similarly to open-source computing? Should synthetic biology only be applied to resolve human problems or can it be used simply to advance our resources? Who decides and how informed do they have to be?"''
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Inspired by these quotes from the iGEM website, this year we set out to ‘challenge’ public perceptions about genetically modified organisms and inform people about synthetic biology by hosting a debate.
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Last year, UCL iGEM 2011 exhibited art works and films at the Dana Centre to explore the language of synthetic biology, followed by a panel discussion with science philosophers and synthetic biology artists. From the feedback we received, we realised the audience were keener to discuss the scope and parameters of synthetic biology.  
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We're inviting you to voice your opinion at an evening of ''speed debating''. Deliberate the question “Should plastic pollution be tackled by GMO?” in a relaxed setting. Experts from marine biology, environmental groups and bioethics will be present, giving you the insider's point of view. Join us for an evening of debate and drinks!
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This year we targeted the interest in our project to achieve a bottom-up collection of ideas. We planned to feed audience's responses to our work back into the project.  
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== The Event ==
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In August, we hosted an evening of speed debating to deliberate the question “Should synthetic organisms be released in the ocean to combat plastic pollution?”. The turn-out was successful, with attendees ranging from all different backgrounds including Bloomberg, London Futurists group, London Hackspace and the Guardian.
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The debate took part as four rounds, with three questions leading to the main proposition. Tables of three to four guests were chaired by one of the UCL iGEM team members. Each round saw all tables debating the same question for a quarter of an hour before our hosts guided guests to move to another table and introduced the following question. This floor debate format gave attendees the opportunity to exchange ideas with half of the other guests.
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== Feedback ==
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In addition to chairing team members at each table, we collected further feedback in several forms. An ''Opinion matrix'' tracked the evolution of opinion throughout the evening - guests were invited to place a red dot reflecting their viewpoint at the start of the debate and a green dot at the end. An ''Arguments box'' on each table collected interesting points or questions the guest heard at their table. Finally, we created a ''feedback questionnaire'' and invited guests to submit feedback by the ticket website, Eventbrite.
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Revision as of 10:35, 9 August 2012


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Contents

Speed Debating

Overview

"Will open-source biology create value similarly to open-source computing? Should synthetic biology only be applied to resolve human problems or can it be used simply to advance our resources? Who decides and how informed do they have to be?"

Last year, UCL iGEM 2011 exhibited art works and films at the Dana Centre to explore the language of synthetic biology, followed by a panel discussion with science philosophers and synthetic biology artists. From the feedback we received, we realised the audience were keener to discuss the scope and parameters of synthetic biology.

This year we targeted the interest in our project to achieve a bottom-up collection of ideas. We planned to feed audience's responses to our work back into the project.

The Event

In August, we hosted an evening of speed debating to deliberate the question “Should synthetic organisms be released in the ocean to combat plastic pollution?”. The turn-out was successful, with attendees ranging from all different backgrounds including Bloomberg, London Futurists group, London Hackspace and the Guardian.

The debate took part as four rounds, with three questions leading to the main proposition. Tables of three to four guests were chaired by one of the UCL iGEM team members. Each round saw all tables debating the same question for a quarter of an hour before our hosts guided guests to move to another table and introduced the following question. This floor debate format gave attendees the opportunity to exchange ideas with half of the other guests.

Feedback

In addition to chairing team members at each table, we collected further feedback in several forms. An Opinion matrix tracked the evolution of opinion throughout the evening - guests were invited to place a red dot reflecting their viewpoint at the start of the debate and a green dot at the end. An Arguments box on each table collected interesting points or questions the guest heard at their table. Finally, we created a feedback questionnaire and invited guests to submit feedback by the ticket website, Eventbrite.