Difference between revisions of "Team:Toronto/Engagement"
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<h3 class='textCentre'><i>"An Icon is Worth a Thousand Words"</i></h3> | <h3 class='textCentre'><i>"An Icon is Worth a Thousand Words"</i></h3> | ||
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Revision as of 14:31, 28 August 2017
Engagement
Public Engagement and Education (1):
"An Icon is Worth a Thousand Words"
Visual communication often acts as a more effective way of getting information across- a picture is, after all, worth a 1000 words. This is especially true with more specialized information such as the methods and processes of biotechnology.
Recognizing this, our team developed a unique way to teach and spread the basics of biotechnology and to assist industry professionals and researchers. We did this by tackling the shortage of icons related to biotechnology in icon repositories such as Font Awesome and the Noun Project by holding an Icon-a-thon in the style of popular Hackathons.
Chart 1: Participants who are Bio Savvy (58%) versus Non Bio Savvy (42%)
On the day of the event we paired up scientists and creatives to create accurate and aesthetically pleasing icons. We provided the creatives with some basic background information about biotechnology and our project and a list of basic icons related to biotech topics and tools absent from icon repositories specifically related to CRISPR and anti-CRISPR technology such as “model organisms” and “ATPsynthase.”
Nearly 42% of the participants wrote that they had a minimal background in postsecondary biology so this crash course acted as an introduction.
The final icons created by these pairs were fairly accurate and showcased unique, shorthand ways of clarifying complicated topics. This level of synthesis demonstrated the knowledge of biotechnology these creatives had attained over the course of this event. On a larger scale these icons can be used by a wider public already involved in scientific writing and creation. These icons may be used as shorthand’s in textbooks for undergraduate students, research papers, and secondary sources.
