Supporting Citizens in Reflection on Synthetic Biology by Means of Video-Narratives

Sci Commun. 2017 Dec;39(6):713-744. doi: 10.1177/1075547017730585. Epub 2017 Sep 12.

Abstract

To unravel how video-narratives can support reflection in Responsible Research and Innovation contexts, this study evaluates four video-narratives designed for citizen-reflection on synthetic biology. Each video narrative comprised separate clips about three subtopics in which actors represented different views of synthetic biology. The video-clips were presented to Dutch citizens in two different setups: per narrator and per subtopic. Both setups appeared to trigger three reflection processes and three reflection outcomes. Our findings suggest that video-narratives shown per subtopic support reflection more extensively, provided that workshop setups pay considerable attention to reflection on values and assumptions.

Keywords: Responsible Research and Innovation; citizen reflection; reflection tools; synthetic biology; video-narratives.