Cosplay as a Novel Method for Outreach in Ocean Science Current: The Journal of Marine Education

We present our experience using cosplay to engage attendees on the topic of microplastics pollution at the world’s largest Comic-Con convention, held annually in San Diego, California, USA. Cosplay is an activity that has gained popularity in the last two decades. Cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories, usually representing specific characters from comic books, manga, anime, or superhero franchises. Cosplayer conventions are often large events. For example, Comic-Con International has > 150,000 attendees over a several-day period, and provides a large platform for outreach. Our costumes and accessories were a mix of science (coral polyp costume; microplastics sampling device ‘sword’), and fantasy (Amphitrite costume; with bracelets and hair made with plastic debris). We found that the novelty factor of our costumes and accessories, not part of the traditional cosplay pantheon of characters, was a captivating way to engage convention attendees. During a 6-hour period in the Exhibit Hall, we dispersed 240 flyers with information on the problem of microplastics pollution and our laboratory’s efforts to develop sensing solutions. Engagement lasted 1–8 minutes in length, with 1–9 attendees at a time. All attendees we engaged took the proffered flyer after the interaction. With a low barrier to entry, and ability to reach large numbers of people, we propose cosplay as a novel method for marine education and outreach. Cosplay can be used by student groups, non-governmental organizations, university researchers, and citizen scientists to educate the public about pressing problems facing the oceans and the proposed solutions.

本研究介绍了我们于美国加利福尼亚州圣迭戈举办的年度全球规模最大动漫展——圣迭戈国际动漫展（Comic-Con）上，借助角色扮演（cosplay）向与会者宣传微塑料污染（microplastics pollution）相关议题的实践经验。角色扮演（cosplay）是近二十年来愈发流行的一项活动，爱好者身着特制服饰与时尚配饰，通常还原漫画、漫画杂志、动画或超级英雄IP系列中的特定角色。动漫主题展会往往规模宏大，以圣迭戈国际动漫展（Comic-Con International）为例，其为期数日的活动参会人数超15万，为公众科普推广提供了广阔的平台。我们的服饰与配饰兼顾科学元素与幻想风格：科学元素包括珊瑚虫造型服饰、以"长剑"为造型的微塑料采样装置；幻想风格则为安菲特里忒（Amphitrite）造型服饰，其配饰与头饰均由塑料废弃物制作而成。我们发现，这类未采用传统cosplay经典角色形象的新颖设计，成为吸引与会者的绝佳切入点。在展厅开展的6小时活动中，我们共发放240份宣传单，内容涵盖微塑料污染问题，以及本实验室研发污染传感解决方案的相关工作。每场互动时长1至8分钟，单次参与人数为1至9人，所有参与互动的与会者均领取了我们提供的宣传单。该方式参与门槛低且受众覆盖面广，因此我们提出将角色扮演（cosplay）作为一种全新的海洋科普推广手段。学生团体、非政府组织（non-governmental organizations, NGO）、高校科研人员与公民科学家均可借助该形式，向公众普及海洋面临的紧迫环境问题及相应的解决方案。