Electronic Poster

Here’s a view of the future, research posters being displayed on computer monitors instead of paper posters on dividers.

No question, it’s cool to be able to flip a switch and have a new poster displayed. And, you pay for the monitor once, and a paper research poster every time.

I would argue that this kind of setup has a few disadvantages too:

1. It’s too small. The smallest poster we usually print is 3×4 feet, these are about half that size. Not only are they going to be hard to read, but the author can only have one person to talk to at a time.
2. What can we say but that a paper poster always works! I wonder what the reliability of the system is, and what happens to the presenter whose monitor isn’t working.
3. Presenters tell us that, given the expense of these setups, there are not that many available at a conference. They are only able to be in front of their research poster for 20 minutes or a half hour. That doesn’t give people much opportunity to talk to them, and it just about completely removes the ability to browse the posters.

So, we hear about conferences presenting research posters this way. It’s new, and the early adopters are giving it a try. The old fashioned folks are worried that a wonderful way of spreading information is being dumbed down.

Time will tell!