Link roundup for September 2012

The Singular Scientist looks at QR codes.

It’s a best of list, because people love lists. This one is 20 data visualization tools.

An augmented reality poster

I’ve talked about various ways to make posters more interactive, from using QR codes to showing video. This is another step in making posters more dynamic: using augmented reality.

Jump to the 4 minute mark to see what Adem Bilican did with his poster:


ECCB12 poster awards ceremony by abilican
Given this and the winning poster at this year’s Neuroethology congress, it seems that one of the ways to make a successful poster is to transcend the poster format. How can you give someone more than a piece of paper on a board?

External links

Poster prize at ECCB12 with my augmented reality poster
ECCB12 poster awards ceremony
ECCB 2012: Bioinformatics with a Swiss Flavour
ECCB12 poster prize for A Bilican

Hat tip to Guillaume Collet.

Usable space

I like using all the space available to me on my posters. Big posters are easy to read and can get more attention.

At a recent conference, the organizers told the presenters that the poster boards were 8 feet by 4 feet, or 92 inches by 48 inches. But 92 inch by 48 inch posters didn’t fit on the board. The organizers had measured the poster boards from edge to edge, outside of the metal frame. The frame took up about an inch of space on all four sides.

When making your poster, make it 2 inches shorter in both dimensions than what the organizers tell you the space is. That will give you a little wiggle room if the organizers have miscalculated the available space. From my experience, this happens frequently.

This is going too far, though:

It looks like you’re not even trying.

Related posts

Board numbers

Chemistry is magic!

Neil Withers spotted this poster on Reddit:

One of my friends entrusted my group and I to print his poster for a conference...he chose poorly.

You can click to enlarge...

I’m going to go out on a limb here. While this was meant as a joke...

I actually think it’s kind of effective.

Remember what the point of a poster is? It’s to give people something to talk about. And this poster does that, make no mistake. If I saw this poster, I would walk up to it and start a conversation.

The trick, though, is to make people go away remembering the science and not the joke. That wouldn’t be easy, because the joke is so good. But if you took away the joke, you might have far fewer chances to explain the science. On your next poster, maybe you can loosen up and have a little fun.

Related posts

Conversation piece

Hat tip to Biochem Belle.

Additional, 17 October: Sciencegurl noticed this in her department.