Link roundup for January 2015

A poster using augmented reality, courtesy of creator Stuart Eve.

Stuart writes:

I am of course not the first person to use AR in a poster, but I am sure that it will become a lot more popular as it really is an excellent way of adding content to a poster, without being too intrusive. I guess at the moment it could be seen as being a little gimmicky, however this isn’t all that bad when trying to attract people to your poster and your research. One of the important things to remember though is that the poster needs to be able to stand on it’s own without the AR content, as it is quite an ask at the moment to get people to download an app on their phone just to learn more about your research.

The Biophysical Society has a short post on how to prepare for a poster presentation.


Katie Mack reminded us of poster etiquette (my emphasis)

Escalator policy is: Stand on right, let people rush past to catch sessions/etc on left. No clotheslining with poster tubes.

Not everyone agreed.

Isn’t that the whole reason for making posters??? - Michael Jewell

That and cardboard tube sword fights. – Matthew Buckley

Jon Tennant notes ORCID offers a new service:

Just ordered some ORCID QR code stickers - snazzy and useful! Can put on poster presentations, etc.

The problem of too many logos on posters, revisited by Kim Martini. The solution:

While the title of this post is 7 tips for women at conferences, the ideas within are helpful regardless of your gender. Hat tip to Ivan Oransky.

While few people want to be jackasses, sometimes, we forget and end up being jackasses. Stacey Patton reminds us how not be be a jackass at a conference. Perhaps most relevant to poster sessions is this tip:

Once it has served its purpose, don’t stare at the name badge.

Paul Armstrong provides a reminder of why you need to align things by eye sometimes. The responses to his original tweet are worth reading, too.

Shit Academics Say contributes this bit of poster philosophy:

A. There is nothing new under the sun.
B. Sure, but at least change the poster title.
A. Fine.