[edit] Digital Poster

Hillel Chiel’s research, which considers the motion of slugs to study how the brain and body work together, has potentially powerful engineering and medical applications. The professor of Biology, Neurosciences and Biomedical Engineering uses computer simulation and robotic devices to recreate the slug’s ambulation. Ideally, when presenting his research, Chiel would like to show, not just tell. Now he can.

Using a digital poster created by ITS’ Instructional Technology and Academic Computing (ITAC), Chiel can present his research so that his audience can practically watch the slug crawl across a 61-inch plasma screen ? without the messy slime.

The digital poster revolutionizes traditional research presentation methods by combining text, audio, video and animation. It solves problems typically associated with static paper posters, namely space and content limitations. A dome speaker system even limits audio to a particular area around that poster so as not to conflict with other nearby audio.

“The interactive digital poster allows multiple layers of information that weren’t possible before,” says ITAC’s Megan Linos, the poster’s designer. “People have all kinds of questions about someone’s research - how is this made? How much will it cost? Why does a biology professor want to make this motion device? All of the answers are included in the poster.”

Chiel sees the digital poster as allowing him to satisfy the three main audiences at a research showcase. “There are the skimmers who go by and casually look at it, so for them, you want it to be visually arresting, which this is,” Chiel says. “Then there are those who are willing to spend two or three minutes ? they want the bottom line and that’s also there. The smaller but more important group is the three or four people who are experts in your field. I want to spend my time with these people personally to share ideas in depth ? which I can.”

Digital posters can be created exactly to the researcher’s wishes and style - flashy or simple and the designers work will work with the researcher to create a customized and unique digital poster. Mace Mentch, manager of ITAC’s Faculty Support Group, notes, “If researchers wish, we can show every bell and whistle in the world.”

ITAC is considering the design of a template system similar to PowerPoint, which would allow researchers to easily plug in their own data files, interactive touch-screen capabilities, posting digital posters on the Web and easy memory key portability.

“Our vision is that when this becomes more widely available, every researcher on campus will want one because it will allow them to show their research more easily, which is what they all want to do,” Linos says.

[edit] What is Digital Poster

Digital Poster is a new way to present researches. It replaces the "paper based poster" to the "monitor screen based" setting. This invention is created by ITAC staff at Case Western Reserve University and has being demonstrated in the Research ShowCASE 2005. For more information about Digital Poster, please contact ITAC instructional designer for more information.

[edit] Benefits of using a digital poster

(1) The poster is developed in the digital format, so it is very easy to be carried around.

(2) Content can be demonstrated not only by text and flat images, but also by animation graphics, video clips, audio files, and more.

(3) Content can be organized by layers of information which solved the space limitation issue of the paper poster.

(4) Digital Poster can be posted on the web, which allows audience from all over the world to visit. It also makes the idea of cyber (virtual) research showcase conference possible.

(5) The poster is very easy to developed by using html web programming.

(6) Appropriate animation could attract audience’s attention easier than traditional paper-based poster.

(7) Audience has the freedom to choose how the research is being presented by using the navigation system of the poster.