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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, such as 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. "Typically, people have all kinds of questions about the research and its applications. For example: how are related devices made? How much will they cost? Why does a biology professor want to make this motion device? All of the answers - and more - are included in the poster."
Chiel sees the digital poster as allowing him to satisfy the three main audiences in a research conference or poster session. "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 time with these people personally to share ideas in depth - which the poster also allows me to do."
Digital posters can be created exactly to the researcher's wishes and style - complex 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.
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