Best Poster Award for 2008

Announced at ASEE Session 3541, ELD Professional Issues Forum by Alice Trussell, Moderator (and ELD Awards Committee Chair)

Best Poster Award:

ELD Best Poster Award for 2008 is given to the work that is well-organized and communicates the content, presentation, and enthusiasm of the presenter(s). With only five posters in the running, three posters rose to the top and one stood out above the rest.

The person who received this year’s award reminded Alice of an allegory entitled “Of Wolves, Sheep, and Sheep Dogs.” The essence of the message was that there are three types of people in the world: the sheep, or people living in the world, trying to make a living; the wolves, who threaten the lives or the livelihoods of the sheep; and the sheep dogs, the protectors of society, who are constantly vigilant - always on the lookout for the wolves (or their ilk) who threaten the sheep. This year, the ELD Best Poster Award is awarded to Larry Thompson, ELD’s very own sheepdog, for his poster entitled SAE DRM: What’s Happening?

Through his dogged determination, Larry has kept on top of the SAE DRM issue. Larry hounded ELD membership, surveying them to determine whether or not SAE’s DRM policies had any effect of their decisions to purchase, retain, or cancel the SAE Digital Library. Over the last year, SAE has modified their original DRM (in response to ELD members and other folks) and Larry nipped at the heels of ELD members again to see if those modifications changed the member’s original purchasing, retention, or cancelation decision.

The poster was clearly and simply displayed and communicated well that “SAE just does not get it!” The ELD Poster Session proved to be an excellent forum for reaching a large number of ASEE faculty regarding this important issue.

Congratulations Larry!