It's not often you see a Ferris wheel at a meeting of scientists. Or even a drawing of one.

But Jason McDermott's poster at this week's meeting of the American Medical Informatics Association features not only a Ferris wheel but a robot, fireworks, a roller coaster, and other features of an amusement park. The cartoon presentation — about big data — is a big departure from conventional presentations at scientific meetings.

McDermott, who regularly draws cartoons about the culture of science as @RedPenBlackPen, says his poster is about building a "new, open access educational ecosystem."

His own big-data forays regularly take him to the frontiers of ovarian cancer, cyanobacteria, and some powerful pathogens.

An explanation of McDermott's cartoon presentation can be found in this article.