The medical conference poster as an example of discourse colony

Abstract

The present article attempts to discuss whether a medical conference poster intended for a specific English-speaking discourse community shares the properties of discourse colony (Hoey 1986). The author analyses 12 e-posters, which were displayed during an international neurological conference, presenting findings on epilepsy treatment. First, the author characterises the conference poster, which is followed by a description of discourse community and discourse colony. Next, the analysis of the e-posters is carried out and the results of the analysis are presented. On the basis of these results it might be said that the medical conference poster could be considered a discourse colony as it shares some of its properties.