skeptical
Hypertext media - whether online or off - provides unique opportunities for presenting and re-presenting information. In this presentation, I attempt to take advantage of two aspects in particular: 3D logic and interactivity. The first, 3D logic or thinking, arises from the possibility to move 'through' as well as 'down' and 'to-the-next-page' of a web-presentation. This possibility is augmented by the presence of 'modularity' in text and design. The second aspect - interactivity - offers the reader/viewer possibilities that range from choosing their own path through a presentation (at its most minimal) to weaving themselves into a presentation (when applied with its greater potential). Here, interactivity is limited to its most minimal. (At least in part, because it has to be my dissertation...!)
There is a growing amount of discussion about the peculiarities, advantages and disadvantages of hypertext media. [need to add some links here] Although I have not (yet?) pursued this as an area of research, the decision to create a web-based/online dissertation has necessitated at least some investigation. Further, the distributed, networked and boundaryless nature of hypertext media - especially when partnered with the internet - are suggestive of sympoieticdef characteristics. Definitely an interesting idea to pursue...
These ideas converge with another train of thought that arose from reading Deleuze and Guattari: the challenge/possibility of rhizomatic authorship. Consider a quotation from their work, which expresses a 'book' (or for my purposes, a dissertation) as an arrangement. Given this expression, how do I, as author, facilitate connections with other arrangements? How do I develop lines of flight? How do I describe my existence - or defend my research - as a feature of its own outside? My response has been to turn to hypertext media and the Internet. Navigation through this presentation, then, is an attempt at balancing between territorialization and deterritorialization.
In manifesting this balance, I have tried to develop navigational aids that provide flexibility without confusion, and to consider the implications of medium and design. Not surprisingly, there are practicalities and challenges involved! Comments are always more than welcome: beth dempster.
empirical
Conventions and navigation aids:
Core menu/icons
Appearing above the title, near the top-right of all pages, are two icons central to navigation. Mouse-overs display two text-boxes that contain links and explanations about the site.
Core threads
A set of four keywords, which show up on most pages, are consistently tagged according to four threads or paths, that can be followed through the presentation. Further description/details on these threads can be found through the old version of the website, here.
Categories
Drupal, the content management system that underlies the development of this presentation, allows for sorting pages according to categories - what they call taxonomies and terms. Each page within any category has a link to a listing of all pages within that category. (Some pages will belong to more than one category.)
A list of all pages can be found here - an index linked from all pages under 
.
Key nodes
A few pages within this presentation act as key nodes - pages that centralize linkages among an interconnected set of pages. Examples include themes and examples and will include more in the future. A link to a list of the key nodes can be followed from all pages under 
.
Other features
There are a number of other navigation features I am working on. These include a map of the webpresentation (see this and this) and a field guide, for those less familiar with navigating through a website.
critiquing
manifesting
practicalities involved: skill, media
possibilities: ideas to pursue, wish list
Page info
NOTE
I am currently migrating the content of this presentation from a 'hand-made' design to use of Drupal - a content management system. Things are currently a little mixed up, because some pages are part of the Drupal installation, but I am also including links to the older set of files. Design and navigation will basically be the same, although with a few differences that will also be confusing through the transition. The older site - which was still incomplete - is archived here.
In order to create and maintain a balance between flexibility and confusion, I have developed and applied a number of conventions and navigational aids within this webpresentation. [earlier versions then CMS] In addition, there are a set of threads that weave through the presentation, a set of themes associated with research areas, a simple outline of the argument, and a roughly organized list of all files in the presentation.
[2] The development of this webpresentation is currently a work-in-progress; an experiment in its own right, developing what might be the nucleic kernal of an emerging sympoietic system...
2003 - 2007