A response to Ian Guest and a digital thesis
Whilst seeking examples of projects created with Scalar, I also came across a similar offering, Omeka. Whilst they may not produce the exact look I was after, I think they might be able to replicate some of the functionality. I’ve only had a quick look and need to read and think through the IP issues, ethical issues and the workload that taking this direction might generate. However, reality quickly kicks in and I return to some of the issues discussed earlier. I’m obliged to ask myself, what’s the purpose of the thesis? It’s not an ebook, it’s a piece of work presented for assessment in partial fulfilment for the award of Doctor of Philosophy. Weighed against that are, for me, two things: reducing the online, multimodal, hyperlinked realm that has provided the setting for my study to a static pile of papers somehow seems to lessen the work; thesis-lite! And there’s also the thought that adding some of the aforementioned enhancements might just make it more useful in a broader scholarly environment. Perhaps making it of value to a larger audience than a thesis might usually enjoy? Undergraduates interested in sociomateriality. Masters students considering digital ethnography. Doctoral researchers wishing to build arguments for and against post-qualitative research.
Ian, I really like the idea of developing a digital thesis. One of the concerns and questions I would have about your work is that longevity of the data and reference. I see potential of such plugins as Amber and sites like Internet Archive to create a historical reference point.