A Digital Dissertation

[stacypatt614]

I really enjoyed seeing parts of the actual dissertation and like others, hearing her take on fair use. I also like the advice she gives at the end, to other potential digital "dissertators" - be ready to defend both form and content.

[ShortbusMooner]

Uh-oh! Very informative, and relevant to my interests!

To the vlog with it! ;)

[ZenArcher]

What I am missing is how this is different than any other web page. She submitted a web page rather than a paper document. Okay, why is this special? I do see that it's pushing the envelope for dissertations ( it's not "the norm"). But today these kind of documents are widely accepted in the online world. So, more common place.

Be Well! ~ ZenArcher

[AnthroVlog]

Thanks for your question Zen. What I believe Professor Kuhn is suggesting is that it is not a matter of simply including graphics on a static page, but rather, she is incorporating many types of images (including video) directly into the core of her argument rather than just listing them on the side. It is the text and images that are functioning together to make an argument. This is perhaps hard to appreciate from the video alone, without reading her dissertation.

[AnthroVlog]

When academics write, they include quotes from others directly into sentences. Imagine how awkward it would be if you could never quote something someone else said, except in a side bar or at the end. This is the way media is often used on web pages and in academic texts, as side bars or listed separately. What Professor Kuhn does is integrate citations of media directly into her argument so that she constructs an argument directly using a kind of language of text and images together.

[vkuhn]

I see your point but also, I defended this in August of 2005 (really old in e-time) and while I wrote a hypertextual Master's thesis that was a series of web pages in 1999, this dissertation is not. It's not online at all, but a self-contained e-book. I want to put it online but only if I can keep the integrity of the text (there are a few hundred pages of it); I also do not want the look of the piece to be subject to the look of a browser.V

[SergioMomarsh]

Will digital writing be able to be read by beings of the future? Is electrically storing information a better way to communicate across the centuries than say, hieroglyph, or etched stone?

[AnthroVlog]

Thanks for your comments! You bring up a very important point. I read an article years ago that predicted a new job category--digital archaeologist. Archaeologists study human remains to understand aspects of their culture and life ways. Imagine a digital archaeologist who can find ways to read old formats of outdated digital media!

[SergioMomarsh]

Future society will need such a category, imagine how difficult it would be to do with all of the modern encryption and coding we use. Before too long, without the right key, it becomes completely and uterlly useless binary data.

[SergioMomarsh]

Very very very cool. Always great to see somebody pushing the world of education ever so gently into the realm of the present, so that the future can exist. One of my fears as writing has taken to a truly digital media has been the question of permanence. When my digital hard drive crashes, and I lose my life's photos, music, and video, I feel as if mother nature has struck against me with all of the wrath of a planetary catastrophe.

[krista987]

such a great idea!

academics really dont utilize media as much as they could!

[dancegypsy]

Your videos are always interesting and often, as with this one, fascinating. Meeting you at SouthTube has really enriched my life. (I need to leave you comments more often, though.)

[dancegypsy]

I really admire her for how fiercely she refused to get permission for video clips. Her argument was dead on.

[dancegypsy]

One more and then I'll be done! :-) Your interview and questions were excellent. Are you getting close to this phase of your own study?... your thesis or dissertation?

[AnthroVlog]

I finished my Ph.D. a few years ago. My thesis was on certain social aspects of tech talk in online games. Now I'm a researcher at the University of Southern California in the School of Cinematic Arts. Thanks for inquiring!

[AnthroVlog]

Thank you very much for your comments! I enjoyed meeting you too at SouthTube! I admire Professor Kuhn too and I hope to talk to her again soon about her views on "Fair Use" which I think will be illuminating for the YouTube community.

[born1965]

Very interesting!