I would like to propose a session to discuss the ways in which different digital tools could be incorporated into both the research and dissemination of a dissertation. I already take advantage of things like online text databases, digitized images, and cloud storage but I’d like to hear what everyone else finds handy in their everyday workflow and if they have any thoughts on what might be useful in the way of technology for the final product. A few of the possibilities I’ve been contemplating are an annotated e-book, an accompanying image database, or the use of 3-d modeling. As an early modern art historian working on text and images, I am interested in finding methods of dissemination that allow for greater reader interaction and which play with the relationship between text and image. I imagine this panel to be a swapping of tips and experiences between scholars of varying DH skill levels and at different points in their academic careers.
Session proposal – Digital Tools and Dissertation Work
Categories: General, Publishing, Research Methods
I also have contemplated using a digital format for my dissertation. Yes, I would bind hard-copies of a print version for library repositories as well. But I envision your reader assuming an avatar and walking through a virtual: museum and then an archeological dig and then an era-appropriate studio. These would be nice tightly knit spaces that did not require your avatar to be driven over long landscapes (like I see in so many games) instead, the person would turn a corner in the studio and see around her the art object, the tools of craft and the period-specific trappings of the studios and as the avatar “looks at” or centres an image in her sights, the text relating to the image would appear in the lower dialogue box of the screen. For detailed write-ups the reader could continue to scroll through the text while the avatar remains looking at the object. Similarly, in the museum, the objects on which the avatar gazes would be revealed simultaneously in text. There could also be a set of questions in the lower right side bar. The questions would be conversational in tone asking the museum interpreter (an AI version of you) about the age, providence, artist, materials of the object. This would allow the reader to ask a question that is specific to his interest and the answer in the text box would immediately skip to the paragraph you had prepared on that topic as it relates to that object/image.
Wow. I’ve enjoyed putting myself conceptually in your shoes!