It makes sense that I should use a Brian Eno app to create the sound in my dissertation website. I've listened to his ambient albums as much as anything whilst I've been working on my dissertation.

Also, the apps created by Eno and Bloom are in themselves multimodal, with their combination of sound and visuals. So I'll use a multimodal app to create the soundtrack for my multimodal dissertation. 

Maybe it's worth acknowledging this somewhere in the dissertation - probably the combined acknowledgements and bibliography section (which perhaps lends itself to a more interesting title than Acknowledgements and Bibliography).

[Since initially writing the notes below I have abandoned the idea of soundtracking particular sections of the website and will instead include soundtracks only for the video components. Nevertheless, in case I have an unlikely change of plan, and also for completeness, I've included my initial thinking on this blog, below]

I don't have the time or ability (I don't think) to create an original piece of music for every section of the dissertation. Here then are the different options:

1. Only create music to accompany the major, lengthy sections.
This would be the literature review and the discussion of data. The problem here would be that the other sections might feel a bit incomplete without music. And how wold I justify only having music and sound for some but not other sections? I don't think a lack of time is an acceptable critical justification.

2. I create a long loop of music for all sections
In this case, rather than creating a piece of music to match a particular section of the dissertation - and I have no idea how I would create representative music for an appendix, for instance - I would instead create a single piece. Furthermore,  it wouldn't be possible to create music that perfectly coincides with particular section of text. So I would Create a single long track that it representative of the wider project rather than a single, specific section of the text.

And the winner is.....Option 2. Well done Option 2!

So what would this involve and how would it work?

This piece would be on a long loop, evolving as it plays so that no two parts of the are identical. Thank you, Brian Eno and Jem Finer. Using one or more sound creation apps, I would create a long loop of music. This might involve creating a series of separate pieces that are then merged together. To that I could add other fragments of sound that I record separately.

To give the impression that these are all different pieces of music, there could be a different start place on each page of the site.


[Pity I've this idea this idea to the vaults - it was quite a nice solution, I think.]

This short section of text will be on a discreet page, linked to from the front page of the website. Perhaps I will link to this using an information icon.

• I will begin by talking about the fact that this is a multimodal artefact and - very briefly - why I have chosen to take this non-traditional approach. I will draw the reader's attention to the dissemination rationale for a full justification.
  

• Then I will talk about how to navigate the site including how the map works as a constellation (with reference to the literature on constellation and assemblage and my use of the metaphor) and how to move between pages.
  

After that I'll briefly explain or discuss the following:

• how the images work including that they are original and can be enlarged, that they are intended to illustrate but also add to the meaning however I haven't included an explanation as the reader is encouraged to drawn her own interpretation of the image in relation to text
• [that some sections are accompanied by music that is intended to be representative of other content within that section. Again the reader is encouraged to draw her own conclusion on how the music works as part of the assemblage. Also mention that it can be switched off.] This idea subsequently abandoned.
• the different ways that hyperlinks work
• that there are videos and again, these don't come with a detailed explanation or commentary but are instead intended to work to support relevant content and work themselves as multimodal artefacts

In each case I will use a small icon - for instance a part of a screen shot or an icon - alongside each of the different components above. This will break up the text and make the whole thing more  user friendly - a combination of explanation and how to use this site, type of approach.

• I will also talk - perhaps within a concluding paragraph - that the implications and challenges for the marker of presenting my ideas in this way are acknowledged (and discussed within a separate section - link). End though with a line that this it is appropriate that the work should be presented in this way and that he the form and content will hopefully provided an interesting experience for the reader.
  

So, the structure of this section would be:

• intro line saying what this page does
  
• that the work is multimodal and briefly why (with link to rationale)
• how to navigate and the constellation metaphor (with link to rationale)
• how the images work
• how the videos work
• how the hyperlinks work
• acknoweldgement that there are implications for the reader (with link to relevant section - probably conclusion)

Am panicking a bit about how I'll write enough by my October deadline. I'm not sure the following will help but here goes. Word count and structure:

17000

• Dissemination rationale = 2000
  
• Navigation = 500
  
• Introduction, abstract, background, defining terms, the msc = 1000
  
• Methodology = 1000
  
• Literature review = 6500
  
• Discussion of data = 4500
  
• Observation = 1000
  
• Conclusion = 1000
• Appendix and acknowledgements = 100]

This text could appear in the dissemination rationale introduction:

Within this section I offer a rationale for the form taken in representation of information and ideas within this dissertation. It is a requirement of the Dissertation (as outlined in the course dissertation with link) that 'direct citation from the handbook'. For the purpose of my own work however, it is necessary to discard the term 'dissemination', with its emphasis on one way communication of ideas (see for instance the work of //// within the field of Communication Studies), and to look for an alternative way of recognising how the audience is encouraged to interact with the assembled information and ideas. Dissemination promotes a communicational hierarchy between author and reader whether information is sent and received, without provision for responding to what has been received. This hierarchy can be flattened when information is communicated in a digital multimodal way. As /// suggests, digital multimodal texts invite the reader to interact with the presented information. The notion of hierarchical power relations is further depriveliged by the suggestion that the reader of digital texts can be a coauthor of meaning (citation) and she selects her own path through the non-linear assemblage of represented ideas and information (citation). Although my own dissertation proposes a path for the reader, she is nevertheless free to move between the component parts whilst enjoying the freedom to draw her own conclusions about the meaning of the assembled images, sound, video and hyperlinks. 


Rather than focusing on the dissemination of information, my dissertation is instead concerned with the representation of ideas for the reader to consider... A concluding line needed here to link to title of section - look back at notes from last meeting with Sian.


This section meanwhile could follow a little after and pertains to the idea of originality. I like this bit as it brings in the literature in a gentle way:

As outlined in the literature review, a key theme within the discussion of multimodality is that digital communicational technology enables the representation of information across a growing range of modes and using an wide range of tools. Within the digital classroom - and in particular programmes that are delivered online - students would seem to have the opportunity to present information in imaginative, original ways, drawing on  a growing range of digital tools and spaces. Rather than assuming the accepted form of the conventional essay, the student might take control of the digital means of production to create an artefact 
that is more inventive and personal in its form than simply rendering words on page or screen. The varied collection of work gathered on the course gallery of the MSc in Digital Education testifies to this, as traditional textual forms sit alongside work composed and dispayed in video, hypertext essay and Second Life: in some cases the work is (virtual) world away from traditional essay. My own dissertation provides an appropriate and useful opportunity to explore whether the form of the artefact can be entirely original: the layout, photography, sound and image are the product of my attempts to exploit digital tools my disposal (a list of which can be viewed in the acknowledgements section). Admittedly, while I am responsible for the assemblage of words, I am cannot claim responsibility for their meaning (even if someone says that words are empty vessels). Similarly, while the choice of type is my own, I did not design the typeface, although even that is possible for the student with sufficient digital design schools and accompanying time. Similarly, although I have created the structure and layout of this website, I didn't author the code, although again, a more technically able student would be able to do so.

An idea: I will take the concluding themes from the analysis of data and put them into some form of visually rich, multimodal summary. 

This would be a video embedded within the text of the conclusion.

I would succinctly take the main themes and present them as punchy single sentence points. Perhaps they would be interspersed with direct quotes from the literature and the data. Actually I like that.

Format  obviously this will need to be multimodal. By preparing this list I'll be offering another demonstration of the ways in which digital multimodal work can be original, different.

This might lend itself to another video, taking a similar approach to that in the Manifesto for online learning. 

This wouldn't just reproduce the conclusion - it would present the key themes in a concise, multimodal way.

Each statement/theme could be represented by a particular typeface, colour, image, sound, as well as the quote from the literature and from the data.

Following on from my recent meeting with Sian, I need to give more thought to how I use hyperlinks. I might use them in the following ways:

1. In the Lit Review, where I describe examples of work, printing, press history etc, I could link to specific places on the web (text or image).
2. In the Methodology I would link to the two different essays that participants were invited to comment on.
3. In the Lit Review, where I mention SL, web essays, hypertext essays and different digital spaces I would link to examples, either my own or from the course gallery. 
4. In Discussion of the data, where tutors refer to particular EDC/MSc pieces of work (that are on the web) I will link to them.
5. In the Dissemination rationale I will link to particular pages of my this blog to demonstrate points being made in the text. This has Sian's approval.

I think this makes for an appropriate and, with linking to my own blog and to the essays, interesting use of Hyperlinks.

[From written notes] My Macbook was overheating therefore I've switched to manual. I wanted to write down a few notes before going to sleep. A couple of semi-ideas (and, I think, semi-interesting ones) have come into my head over the weekend. Maybe it's the freedom from worrying about trying to submit during August (as per agreement with Sian)?!

Here goes:

Video! I hadn't really planned to use this medium. Too time consuming to prepare. But perhaps it can feature, albeit in a small supporting role. Perhaps I would include - where relevant, obviously - a couple of short video-photo montages. This might work for the Architecture crit? Or maybe to show the different types of existing multimodal study within the academy (as proposed in the Lit Review)? 

Hang on! Here's an idea...

In the Lit Review, where I take the reader on a walk through the university's corridor, why don't I accompany this with a video that goes into more detail. The 'viewer' could be led/make their way down a corridor of rooms (or a series of corridors in the university), dropping into different rooms where multimodal activity is taking place. Basically, a photographic/filmic representation of what's in the text, but so much richer.

Here are some quick thoughts on how this might work:

• I'll use still images rather than video recording as it easier, as an amateur, to achieve high quality with stills rather than moving image. I can use the Ken Burns effect where appropriate - i.e. in the corridor - to give the effect of movement.
  
• The audio/soundtrack though will be 'in motion' rather than static. The soundtrack could include a heavy door opening at the university's entrance, the sound of footsteps in the different corridors (and any other ambient noise), a musician practising, students presenting and so on.
  
• I could collect images from across the UoE campus to reflect relevant disciplines. It might begin with the door to the university (perhaps the same as the signifier image for the Lit Review of which this would be a component part). I could use a series of corridors to reflect different parts of the campus/subject disciplines.
  
• The video would need to start and end in a relevant and interesting way. This is so that it works as a stand-alone artefact, as well as part of an assemblage within the Lit Review. Perhaps there's something from the student presentation that would be relevant in drawing the presentation to a close? 
• This 'campus exploration' - hmm, nice use of the constellation metaphor [maybe within Information on front page of website I decribe how there are a number of video explorations of some key themes that particularly lend themselves to a multimodal approach - for another day] - would be embedded within the text (but if its in Vimeo, also hosted on a new or my existing channel).  The title of the video should match words that I use within the accompanying text.

Why should my discussion of the data be purely text-based (as I've had in my head). It should be multimodal. And this goes beyond a the use of enlarged type and so on as purely aesthetic visual effects. It should by critical. Here's an idea, then:

While this has been a useful bit of quick thinking-and-jotting-down, I suspect that I should probably focus on the data and see what types of visual approaches lend themselves to emerging themes, rather than thinking of visual approaches and then trying to find data to match.