The standard form for submission of a thesis, at both the Masters and Doctoral level, is a bound volume containing pages of text. This thesis does not use that standard form. As stated in the proposal written for entry into the Graduate Programme in Interdisciplinary Studies, it has been my intention throughout the course of my degree to present my work in new media form. During my years in the programme, I have received a great deal of support for this approach. In addition, I have heard many arguments against using a new media form of presentation. What follows, is a response to the arguments encountered against using a new media form and an argument that outlines the importance of using a new media form.

In the past, the arguments against using a new media form have focussed around three issues: accessibility, longevity, and paper documentation as important to scholarly knowledge. This thesis will exist in two versions. The first is the examination version which contains a CD ROM of the web site and a paper containing a title page, a copyright page, a certificate page, an abstract, acknowledgements, a table of contents and this introduction. I have satisfied the requirements as they are laid out in the Faculty of Graduate Studies at York University's Guidelines for the Preparation and Examination of Theses and Dissertations [http://www.yorku.ca/grads/pub/pre.htm].

The second is the web site version with all elements of the CD ROM and the paper in electronic form at http://www.yorku.ca/dws/thesis/. While this work does contain text, the interactive descriptions and links to outside web sites are integral to the presentation of the conceptual framework.

First, with regards to accessibility, this thesis is available in the two forms (CD ROM and web site), as stated earlier. The number of people that have easy access to this work is far greater than that of a paper thesis. A paper thesis would be available in York University's library and at the National Library of Canada in Ottawa. This new media thesis is available to anyone who has a computer connected to the Internet.

For the groups of people interested in using this work, access to computers and the Internet is a non-issue. With the availability of automatic translation web sites, this thesis is available to those who do not read english. Translation web sites such as http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr can translate text into 8 languages. If one is using the electronic version, one can have the text of this thesis translated into Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, or Spanish. Although far from perfect, translation sites provide those with no knowledge of English a chance to get a reasonable idea of the content of the work.

Using a computer screen is the starting point for getting access to the material in this work. An objection was raised that the new media form of this thesis forces a tyranny of the screen. Through the choice of this form, the user is forced to start with the screen, but this is really no different than the way a word processor is used. Typical use of the ubiquitous word processor application involves some combination of: typing text into the computer, editing on the screen, and printing copies to make notes on. As more and more work is put online and the technology to display improves, working on-screen will be the norm.

Second, it has been stated that the longevity, and hence the archivability, of World Wide Web based new media projects is limited. This objection centers around two concerns: the perception that web sites are constantly changing and the perception that the usable life of computers and software is short. There is no doubt that many web sites are actively maintained so they remain current. A great many as well are out of date, meaning they are not actively maintained. This thesis, despite being created in web format, will be cast in stone when burned onto a CD ROM. The version that is examined is fixed just as any paper thesis would be.

It is obvious that the impetus behind the development of computers and software is primarily profit-based. Both hardware and software manufacturers are working to sell more products to more people. To further these ends, companies market technological hype that encourages consumers to feel they need to purchase the newest products to enhance their lives. Consumers are encouraged to buy the newest hardware because it can do so much more. Consumers need to buy the newest software, because it contains features they simply cannot live without. There is some truth to these claims. Computers and software are becoming much more powerful, rendering older computers and software relatively useless at performing tasks that newer ones perform with ease. Older computers will not run newer software well if at all. However the reverse is generally not true.

Current computers running current web browser software can display sites dating back to the dawn of the web. Commercial CD ROMs created in the early 1990s can generally be viewed on today's computers. Given the degree to which the web and new media software has matured and entrenched in our lives, I expect that the life of this thesis will be quite long. There are, of course, disadvantages to using a form, like the web, that is in flux. The lack of control one has when linking to other sites is certainly a concern as those links have the potential to change. I will, however, maintain the online version of the site so that links are kept working. The constant flux of the web has the potential to be a great asset. This thesis explores that asset with its comment component. Browsers of the site, CD ROM or online version, can click on Feedback to enter into a dialogue with other browsers of the site by posting comments about the site. Further dialogue can take place between commenters through the comment component.

Third, there is the issue of retaining some form of written paper documentation. There is no doubt the academia considers paper a fundamental form for the presentation of ideas. In our modern wired world, though, paper is becoming less desirable and less practical. The simple fact that our use of paper is not sustainable is indisputable. Libraries are increasingly investing in resources supporting electronic only versions of journals and indexes. Electronic journals are becoming increasingly popular. Outside academia, electronic records are the primary form of most data. The problem is one of scale. We simply have too much information to keep in paper form. Record keeping these days is done electronically. Once information is in electronic forms, issues of access change dramatically. Electronic forms facilitate far more flexible access than paper forms.

In addition to the three issues addressed above, there has also been pressure to print out the parts of this work that do not contain interactive components, leaving the interactive components on CD ROM. This approach, splitting the thesis into a text and an interactive component, would destroy the coherence of the work as a whole. In addition, splitting the work would invoke a hierarchy, with the text being the primary document and interactive component an addition. Readers would engage with the text component first then, if they felt it necessary, would work with the interactive component. This pressure to split the work is evidence of the fundamental lack of understanding of the reasons for using a new media form of presentation.

While the arguments for new media presentation stated above are important, they are secondary. Presentation forms are not innocent conduits for information. The choice of presentation form molds and shapes the content. Manovich uses the term cultural interface to refer to presentation forms. Examples of cultural interfaces include the printed word, cinema and the modern human-computer interface (HCI). Each cultural interface has its own grammar of actions, metaphor and physical interface (Manovich, 2001). We in academia must explore electronic cultural interfaces as they develop in our cultures. We must start doing it now so that we are part of the exploration not just observers after the fact. Manovich writes:

We in academia must take on the task of using new technologies for presentation purposes if we are to understand and evaluate them. This thesis takes on the challenge of working with a different cultural interface than a printed text thesis. As such, this thesis will become an element in all that is electronic and all that is academic. Firmly rooted in both the computer layer and the academic cultural layer, what has been done here will provide a critical model for others to examine. Whether the forms explored in this thesis are built upon, or rejected, the critical dialogue about this work provide some answers and produce more questions.