Design
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One of the goals of this project is to immerse readers in the experiences of webtext composing, from one composer’s perspective. I pursue this goal in part through explicit discussion, but more comprehensively through the overall project as a total argument distributed across multiple semiotic modes (Kress and van Leeuwen 1996, 2001). The design of this project works to complement and support that argument as well. I encourage the reader not only to read through the alphabetic sections of each project, but to take time and engage the various digital assets and media files in an exploratory, non-linear fashion.
At the heart of this project is the claim that design is a crucial component of a webtext's total argument, and that invention is an exploratory process of making meaning through unexpected juxtapositions. These media and implicit design elements are therefore much more than decorative—they are a key part of the total knowledge-making work this dissertation represents. In this light, I wanted to take some time to address the arguments implicit in this project's design.
The overall design revolves around a theme of "refraction", with an illustration of light hitting a prism and breaking into a spectrum on the opening page, and similar aesthetic elements throughout. This argument visually highlights the overall process of what I'm investigating in this project: how an idea (like a light beam) encounters a material force (like a glass prism) as it travels through time, which then shifts its trajectory and opens up a new array of multiple possibilities (rays of colored light) that the composer hadn't previously considered, and that look somewhat different from the idea as initially conceived and pursued. Fahnestock (2016) also uses the term "refraction" in relation to rhetorical processes of knowledge construction in digital environments, particularly in light of the Internet as "a medium that is beyond any single agent's control" (138). However, she understands refraction negatively as "the skewed reflection of a topic through different media and outlets" (118), in a way that can spread confusion, chaos, and misinformation (137). In contrast, I use "refraction" in a neutral to positive sense, highlighting the inventive possibilities generated at intersections between material influences and shifts in a webtext's developing design.
The navigation does not provide access to the entire project at once; however, it does make key material present to the reader at every point in navigating through the alphabetic chapters. The navigation gives the option to pull up icon-code reference charts on every page for clarification purposes, to cut down on the cognitive load of data interpretation with some additional context. This navigation will continue to be developed in future drafts; however, in the project's current state, it offers routes to the main sections of the project along with key contextualizing material, with options within each chapter to navigate to the other pages within each section (by clicking on the "=" sign at the top left), or to navigate sequentially with the " < < " or " > > " arrows at the top right of each discussion section. I seek to provide multiple navigation options to help multiple readers engage the project based on their individually situated needs and interests, while also working to create a consistent "look and feel" across the project that coheres with my particular design aesthetic.
The hub section was developed entirely in a born digital space, and takes advantage of the possibilities opened up by a dissertation in a digital environment. The goal of this section is to provide the reader an introductory immersion into the webtext data generated autoethnographically. For the purposes of the project at this stage, I can't provide access to my entire ten-month dataset of webtext composing experiences; however, what I can do is invite the reader into my curation process and show them the selected key drafts in a digital environment which allows readers to explore at their leisure to see how these projects slowly build up over time, along with my raw reflection narratives providing a sliver of insight into the composing experience behind the draft's generation. As framing material, I provide a timeline of verbally described changes over time for all drafts, to fill in some of the gaps on how the webtexts developed in between key drafts. I also provide the icon-coded representations as overlay options so that the reader can see how these coded versions look in relation to the "live" draft of which they are a static representation.
