Tips specific to an interactive thesis
Writing about the design of a highly interactive system does present some
challenges, but for the most part you can follow the same strategies
advocated for any other type of thesis. You will need to think quite hard
about how to create a concise set of diagrams/images that captures the
interactive nature of the system.
Here is my main tip:
- Don’t
get caught up in the interactivity
- Don’t
get caught up in the interactivity
- Don’t
get caught up in the interactivity!
Even if you have created a mammoth interactive system with huge amounts of
imagery, sound, etc., your thesis is still about the properties of this system
that make it better/different than other options. You will need to use examples
from your system to make these points. You don't need to capture everything the
system does in the main part of the thesis document.
Other tips:
- You
need to concentrate on text-based descriptions because in any publication of
your work the number of images you will be able to show is small.
- Keep
the number of images required to understand your idea low by combining
images and creating diagrams that explain sequences of images. Doing this
well can be chllenging.
- Describe
what makes your "interactivity" unique. Use your writing, for
example, to give people a compelling need to see a video that you may
provide online.
- If
possible, make illustrative clips available online (but don’t have
your text depend upon them ... it must stand alone!)
Stephen Intille's Thesis Development and Writing Tips
Last updated: 04/22/06