This discussion about the relative merits of playing along versus being
creative could go a long way, I think. However, like almost all academic
dichotomies (as opposed to industrial, governmental, or social dichotomies,
of course), it's a bit too slick. As someone who has been on several hiring
committees since I landed a cushy job in academia, I don't care whether a
potential colleague writes their dissertation in hypertext or in linear
text. Instead, I want to know how their mind works and whether they've
learned anything as a result of going through the process of getting their
degree. The fact that someone chooses one form of ritual documentation of
their thinking process over the other is less important to me than how well
they can talk about their work, their interests, and their goals as a member
of the academy.
I realize several of you are arguing that this shouldn't be a print versus
hypertext discussion. I agree. But I want to push that point a little
further.
Ten years ago this month, I defended my dissertation. I wrote the thesis
during February, March, and April after working on my diss study for nearly
two years. For me, the document itself was nearly meaningless beyond being a
symbol of the work I'd done to get to the point where I could write it. I
enjoyed completing it, in some strange way, and it's an adequate report of
the study I completed. But it was the _study_ that was important -- planning
it, conducting it, analyzing the results, thinking about what they meant,
connecting what I found to the work of other scholars. Living through that
process was a critical part of my development as a scholar. The
dissertation, as a document, wasn't much all that important to me but the
dissertation as an educational process was something I wouldn't want to pass
up.
Perhaps fighting for multi-linear dissertations is worthwhile. It shakes
things up. And, as Steve Krause says, there are some members of the
professorate who will look askance at hypertext dissertations, so it's good
to rub their nose in the fact that their narrow-minded twits (albeit twits
with power).
But whether we fight about it now or not, change is coming. It would be
absurd to think that we aren't going to be moving to electronic
dissertations that are interlinked, provide access to primary and secondary
sources, provide access to information collected during a study, include
non-textual elements as appropriate, and so on. One thing I know for sure:
in 30 years, my grandkids will find it pretty darned quaint that my
dissertation was printed on rag paper, bound, and microfilmed in case anyone
wanted to look at it.
Mike
******************
Mike Palmquist
Associate Professor of English
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523
Voice: 970 491 7253
Fax: 970 491 5601
Email: Mike.Palmquist@ColoState.edu
Web: http://lamar.colostate.edu/~mp
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