Hurrah! Completion of Dissertation plan

So, I have spent the day researching and reading and going over all my ideas and notes thus far, and have managed to hammer out a well structured ( I hope!) essay plan that I feel extremely able of following and getting into. It's quite a few pages long, and so I won't post it, but below is a general outline of what y dissertation will be about:

“What are the key themes and ideas connected to anthropomorphism, and how important is their relation to interactive media, looking at modern interactive examples?”

My aims will be to illustrate that anthropomorphism is a multi layered subject rather than one simple way of thinking. The dissertation will identify what areas within the subject can be related to the development of interactive media regarding the way it functions and the ways it is still developing, looking at both positive and negative impacts that it has had.

My main argument will be that anthropomorphic ideas regarding the way humans relate to technology are important considerations in every aspect of interactive design development because they are crucial to the understanding of it’s practical use and therefore it’s success and development.

I will look at not only the dictionary definition of anthropomorphicism as the idea that the act of humanizing inanimate objects or animals, but at the idea that it is a subject area which relates to thoughts, emotions, psychical acts and religious beliefs in a way that has a profound impact on the way we develop our media technologies. It is not enough to say that humans try and make machines more lifelike inb their apperance or by giving them names. Actions themselves within a human/computer relationship are results of design decisions based on anthropomorphic thinking. Just the way a website works can be asscoiated with the studies of anthropomorphism because of the way in which it was designed. The author puts a level of human thought into it's structure, and creates if to appeal to a humans way of thinking, rather than a computers. This is avery raw comment, as I'm still researching and have not yet fully formed my argument, but I am going to look into various areas within interactive design, and at how they can be realted to theories that I will be presenting as anthropomorphic themes/theories, including form, interaction, social studies, psychological studies, theory of the mind, primitive categorization, ANT and the theory of social construction of technology.


My time plan is as follows:

21st of January:

Completion of note making from all research so far regarding section one

Research visual examples for use in section two

Research visual examples for use in section three

Plan out which theories can be related to which examples to best support my argument

Creation of a 4000 word draft for submission at end of January (I will include a completed introduction, completed conclusion, and each other section will be half completed)

20th of February:

Further research based on feedback

Creation of a full second draft

31st of March:

Further research based on feedback

Creation of a final draft

14th of April:

Completion of final dissertation
Binding of dissertation
Research to be organized and bound

21st of April:

Hand in date. Any loose ends tied up