Abstract - 1st initial draft

Here is the first draft of my abstract due in on Monday.

So far it is very rough but is shaping together in the right direction. I need to do a few redrafts to refine what I want to communicate. Any feedback would be useful at this stage.


This paper will explore, from a visual communication perspective, the challenge of designing a graphical user interface for an online interactive product that takes into account interactivity, narrative and user-control in order to facilitate user-participation. I am specifically interested in how graphic design can visually record the linking traces that socially, spatially and temporally map contributors to an online project. Can a visual language develop that clearly illustrates and communicates this data?

These linking traces often can be narratives left by online projects' contributors. How can these narratives be graphically represented? Once represented can each individual narrative form a larger narrative, creating a meta-narrative, shaped and formed by anyone who cares to interact with it?

Focusing upon a practical pilot study this paper explores these questions through the design evolution of an online graphical user interface, through multiple iterations to a final conclusion. It analyses and evaluates the submission, engagement and manipulation of user-contributed content within a digital environment and identifies which of the four narrative structures (Jenkins 2004) in its underlying narrative architecture is prevalent.

My research position is shaped by a desire to explore the graphic aspect of graphical user interfaces rather than from the technology/HCI/computer science disciplines. This paper will add to the discourse on how interactions can be facilitated by better graphic design, in order to expand the literature and application of practice.