Transcript
I extend a warm welcome to this Scalar navigation video about my PhD dissertation. This video is intended to support your reading experience of this interactive document.
From the How to Read this Dissertation page, where I’ve located this video, you can navigate into the dissertation in a number of different ways.
At any time, you can use the Scalar table of contents with drop down menus that is found in the top left corner – Use the arrows beside each menu item to navigate to a chosen location.
The traditional table of contents page may be a primary means of navigation with embedded hyperlinks to allow you to easily find items of interest.
Use the side arrows found to the right or left of pages to move forward or back.
At the bottom of each page are pathways which I, the author created as a suggested progression through the dissertation document. Clicking on any item in the pathway will take you to that specific page.
Scalar also provides contextual information and links with a tree-like icon in the top right corner of each page. Clicking on the links will take you to that location.
Scalar software also provides exploration options using the Navigations menu. You will find these under the navigation wheel icon found in the top left corner beside the table of contents icon.
From here you can select visualizations for the dissertation which allow you to navigate to a page, media, or a pathway in the document.
At the bottom of each visualization, you can see more about this rendering of information as well as view from a full screen.
There is a helpful legend describing the colour coding used by Scalar to distinguish paths, pages, media, and tags.
Let’s explore the content visualization tool. This links to main pages and sub-pages in the document in a hierarchical manner; clicking on any circle will open or close additional page locations.
The connections visualization shows how items in the document connect to other parts of the document. You can zoom out or zoom in to get a closer view of items in the connections visualization.
You can click and drag a circle or name of an item to open a view option which takes you to that location.
At any time, you can close a visualization by clicking the X icon in the top right corner.
The grid visualization gives a view of all of the content in the dissertation using the colour codes for each element while also showing pathways I have suggested for reading progression. The ‘visit’ option allows you to navigate to specific locations within the manuscript.
The radial visualization provides a circular view of all the content showing links between items that are connected.
Scrolling and clicking on the outer ring allows you to drill down into each type of element to see sub-pages, paths and media files found in the dissertation.
At any time you can click on a title to select and navigate to that specific item.
Scalar also provides a word cloud visualization which is particularly appropriate since this research used word clouds consistently through the process.
Throughout the Scalar pages you will find an icon with an embedded hyperlink to a glossary note or media item.
You can click on this icon/link to open a window to that specific content relevant to that word or figure.
You can close this pop-up element by clicking on the page behind the note.
Embedded within the pages of the manuscript are media elements or figures as they are known in traditional dissertation documents.
More information about these media elements can be seen when you click on the object.
From here you can go directly to the page where the figure resides to see a closeup view. You can navigate back to the page, or other locations, where the figure is located.
One issue that you may notice is the compliance to APA formatting as required for this dissertation.
This is due to the affordances within the text editor not the omission or negligence in my academic writing.
While my limited skills and fluencies with HTML and CSS coding were helpful in the production of this document, there are limitations I have identified early in the manuscript.
The PDF version of the dissertation that is submitted to the university follows APA more precisely.
If you want to learn more about navigating Scalar documents there is a helpful guide, written using Scalar, which you can access at any time.
While I have constructed and written this document, it is YOU the READER who will serendipitously explore and navigate the pathways, pages, media, tags and connections as you read.