My thesis on OOTS almost finished

[Ranzunar]

So about two years ago I started a thread here about how I wanted to make my Master's thesis on OOTS. After a lot of research, writing, and revising I am proud to say that I defend my thesis this Friday. The official title is "Piecing the Parts: An Analysis of Narrative Strategies and Textual Elements in Microserialized Webcomics". Due to academic publishing exclusivity I can't just post it online and have everyone read it (even though I make no money in the entire process). What I am going to do is to give you guys the URL for the PDF version that you can get through anything that has access to the Proquest online digital academic archive (your local libraries and university computers should have access to this). I'll publish the URL once I get it in the next few weeks.

Also, since I know that part of the fun of this process is the thesis defense presentation i want to make you a part of that as well. I'm planning on recording the parts of the defense that are available to the public and posting them on youtube. The only problem is that my thesis committee is a bit reluctant to do so. BUT if the forumites of OOTS give this a thread a thousand views and and a few dozen comments then I might bee able to convince them that the Internet clamors to see it and they will accept. You will get URL for this during the weekend.

Since a few you might me inquiring as to how the thesis works, let me preemptively answer a few of your doubts.
1) The thesis talks about a few webcomics but the bulk of the analysis uses specific examples from OOTS. It also has an in depth quantitative study of narrative strategies being used throughout issues 1-700.
2) The Giant knows that i did this and he will get a PDF of the whole thesis. I put several images from OOTS but these are placed under the Fair Use clause of copyright laws.
3) A lot of the stuff I write is relatively obvious to readers of comics but I had to include it so that the academic community can have a general idea of what I'm talking. The reverse also occurs.
4) Seriously, I make no income of any sort from this thesis so I'm not stealing from the Giant or any of the other webcomic cartoonists I write about. If anything, they are getting free advertising to the academic community. If I ever did make money from this, then I would be sure to pay the proper royalties to such people. In the meantime, it's just a hearty thank you.
5) Yes, making this thesis was a lot of fun. It was also exhausting and I had to incorporate several literary theories and historical contexts before anyone could have even considered taking this research seriously. Nothing is stopping you from applying webcomics in your own studies and/or work, just be prepared to get a lot of weird looks and work your butt off justifying your decision.
6) From what I understand, this is one of the few if not only academic works to study the texts and narratives of webcomics. So yes, this may actually be a big deal. Tell your friends about it and spread the word. If webcomics become widely accepted as works of literature then writing essays for your English Comp. class will get a lot more exciting. Give the eventual link of my thesis to your professors and try to convince him/her yourself in the meantime.

I'm willing to answer any other questions or doubts about the topic as you see fit. Wish me luck Internet people, I do this for you.

Thanks again,

Ranzunar aka
Gabriel E. Romaguera
MAEE Candidate
University of Puerto Rico
Mayaguez Campus

[GSFB]

This is really cool. Good luck!

Also: academia totally sucks for putting up barriers to public access to knowledge!

[Instinct]

Good idea.

[Blue Ghost]

Wow, you wrote an entire thesis on OOTS? Amazing. I'll try to find a way to read it once it's published.

[rewinn]

This is a VERY GENEROUS offer you are making.

And if your professors are dubious, perhaps you may remind them that universities exist to advance knowledge. Formerly it has been impractical to make Thesis Defense available to the general public even though the public would benefit from knowing what that is about. They can win eternal fame (...or at least, fame that lasts as long as the Internet Archive ;-) by supporting the posting of your defense.

Openness is good. Let there be light!

:elan: Defend, defend, defend, defend, defend the OOTS Thesis!

[CoffeeIncluded]

Awesome. Good luck!

[GSFB]

if the university is a state school, I would actually look into the state's public records and meetings laws. in many states, a government body that has a decision-making power is REQUIRED to make any session available to the public. a state school is a government body, and a thesis defense panel has decision-making power. yes, I realize that even if you could interpret the law to apply, there is usually an "executive session" exception for decisions that involve a personal nature (such as disciplining an employee, etc). however, if the subject of the session consents, there is no need for executive session. hmmm... this could get interesting...

[Pont]

I am really looking forward to reading it, and I wish you good luck! :)

Regards

Pont

[shadowkiller]

Good luck on your defense. That sounds like an interesting read. I hope it will give web productions more recognition.

[Maximum Zersk]

I don't know much about how a thesis defense works, but this is really great! I hope to see this!

[Bedinsis]

That sounds seven degrees of awesome. Once the URL is up I'll definitely check it out.

[Darkroot]

Not entirely sure what a thesis defence is, but this sounds interesting.

[GSFB]

a thesis defense consists of going before a panel of professors who read your written thesis and then rip you a new one.

[GSFB]

strangely relevant:

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=561

update:

also relevant, also considering the topic of the thesis, some of these might not be too bad...

http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~pinto/orals.html (http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~pinto/orals.html)

[Omergideon]

Good job. Better to do a thesis on a good comic than the normal obscure literature or classics most commonly seen. Good show.

Plus yeah, academia sucks. Hence my nondesire to become a scientist.

[KenderWizard]

That's really awesome! I hope you can find a way to share it with the forumites who don't have access to a university. I'm looking forward to reading it!

Somehow, I think it will be difficult to work OOTS into my Geology PhD when the time comes, but by Banjo himself, I'll try! :smalltongue:

Also, good luck with your defence. :smallsmile:

[rakkoon]

A friend of mine did a thesis about the Simpsons. This did not end well. From your original post however it seems you are much more professional about it.
I sincerely doubt I'll be able to access it but would be interested ro read it.

My thesis was about dyslexia so if I had made it about deep dyslexia or aphasia I might have been able to squeeze in Haley :smallbiggrin:

[Kareasint]

I have done a Defense at the undergrad level (400 level course in History). Basically, it is where you present your research to a panel of professors. Graduate level usually requires one major thesis and Defense to award the Master's Degree.

Good luck on the Defense, Ranzunar.

[Calmar]

Good luck! :smallsmile:


if the university is a state school, I would actually look into the state's public records and meetings laws. in many states, a government body that has a decision-making power is REQUIRED to make any session available to the public. a state school is a government body, and a thesis defense panel has decision-making power. yes, I realize that even if you could interpret the law to apply, there is usually an "executive session" exception for decisions that involve a personal nature (such as disciplining an employee, etc). however, if the subject of the session consents, there is no need for executive session. hmmm... this could get interesting...

To argue about laws with your examiners before you are about to graduate might not be the smoothest move... :smallwink:

[Lecan]

Good luck and consider me as clamoring for the Youtube video.



Somehow, I think it will be difficult to work OOTS into my Geology PhD when the time comes, but by Banjo himself, I'll try! :smalltongue:

Also, good luck with your defence. :smallsmile:

Speak about the implications of a planet within the planet. Consider Jules Verne as another source :)


if the university is a state school, I would actually look into the state's public records and meetings laws. in many states, a government body that has a decision-making power is REQUIRED to make any session available to the public. a state school is a government body, and a thesis defense panel has decision-making power. yes, I realize that even if you could interpret the law to apply, there is usually an "executive session" exception for decisions that involve a personal nature (such as disciplining an employee, etc). however, if the subject of the session consents, there is no need for executive session. hmmm... this could get interesting...

Puerto Rico is not a state.

[GSFB]

@Calmar: not suggesting the student mention this at all. At least, not yet. Am suggesting people who want to read/see mention this.

@Lecan: "state" is a term for "school operated by the government," not necessarily "one of 50 U.S. states."

[The Vorpal Tribble]

My response to this (g'day professors, nice to meetcha): "O....kay."

I'll be sure to read this to see if it is inspired, unhealthily geeky, or both :smallwink:

[Studoku]

I remember the original thread; it shows just how long I've been reading OotS. I look forward to reading your thesis, assuming I can access it here. (I'm in the UK).

Best of luck with your defence.

[Qwertystop]

Can't wait! This is going to be the best academic paper I have ever read! (and it would be even if it wasn't the first)

[pflare]

Good Luck. Very excited to read it

[XAQ]

Consider me clamoring for the presentation! Good luck!

[olthar]

If they allow you to post the defense I'd be interested in watching it. I got a defense coming up in about a month and it would be interesting to see how other departments at other universities do it. That being said, I doubt I could convince my committee to record it, so good luck with yours.

Also, good luck with your defense.

[notthephonz]

Well, this is definitely an occasion to come out of lurking and support a cause. I would love to read the thesis and watch the thesis defense video if possible!

[werik]

I would also be curious to read your thesis once it has been published. It seems to be a simple matter of following a link, so I don't know why some people are doing so much academia bashing. I also did a thesis presentation at the undergrad level and I would be curious to see one through a graduate program. Try your best to convince them but I wouldn't go as far as other posters who say that you should quote laws to them or lecture them on the purpose of a university. I think we'll all live if the video doesn't get posted.

Finally, good luck!

[cheezewizz2000]

Speak about the implications of a planet within the planet. Consider Jules Verne as another source :)

Jules Verne isn't really considered a reliable or credible citation for Geology papers :smalltongue:

But seriously, good luck on your defence. Stay cool and just think of this as an opportunity to explain just how AWESOME you are and just how MEGA-AWESOME your work is. They'll ask you a lot of questions that may seem like curve-balls at the time but A) that's kind of the point, they want to see that you can think critically about your work. If they point out problems, explain how they can be overcome. B) You've worked on this for 2 years, most questions won't come as a supprise as you should already be aware of the major limitations of your study.

The very best of luck. Let's hope that this is at the very least, a step on the road to getting web-based comics seen for the powerful story-telling medium with massive cultural significance that it is (holy power to the people, Batman! Free stories written by public individuals for the public!). At best, I sincerely hope that this is hailed as a landmark paper that paves the way for a whole new area of literary study!


I wouldn't go as far as other posters who say that you should quote laws to them or lecture them on the purpose of a university. I think we'll all live if the video doesn't get posted.

+1

[squidbreath]

Amg that's cool! Best of luck :smallsmile:

Oh & I support the video posting.

[ThreadKiller]

I would also be interested in reading your thesis and seeing your defense videos on youtube. It's so fantastic that you choose OotS, so good luck with your defense and I hope you blow the socks off your professors! :smallcool:

[Lecan]

Jules Verne isn't really considered a reliable or credible citation for Geology papers :smalltongue:


Yes, and there probably aren't massive rips in our reality revealing hidden planets :)

[Rad]

Good luck with your thesis!
And congrats to your open-minded professors. Is there really nor esearch done so fa on the webcomics phenomenon? Great to see you started it!

PS: don't worry about defending: it's not nearly as big a deal as they make it.

[Ranzunar]

Update:
I just came back from defending my thesis and am proud to say that I rolled a nat 20 and closer than ever to obtaining my Master's in English Education. Yes, there was video equipment recording the defense itself and I'll upload the videos soon enough. The thesis itself still requires a few more revisions but I should have the official link for it in about 10 days. I'll place some extra contact info with the video itself so that I can answer any other questions that you may have about the thesis and/or defense once you finish seeing it again.

[KenderWizard]

Congratulations! That's great news! :smallbiggrin:

[Bedinsis]

Happy to hear that.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Hey! Congratulations!

[cristoleon666]

Congratulations!

I feel kind of partner with you. I am doing my thesis about roleplaying games as educational tool for journalist`s students. The August 23 begin the process of revision and i will have my defending a month after that.

It is hard convince the teachers but it is not impossible.

I hope the best for your work and i like very much knowing more about it.

[Zelthax]

Hey, congrats man!

[Maxios]

I applaud your thesis whole-heartedly.:smallamused:

[TheNerdMiester]

That's cool man!

[Darthteej]

I can safely say that this is one of the most awesomely geeky ideas I've heard of. 6 years or so from now, I'll be inserting Drizzt as an example of proper civil disobedience into my law thesis. Either that or be less of a hopeless nerd than I am now.

[Maxios]

Seriously though, awesome idea.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

I was worried about how your professors would take it, but by the sounds of it it went well. Congratulations, and have a good time with the finishing touches.

Now I can worry about how your professors will take inadvertently contributing to a potential internet sensation. I guess anyone who pushes the envelope like this is going to have some backlash, just not the meme and YouTube comment level of backlash.

I mean, I look forward to seeing where you're going with it, but maybe just uploading a copy of the Powerpoint presentation would have been safer? I don't know. I guess we'll just have to see how it turns out.

You know, for science.

[Crisis21]

Congratulations! As a person who is just now going back to school for his Bachelor's in English, I am heartened by the fact that others in my chosen field love the Order of the Stick as much as I do.

[Ted The Bug]

That's pretty impressive! Good luck, and add me as one more person from the tubes we call the internets clamouring to see it.

[Maxios]

Ranzunar, could you post the thesis as a PDF to read?