West Virginia University master’s graduate Tim Broadwater from Lumberport has won an”Innovative Electronic Theses and Dissertation (ETD) Award”presented by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations, a consortium of over 200 universities worldwide.
The award includes a $400 cash prize sponsored by Adobe, Inc., and an honorable mention at the ETD 2006 Symposium, to be held at Laval University , Quebec , Canada , June 7-10.
�€?We are very proud that a WVU alumnus has again received this considerable recognition,�€? said John Hagen, NDLTD board member and WVU ETD program coordinator. �€?During the past two years, WVU graduates Hilary Attfield and Rachel Gurvitch have also received this award.”
Broadwater, a graduate of the WVU College of Creative Arts, developed a multimedia thesis which displays a virtual exhibit of art and fairytale themes, presented as an interactive video game.
His submission, �€?www.Didartic.com: Activating the Didactic, Self-Reflective Fairytale through Hypermedia as a Model for the Art Education Activist,�€? explores new approaches to art education.
The thesis argues that reflection and self-understanding (on the part of the viewer) can best be restored to the fairytale through the use of hypermedia, as well as the artist adopting an art-activist approach to art production.
“Electronic theses and dissertations submitted for this award represent student efforts to transform the genre of the print dissertation through the use of ETDs,�€? Hagen said. �€?This award recognizes innovative use of software to create �€~cutting edge’ETDs using renderings, photos and other multimedia objects.�€?
WVU was the second institution in the world to require ETD submission in 1998. WVU graduate research is now accessed on the Web millions of times per year by academia, industry, government and the public from over 100 countries worldwide. ETDs are part of a growing trend of technological development that is transforming economies by providing access to research results to the world while bringing reciprocal investment back to the local level.
Access to Broadwater’s electronic thesis is available online at:
https://eidr.wvu.edu/etd/documentdata.eTD?documentid=4350
Other winners of the ETD 2006 Awards program are listed athttp://www.ndltd.org/awards/awards2006.
For more information, contact Hagen at (304) 293-4040, ext. 4025 or seewww.wvu.edu/~thesis.