"The Web" and the Web of Life

Kimberly Amaral's
Graduate Thesis

For my thesis, I've written a series of articles on oceanography/coastal issues for Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution called "Coastal Briefs." These answer a series of frequently asked questions for WHOI's Sea Grant and Coastal Research Center, and are aimed at an educated (but non-scientist) adult audience.

Tying the thesis together is an overall look at the hypertext medium--what it is, how people learn with hypertext, and how to write for it as opposed to traditional print journalism. Other issues of the electronic medium, such as copyrights and digital imaging, are also covered.

Tide pools--

Marine mammal acoustics--
Was Flipper trying to tell us something? Find out what scientists think about all the ruckus dolphins and whales create. Is it language or simply behavior? Plus, listen to "Marine Mammals' Greatest Hits"--a selection of marine mammal sounds recorded in their natural habitat.

Marine debris--
How do plastics find their way into our seas? What kind of damage do they create and what's being done about it? Plus, find out what you can do about plastics in the ocean, including locating a coastal clean-up in your area.

El Niño--
There's a warm wind blowing over California right now--and it's wreaking havoc on the state. Named "Little One" for its proximity to the Christmas season, this wind/ocean occurance causes global weather changes, often with some devastating effects. How does this event--caused by the slowing down, and even reversal of trade winds--come about?

Web articles--
We all know that novel writing is different from screenwriting, which is different from poetry writing. How then, is writing for hypertext different? What steps should writers take when approaching this new medium? And why would they even want to use it in the first place? You'll find guidelines for authors, helpful "how-to" tutorials for creating web documents, and a discussion of traditional copyright arguments carried over into this new medium.