Thesis Rough Drafts Online?

One distinct thing about House of Leaves is that it was distributed in parts over the Internet before being officially published. I think this is an interesting concept to explore. Our professor, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, did the same thing with her book, and, if I remember correctly, she said that the experience was much better than having someone edit the book later. This is because more people can view it, because of its accessibility and the smaller size of the presented chunks (as opposed to the whole book), leading to more and varied feedback.

I find this idea of rough draft Internet postings to be particularly interesting in questions of authorship. Although there is one central author, readers participate in the book’s development, of course depending on how much the primary author takes their advice. I think also, that the author is more thoroughly conscious on what others will think of their writing. Does that detract from originality and encourage catering to others’ desires? And, by the way, what if someone else steals your ideas? I’m not sure. It would be an interesting experiment to publish our theses in that way…