Potential use?

[welf]

Hi all,

I've recently joined this group as I'm really excited about the
potential of this as a project. Unfortunately I can't offer much in
the way of coding ability, however I'd like to put forward an idea for
a potential application of this work.

I'm currently a PhD student (in Mechatronics if that is of interest)
and at therefore at some point I'll have to present my work in the
form of a thesis. Having spent some time reading through previous
theses and similar documents I can assure you that they are, almost
without exception, a very dull read. What I'd love to be able to do is
present my thesis in a much more vibrant, exciting and modern format.

Whilst I suspect that this is really just a pipe-dream within the
timescales of my work and with the limitations of my supervisors and
what is actually expected of me, I could see a project such as this
one as being a great building block towards a new way of presenting
information and ideas.

I've tried to put some of my thoughts together on this subject in my
blog here:
http://phdtools.blogspot.com/2011/09/future-documentation-methods.html

I'm excited to see in the Bigideas list a load of features that would
make this project a fantastic tool for presenting information in a way
that is really not currently available. I could also see it being
integrated within a larger "document presentation" tool. At some point
I may put together a very top level specification for such a tool
(based around some of the ideas in my blog).

Please do let me know if anyone has any interest in this sort of
discussion or if there is any "end-user" type input that I could make
into this project. Otherwise I will be keeping a keen eye on progress
and developments!

Best regards,
welf