This website has been designed to allow the user (and the term is used in deliberate opposition to the term 'reader'') to explore the historical context of one historical document, the 'Official Objectives of the Motion Picture Association of America' released in 1968.  It contains information relating to censorship, movies, the film industry and the broader context of the era from the 1920s to the 1960s as well as copies of the film censorship codes.

The site is structured as a grid.  It has five columns, each of which pertains to one of the issues outlined above.  It has five rows, one for each of the decades from 1920 to 1960.  From each square of the grid it is possible to move to any of the squares in the same row to look at what else is happening in the decade, and to the squares directly above and below it, to allow the user to trace change over time in regards to one particular issue.  At the bottom of each square, the grid has been reproduced in a smaller scale to allow for easy navigaion through the site.  Only the squares outlined above are highlighted as links on each page, all other squares have been faded out.  The square that the user is viewing is highlighted in red so to ensure that the reader does not become disoriented.

In contrast to the strong hand I played in structuring movement within the site, I have deliberately tried to reduce the authorial presence in the content.  In each of the 25 squares of the grid, the user will not find interpretive material written by myself, but excerpts from critical works on the issues at hand, as well as links to external sites that deal with the same subject matter.  It can't be denied that the selection and organisation processes are inherently interpretive, and in no way am I asserting that I have constructed this site 'objectively'.  Nonetheless, a conscientious effort has been made to present different perspectives and opinions without offering judgement.  It is up to  the user to explore these, and decide how they feel they fit together.

The structure and content of the site combine to allow the user to 'do history'.  It is believed that the site leads the user to adopt a historical mode of thinking, to think both comparitiveley and contextually about the information provided here.  This is particularly relevant in that one of the main functions of the site is to provide a new framework for accessing and thinking about material that is already on the web.  Finally, the site is, as well as an exploration of one topic of history, an experimentation with the presentation of history in hypertext.  It is hoped that the user finds the site informative and interesting on both of these fronts.

Go to  the grid , pick a topic and start exploring!

Alternatively, you can read a short analysis of  theory underpinning this design.