Tomislav Dimov, a 2010 doctor of musical arts graduate from the West Virginia University College of Creative Arts, Division of Music has been selected as one of three winners of the 2011 Innovative Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) Award. Each winner receives a $500 cash prize and is eligible to receive an additional $500 in travel scholarship funding to attend the international ETD Symposium.

The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD), an international consortium sponsors the annual awards program. The awards recognize students who have written exemplary electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) as well as leaders who have helped to promote ETD programs. Winners have demonstrated new dimensions of scholarship being explored by individuals who have made significant contributions to the worldwide ETD movement. The Innovative ETD Award category recognizes student efforts to transform the genre of the print dissertation through the use of innovative software to create cutting edge ETDs. Use of renderings, photos, video and other multimedia objects that are included in the electronic document were considered as part of the innovation of the work.

The awards will be presented at the ETD 2011 Symposium, to be held this year at The Pavilion Conference Centre, Cape Town, South Africa, September 13 – 17, 2011. For program details please visit the ETD 2011 Conference Website.

In his doctoral research project “Short Historical Overview and Comparison of the Pitch Width and Speed Rates of the Vibrato Used in Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin by Johann Sebastian Bach as Found in Recordings of Famous Violinists of the Twentieth and the Twenty-First Centuries”, Tomislav Dimov provides a very novel and innovative approach to musical performance studies. His research explores pitch width and speed rates of the vibrato violin solos by contemporary performers, utilizing tables and graphics for comparison, sorted by the year of recording, and followed by a discussion of the results.

Access to sound samples/files is available through a virtual CD linked to the document via the Internet. Tomislav’s doctoral research project files include PDF with music score interlinked to MP3 audio files, so the end user may simultaneously hear the audio result of the music score they are viewing on the page. This provides an interactive approach to the listener which allows for enhanced “visualization” of the music score by making it come to life as it was intended to be heard. Very few examples of this interactive approach exist in the field of music, thus Tomislav’s path breaking approach serves as an excellent model of enhanced learning experiences through multimedia integration into the research document.

Tomislav is working full time on the faculty of the Pelita Harapan University and serves as Head of the String Department and teacher of violin, Head of the Orchestra Department and Artistic Director and Conductor, and Head of the International and Domestic Relations for UPH Conservatory of Music in Indonesia.

The research and multimedia applications in Tomislav Dimov’s doctoral research project provide an exemplary model of scholarship in the digital era.

Source: http://www.ndltd.org/events_and_awards/awards/ndltd-etd-awards-2011-winners