Designing Progressive Enhancement Into The Academic Manuscript

This piece offers some really great ideas here for progressively enhancing academic papers in the digital space. For example:

  1. Start with embedding a lightweight static figure (a snapshot) of the key output of the code. This should represent whatever state the author deems fit to best convey the key finding/narrative contribution of the code in question. This will only serve as the minimum viable experience for skimming purposes (Casual engagement), but also as a safe baseline for when the content is being accessed through less capable devices, as a printable/PDF compatible output, and as a valid snapshot of what state the data was in when it was peer-reviewed (where applicable).
  2. Allow the user to switch the static figure to an interactive output where supported, providing whatever level of UI is needed to appreciate the output in full.
  3. Where appropriate, allow the user to dig behind the output of the interactive figure and directly look at the code behind it. You may at this stage allow minor edits to the algorithm and the ability to run it again in-situ to view the output.
  4. If the user wants to engage further, for example intending to fork or modify the code, or do anything more complex, provide links to the most appropriate external resource where the user can benefit from a more appropriate environment or UI to do their work (e.g., the original GitHub and/or data repository, or an online IDE).