A wonderful idea poorly developed or presented is a missed opportunity. A great presentation of a weak project is a mirage. Content and presentation are intertwined design issues. One without the other is problematic. The web-based projects in the ACADIA 2000 Digital Media Exhibit (DME) display a range of approaches to the issue of content and presentation in design.

The initial impact of digital media on architectural design has been the ability to render the look of a final project or to create shapes that reflect the facility of the tool. The purpose of the DME is to examine the potential of digital media and web design to link the notion of content and presentation. Obviously, it defeats the purpose if technological difficulties prevent the access of content. However, the effective delivery of content also involves conveying the idea behind the design of the work of architecture or art, as well as ease of use.

Digital media facilitates the expression of content as the meaning of a visual form. Interweaving digital technology with the creative process enables decisions to be quickly visualized and revised through the design development. Percept, rather than precept, is the driving force of the investigation. The issues are how the creative process affects the use of technology and the reciprocal concern of how technology can be harnessed to generate design.

Publications on digital media and web design are filled with discussions about the importance of content management. In this context, content refers to the components used in a document, such as text, graphics, logos and links to other documents. Management deals with the ability to capture, manage and distribute the components via different applications and output. The emphasis is on the technology of presentation. The result concerns the presentation of meaning.

The ACADIA DME is a web-based presentation that deals with the design implication of digital media. Content operates at two levels - as an idea and as a component. As idea, content is the meaning of something. As component, content refers to the elements contained in something. Presentation is the link between the two.