The basic unit of Bodies and Structures is the module. Each module analyzes a primary source or set of primary sources that speak to the spatial history of the Japanese Empire. The site links the modules together thematically through “core concepts” — place, spatialities — and “crossings” — boundaries, flows, material culture, vehicles, imaginative geographies, figures, and built environments. The site also uses geospatial metadata to index the modules geographically.

Modules are composed of pages. We link these pages together in multiple ways: as linear pathways; as tags of other pages; or as links to notes and media objects. In Bodies and Structures, each page is a “place” that gathers different modules and different histories together. Users can navigate these places linearly via author-defined pathways; or nonlinearly via hyperlinks and tags. The structure encourages disorientation and re-orientation. Users constitute the space of the site through wayfinding.