VES 60r INTERACTIVE MEDIA

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Instructors: Jeffrey Huang, Muriel Waldvogel

TF: Mark Meagher

Location: Sever Hall, Digital Studio 402

Enrollment: Limited to 12

Half course (fall term 2004): Thursday 11-12, 1-4

This course introduces students to digital media principles, techniques and theories through a series of expressive exercises. With a strong emphasis on the interactive character of digital media, we construct a basic vocabulary for future media projects. The course culminates in the development of an interactive installation as a final project.

ORGANIZATION OF THE COURSE

The course will consist of lectures, reading discussions and presentations on Thursday morning, from 11-12 pm, and tutorials, hands-on exercises and one-on-one desk crits in the afternoon from 1-4 pm. The studio at Sever 402 is our atelier. It will be open to you for work related to this course on a 24/7 basis. Review sessions will take place on Tuesday or Wednesday evening, to be scheduled with the TF.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Interactive Media has three pedagogical objectives. (1) to give you a basic understanding of the concepts and the history of interactive media, (2) to familiarize you through hands-on exercises with skills (digital media and visual programming) that are immediately applicable, and (3) to contribute to the future of this emerging field.

PROJECTS AND GRADING

There will be five sketch projects and a final installation. The projects will be introduced and discussed on Thursday afternoon and reviewed in informal sessions during the week. Projects, unless otherwise announced, will be due on Wednesday evening, before 6 pm. Students must keep a blog of their project progress (to be introduced in the first class). Posting of ideas, comments on each other’s work, building on each other’s contributions, answering questions and helping each other are highly encouraged. The sketch projects and the final project will be reviewed and graded based on conceptual strength, technical craftsmanship, and artistry. The sketch projects will be worth 50% of your grade (10% each), the final project 30% and the remaining 20% will be based on attendance and participation.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

SKETCHES

§1 – reveal

points and pixels, linear animation, non-linearity

september 29, october 6 (harvard sq installation), october 13

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§2 – anti-portraits

randomness, memory and time

october 20, october 27 (portraits due)

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§3 – place makers

empty vessels, personalisation

november 3: (field trip), november 10

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§4 – neo pets

alive, ghost in the machine

november 3, november 10: review

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§5 – flash mobs

connected, social network

november 17

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(november 24: no classes | thanksgiving holiday)

FINAL PROJECT - INSTALLATION

december 1 (sketch), december 8, december 15 (review)

january 13 (final show)