goals

This core New Media course grounds you in the critical language, concepts, and creative practice in the field of New Media.

Our basic questions will be: what is New Media? what are the issues, ideas or controversies explored by New Media artists? how can/does New Media shape our culture and experience? what can I make, when I make New Media work? and why do i make it? what critical issues of our times can New Media address and how? and how can i participate --via new media--in the unfolding story of my culture?

Answering these questions will take us through readings, class discussions, viewings of New Media projects, videos, and reviews of classmates' work. Your goal is not merely to understand but to question and push the ideas & techniques in the work you encounter. Your goal is to come up with a clear, working practice for New Media that both understands the field, and reflects your own creative input.

skills

After completing this course you will be able to:

• ➡give a compelling definition of new media

• ➡recognize, describe, and analyze new media work by genre and by recurrent concepts and issues in the field

• ➡produce projects exploring techniques, memes and approaches common to cutting edge work in the field of new media

• ➡expand the definition of new media with discovered works, as well as your own work

• ➡describe some key concepts, controversies, and issues in the field of new media

• ➡connect new media paradigms and strategies to the core challenges of energy descent, climate instability, and economic collapse that threaten our globalized cultures.

participation

• ➡Attendance, effort and participation drive the quality of the class. When you are here, you contribute to your own and the classes' growth. When you are absent, you do not. Your peers will evaluate your contributions and assess your attendance.
• ➡Class participation includes preparation in weekly readings, viewings, research and production. You must complete all projects to pass this class.

portfolio

• ➡Web page portfolio of all your projects.
• I recommend a wordpress blog on the department dreamhost server for your class and NMD portfolio. If you do not have an account, email me and I will set one up for you. Remember that good design is design that fits the purpose. See past student portfolios in the "projects" area of this site for examples.

projects

• ➡Four projects with intent & approach in each of the genres we study: code art/hacktivism, game art, autobotography, and ecotech art. Each will be uploaded to The Pool for other NMD students to see.
• ➡Final project: intent & approach & release (ambitious projects may be negotiated )
• ➡Preliminary and final definition of new media & how it relates to your work and the works you have seen and studied throughout the semester
• ➡self evaluation

final project

• ➡Your final project will integrate what you learned in the previous projects. Final projects will usually involve all three phases of a project: intent , approach, release

foundations

1-At The Edge of Art, Blais & Ippolito

Jumplist for works cited in At The Edge of Art

2-New Media Reader (NMR), Montfort & Wardrip-Fruin

3-Articles, films, projects assigned weekly on schedule page, and from peers. You will keep a list of your own personal reading list with responses to your readings.

class generated

This area will fill with readings, viewings, projects, field work recommended by students as part of the class learning trajectory.

• The Pool, peer research and colaboration area

constituents

• ➡Projects 40%
• ➡Class Participation & Homework (graded weekly) 40%
• ➡Final Project (due final class) 20%

criteria and evaluation

Grading is peer-basd, with guidance and overview by professor

For each project and for your final grade, it is helpful to both yourself and peers to turn in a paragraph self-evaluation which describes how far your were able to take your work and where you might go if you had more time, skill, or research to improve.

Feedback for your work will come from the class as a whole using the "crit" model, peer feedback in The Pool, and class and group participation and contributions. As a class, we will develop a set of definitions for New Media, as well as a flexible and growing list of attributes that we can use to guide feedback.

While the grade for the course is in your hands, I reserve the right to make any adjustments necessary to reflect overall class contribution in the final grade.

scale

• ➡Average work earns a “C”. This means completing ALL assignments following basic instructions.
• ➡Above average work earns a “B”. This means consistent participation in class, and above average assignments and projects.
• ➡“A” grades are reserved for outstanding work in all areas. Improvement is critical.