DIGITAL MEDIA I: TIME, MOVEMENT, SOUND

VIS 145A / ICAM 102

Spring 2010

Instructor Contact Information:

Jeff Knowlton 661-555-1212
e-mail: kn***lton(-#-) 34n118w.net
Please include "ICAM 102" in your subject line, so you don't get deleted.
Skype name:je**knowlton

Office Hours: Thursday, 4 - 5 PM
(e-mailing ahead is a good idea.)

Teaching Assistants: Unknown at writing.

Lecture: Thursday 5:00pm - 6:50pm

Lab - one of the three sections:
All lab sections meet in VAF 228

Text: Texts will be available online and in print form. There are both required and optional readings for the course. You may want to purchase a Processing book. We will look at a variety of media, including traditional and digital work, throughout the class.

2) Projects:

#1 - 20%
#2 - 30%

Each project will include both a short written project proposal and the project itself. The project proposal is to be completer before work on the project is begun. It is a starting point that can be departed from, but will include:
The Premise - one paragraph on why I am interested in the project
The Synopsis - a two paragraph summary of the project
Treatment - blow by blow of some of the highlights and what it looks like

3) Your final paper, which will be based on readings and class discussions - 30%

You are permitted one unexcused absence from a lecture and one from a lab.
Beyond that, you are required to provide a doctor's note or other acceptable written excuse.
If you don't provide such documentation, your grade will be reduced.
Your projects must be turned in on time. A late project will result in grade reduction by one letter grade for that project.
Projects and papers should be emailed to j**** This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it as well as your TA and presented in class.

Back up numbered versions of your work! Lost data is not an excuse for missing work.

Standard Content Disclaimer:
Some of the material we will cover may push some boundaries. Art is supposed to do that. If you feel that your boundaries have been breached, try to stick it out and see where things are going. If you need to leave the room, please write a one page paper explaining your reaction to the material.

Course Outline:

This class will advance the concept of computer, internet and computation as medium rather than computer or software as tool or playback and delivery system. We will examine traditional and digital work. The class will use Processing.

Note - The syllabus is just a trajectory and always up for change. Some elements will mesh together better than others. Enjoy the ride.

Wk. 1, April 1: The Medium is the Medium (and class intro)
How does technology effect our lives? What is art?

Sonnet XVIII Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616
As We May Think Vannevar Bush, The Atlantic Monthly, July 1945

Reading (due for week 2): " Look Who's Talking" Wired Issue 7.01 | Jan 1999

Wk 2, April 8: Week 1 and 2 combo....Tools change us

I'll discuss the ground rules and talk about the reading you didn't get but still need to read...it is on the Amish and how they deal with technology.

Reading (due this class): " Look Who's Talking" Wired Issue 7.01 | Jan 1999.

Wk 3, April 15: Burn, Hollywood Burn /Change & Mobile Media

The film and television industry is terrified of the changes taking place in the way we view media. I will discuss what I have learned at NATPE, the Producer's Guild and the Video Upfronts.

Reading (due class 4): Social Networks, Class, Visualization and Change - Josh On

Reading (due class 4): something from Kas Oosterhuis

In sections Proposal for projects.

Discover the underlying networks, systems and structures or you won't know what to visualize. (Hint hint, next week)
Work:
Usman Haque, Adam Somlie-Fisher, Kas Oosterhuis, Josh On : They Rule

Reading (due this class): Social Networks, Class, Visualization and Change - Josh On

Work on your project in Section. Reading will be handed out for the next weeks lecture.

Wk 5, April 29: Visualization

There is a lot Viz work done with Processing. We will have plenty to look at.

Flickr Tag Graph: Sunsets by time
Flickr Tag Graph: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Presentation of a few MidTerm projects in class.

Wk 6, May 6: Locative Media & Mapping.
Locative media, Cartography and so on.......
Robert Smithson, Pete Gomes, Lisolette Brunberg, Jeff Knowlton, Annina Ruest and many others
Knowlton Henge Knowlton Church

GPS The Global Positioning System
Radio-frequency identification
Jeremy Wood: GPS Drawing
GPS Drawing Gallery
Surface Patterns
Christian Nold BioMapping
Traces Of Fire
Mobile Assassins
Uncle Roy All Around You -Blast Theory
Backseat Playground
Sonic City
Track The Trackers
Pete Gomes : Work, Place
34 North 118 West
Jeremy Hight : Narrative Archaeology

Wk 7, May 13: Visiting Artist Gustavo Rincon will lecture on Computational Architecture.

Wk 8, May 20: Signifier-Signified.
Allegory, Metaphor & Semiotics
Semiotics
Charles Sanders Peirce
Ferdinand de Saussure
We will discuss your project proposals in class. TAs will trade sections during class and offer suggestions for project proposals from students that are not their own.

Final Paper due:
a short (minimum 5 pages) paper will be due, incorporating class readings and discussions with original thought processes.

Wk 9, May 27: Something else.

Yes, you just lost your mind working on the paper and now you have a final project coming up, but we will still be having a lecture. What will it be on? It will depend on what you seem to be interested in and TAs think will integrate well into what they are seeing during the sections.

Wk 10, June 3:
Final Projects due.

Plan ahea
d. Don't think that you will get the help you need to start your project in the last week. You shouldn't be in the middle of your project either. This is the time to be handing things in. OK. Done. Finished. Fini. No one will be sympathetic to lost data, so back up.