New Media

An introductory survey of music, theatre, and dance in Western and non-Western cultures, including the relationships between music and religion, dance and weddings, theatre and curing. The course also explores the performing arts as aesthetic phenomena in their own right. Live performances by non-Western performers and optional field trips are planned.

Credits: 3

PREREQ: ANT1500 Or MSA1050 Or NME1050

An examination of contemporary art outside of the traditional media of painting, sculpture, and architecture. Looking at painting-based performances of the 1950s, feminist body art, guerrilla television, and current political interventions based in digital media, students identify the strategies artists used to create new forms, and assess their success in modifying our understanding of the world.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: ARH1000-1994 Or ARH2000-2994 Or ARH3000-3994 Or ARH4000-4994

A focused inquiry into the nature of interaction for entertainment, persuasion, recreation, or human enrichment. Discussions and readings include sociology, anthropology, game theory and urgent topics such as developments in artificial intelligence. Students gain an understanding their role as creator, participant, viewer, and user. Adafruit’s Circuit Playground Express and Python are introduced as the technological substrate for their investigative work.

Credits: 3

PREREQ: (DES2460 And DES3510 ) And DES3200

Builds on the principles and skills of time-based and interactive design introduced in DES 2460. Technique, theory, and practice are further explored through projects using time, on-screen spatiality, transition, kinetic typography, narrative, and sound. Projects address linear and nonlinear environments such as film and television titling, DVD menus, web splash pages, and graphics for mobile devices.

Credits: 3

PREREQ: DES2460

A combined lecture/studio course that examines ethical and social issues in contemporary artistic production and design. The goal is to develop active research about such urgent issues as ecology, body politics and gender, race and urban justice, and human rights, with respect to new futures. Projects incorporate art installations, visualizations, websites, performances, and public campaigns by focusing on creative public engagement.

Credits: 3

PREREQ: NME2100 Or (DES2600 And DES2460 )

Focuses on print communication, primarily graphic design, in the Western world from the late 19th century to the present. A brief summary of important historical precedents launches a chronological series of lectures on significant movements and individuals and the economic, political, and technological developments that have influenced modern and contemporary print communication.

Credits: 4

An introduction to traditional and modern concepts in programming. Traditional concepts covered include variables, expressions, data representation, logic, arrays, functions, and pseudo-random numbers. The modern concepts include graphical constructs and event-driven programming. This course uses familiar games as projects, because implementing games requires an understanding of important programming concepts and attention to the human-computer interface.

Credits: 4

An introduction to problem solving, using computers. Emphasis is on programming, including the study of syntax, semantics, logical structures, graphics, and object-oriented programming. General topics of algorithm development, formulating problems, finding methods for computer solutions, differences among computer languages, and trends in the industry are also discussed. Experience is acquired through hands-on labs and several programming assignments.

Credits: 4

Building on the programming introduction in the prerequisite course, students learn about scripting for websites, including HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and php. Topics include the use of cookies, localStorage, video/audio, geolocation, an application program interface such as the Google Maps API, responsive design, and accessibility. Comparisons are made between scripting and compiled languages and client versus server computing.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: MAT1520 Or NME1450 Or MAT1540

Introduces concepts and skills used in analyzing and designing interfaces for computer applications. As students study techniques and “rules of thumb,” they discover that the design and implementation of each interface is a unique challenge, which requires creativity and consideration of technical, aesthetic, and psychological factors. Includes the use of XML, XSL, XHTML-MP, VoiceXML, and usability studies.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: MAT1520 Or NME1450

Social software is explored both from technical and critical perspectives. Hands-on work in conceptualizing, designing, and developing social software projects is informed by examining the evolution of social software and its impact on society. Includes modules on version control, collaborative open source software projects and application programming interfaces. Projects may range in complexity from simple websites to data-driven web applications to real-time applications.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: MAT1420 Or NME1420 Or NME1450 Or MAT1520 Or NME1520

Covers the key conceptual and practical aspects of networking and security, which are increasingly important in the era of the Internet, the connected enterprise and our ever expanding socially networked world. TCP/IP communications protocols are explored at multiple levels of the protocol stack. Performance and reliability issues are also studied, using campus intranet and internet connections. Security topics include encryption, authentication, denial of service attacks, and case studies.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: MAT1520 Or NME1520

An introduction to theories of the media, visual, and performing arts. Using semiotics as a point of departure, students explore the language and iconography of visual communication. The course focuses on works of art, advertising, television, and the web as social contexts of cultural production and analyses the role that ordinary people play in the production of media.

Credits: 3

Examines the connections between computers and culture, with a critical look at how computers may be changing and shaping culture, and how culture affects people’s use and understanding of computers. The course focuses in particular on the ways in which gender, race, and class affect people’s experiences with and understanding of computers. Both work and leisure uses of computers are considered.

Credits: 3

PREREQ: NME1050 Or MSA1050

Media convergence refers to large-scale changes in the ownership and production of media content, as well as the role that audiences and consumers have in its development. This course examines media convergence from the perspectives of queer theory and history, and asks how queer identities, sensibilities, styles, and practices both shape and are shaped by media convergence.

Credits: 4

A hands-on, introductory audio class in which students learn how to use sound in practical and creative ways, in three phases of production: acquisition, manipulation, and reproduction. Students also learn some of the history of artists and makers who use sound as their medium, as well of some of the technical and theoretical aspects of how sound is created and perceived.

Credits: 3

A hands-on introduction to the language of design and design principles with emphasis on composition, color, and type. Software for vector image creation is taught alongside understanding the full design process, from visual research to beta testing. Print output is introduced, although the focus is on screen-based media.

Credits: 4

Using a visual environment that provides immediate feedback, students are taught the basic principles of programming and, by extension, math. Lectures focus on key aspects of programming and how working artists use code creatively in their practice. In this course, math is never the end but rather the means to problem-solve during the creative process.

Credits: 4

Students take this course in the semester that they apply for Advance Standing. Grading is on a pass/no credit basis. Advanced Standing is a portfolio review that asks students to present work from the broad range of foundation classes they have taken. After applying for and receiving Advanced Standing, New Media majors pursue a program of upper-level study in which they may pursue a broad range of individual interests.

Credits: 1

Examines the interplay between new art forms and technologies from early modernism through today. Focusing on how the two fields have developed in relation to each other, the course addresses two questions: what is the relationship between technology, technique, and art, and how has it changed over time? This is both an art survey course and a study of related philosophical questions.

Credits: 3

PREREQ: NME1050 Or MSA1050

An introduction to video as a creative visual, auditory, and spatial medium. Students learn the fundamentals of video production with the goal of making original work in the genres of single-channel tape, performance, and installation. At the same time, students are introduced to key works in the history of time-based arts in a weekly thematic program of viewing, listening, reading, and critique.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: NME1010 Or NME1100 Or NME1060 Or VIS1330

Familiarizes students with the possibilities and techniques of 2D animation. The goal of the course is to guide students through various ways in which 2D animation can be made and used to express artistic ideas. The course has been designed to lead students along a path of technical and creative growth through exercises and projects.

Credits: 4

An intermediate lecture/studio course that explores techniques for creating dynamic, poetic, and lifelike animations in code. Students learn techniques to program movement and the simulation of natural systems and behaviors, and develop works that respond to various inputs. Projects are developed using open-source software environments like Processing and p5.js.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: VIS1450 Or MAT1520 Or NME1450 Or NME1520 Or MAT1420 Or NME1420

Students gain a solid understanding of website creation, using HTML and Cascading Style Sheets. Scripting languages and libraries are also introduced to create more advanced interactions or animations. Along with technical skills, students learn web design fundamentals and how artists have used and even served as authors of the web since its inception.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: NME1160

Students collaborate with students in other cultures, using the Internet to produce videos on subjects of mutual interest. Because the focus is on developing a cross-cultural dialogue, basic video production experience is expected. Before moving to video, the two groups collaboratively write fiction. During the semester, they meet in video conferences with their peers abroad to discuss their productions. Previous semesters have included collaborations with students at universities in Belarus, Turkey, Mexico, Germany, and Lithuania.

Credits: 4

A growing dialogue surrounding internet art echoes the rhetoric of community-oriented art practices and public art movements of the past. Topics include an introduction to the history of public art; current internet art practice and theory; how networks can serve physical situations or communities, rather than being a purely screen-based phenomenon; policies that are shaping the functionality of the internet; and new artistic possibilities that arise as ubiquitous computing integrates with public space.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: NME2100

Information Aesthetics is a hands-on exploration of data visualization, information design, and visual storytelling. This course empowers students to develop visual narratives using publicly available data sets, addressing contemporary social, political, and economic issues. It focuses on creating meaningful and aesthetically engaging representations, fostering a deep understanding of how data plays an essential role in our society.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: NME1160 Or DES2500

Students examine how contemporary artists and activists use printed matter to facilitate the exchange of ideas in the public sphere. They learn how printed material has been used since the invention of the printing press while examining its evolution through digital technology. Students produce and distribute projects using Risograph prints, posters, zines, stickers, and t-shirts alongside digital media.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: NME2100

Focuses on the relationship between digitally aided production processes and traditional techniques of drawing and object building. Emphasis is placed on the fabrication of objects and prints in multiples that interact with physical space and the body. Students are also encouraged to develop their own drawing tools and initiate ideas around making with new media technologies.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: NME2100

The first rule of guerrilla warfare is to know the terrain. Today’s terrain is one of symbols, media spectacles, and technology that artists are uniquely equipped to navigate. In this course, students learn to combine sociological research, communications strategy, technological methods, and artistic tactics to plan effective social interventions. Students should bring their passion, thoughtfulness, compassion, and planning skills.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: NME2100

Focuses on establishing a broad understanding of the 3-D game engine Unity and a critical understanding of the discourse surrounding modern virtual environments. Students are encouraged to deviate from traditional 3-D games, bringing content and forms of storytelling from other areas of interest. Artists and texts that examine our cultural fascination with the virtual are presented in class. Students are introduced to Unity and to the programming language C#, but some prior programming experience is expected.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: NME1450 Or MAT1520

Using Pure Data, an open-source, graphical programming environment, students experiment with real-time media processing while exploring conceptual concerns and implications through historical and theoretical readings. Students are encouraged to explore personal experiments integrating these conceptual ideas into projects that may include algorithmic or interactive audio performances, screen-based visuals, or interaction with physical devices.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: NME2100

Focusing on specialized topics in new media, students work closely with faculty to explore new areas of their practice and research. Students develop projects in particular area of specialization. The curriculum will vary in relation to the faculty member’s practice and research.

Credits: 4

What does it mean to be a photographer in the age of ubiquitous imaging technologies (e.g., cellphones, surveillance cameras, satellites, and drones), social media, and online image databases? Students explore questions related to the status of photography, consider interdisciplinary approaches using emerging technologies (including online platforms, laser cutters, and drones), and work collaboratively in a studio-based environment.

Credits: 3

PREREQ: PHO1100 Or NME1010

An introduction to fine art digital printing and contemporary digital photography. Students expand their two-dimensional image-making skills while developing their artistic vision through the creation of a cohesive body of print-based work. Topics concerning the importance of contemporary photography are discussed in class through lectures and presentations. Students are expected to combine contemporary ideas with the rigor of printing quality images.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: NME2100

An advanced workshop for highly motivated students who have expressed interest and fluency in time-based video work. The class is devoted to the production of various independent video projects, culminating in a thesis project; in addition, students do multiple presentations focusing on situating their work within historical and contemporary contexts. A wide variety of time-based artworks are explored, including single-channel, multi-channel, and video installation work. Students are expected to have competency with digital video cameras, sound, and editing techniques.

Credits: 3

PREREQ: SCP2420 Or NME2420 And NME2100

An exploration of the ways that graphic techniques can be used by video artists, animators, and designers in their work. Through lectures and presentations, students are exposed to the work of artists who use a variety of approaches, from abstract animation to kinetic text and transformation of live-action video. Students learn about key framing, matting, compositing, working in 3-D spaces, and other computer-based video processes. A special emphasis is placed on issues in contemporary video art, and the ways in which video graphics are used to explore these ideas.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: NME2100

People are entangled in a dark ecology, in which humans, animals, plants, microbes, objects, technologies, and gases are all intimately connected. Explore ecological and systems thinking, drawing from art, design, and science. This part studio and part seminar course considers the human condition in the era of the Anthropocene and our relationships to nature, the living and non-living.

Credits: 3

PREREQ: NME2100

Students break down the physical barrier of the personal computer and bring computing into the “real” world. The main tool used for this purpose is the Arduino, an open-source micro-controller popular with artists and makers. Students are introduced to theories of game design (both historical and modern) and apply them to their class projects; the course also explores the societal implications of building and programming and repurposing personal electronics, and examines artists and makers who have used physical computing for creative expression.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: (NME1420 Or MAT1420 ) Or (NME1520 Or MAT1520 )

The ease with which digital tools allow people to copy, paste, and recombine creative work challenges long-held ideas about originality and creativity. In this combined studio/lecture course, students examine the theory and history of appropriation, sampling, quotation, and reuse in the arts, while simultaneously creating their own multidisciplinary works that engage with contemporary ideas related to these issues.

Credits: 4

Students develop a definition of new media through a range of learning experiences. These include a survey of work in the field, with guest artists and class trips to galleries, media production houses, and events; students’ critical writing and interactive discussions about what they are experiencing; and teacher-structured and student-initiated collaborative projects in which students test different creative roles, using various media.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: NME2100

Students create custom projects using inexpensive, bank card–sized computers for art installations and works for the public good. In the process, their knowledge of text-based interfaces, free culture, collaboration, circuit building, and the history of creative computing/hacking is deepened.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: NME1450 Or MAT1420 Or MAT1520

Students meet weekly to discuss some of the seminal texts in new media and to make presentations on their senior project proposals. By the end of the semester, each student has a website describing his or her project and a working timeline.

Credits: 2

Students meet weekly to develop their senior projects further, design the new media exhibition, and practice writing proposals to external organizations and preparing their résumés.

Credits: 2

PREREQ: NME4880

An introduction to the basic concepts and techniques of digital photography. Exposure, composition, color, retouching, resolution, and preparation of image files for on-screen and print use are among the techniques covered. Assignments include both technical and aesthetic concerns.

Credits: 4

Students explore the effect of landscapes and surroundings in Pisciotta, Italy, and develop their personal vision by observing and leveraging those landscapes and translating their experiences into powerful images. Working with digital cameras (a simple one is fine), students create a personal photographic essay, depicting what they see through the lens of their surroundings.

Credits: 4

In this digital fabrication course, students explore the relationship between the three-dimensional world and digital technology. In this creative new-media environment, students are given a foundation for developing 3-D content and integrating it into their preferred field. Students generate digital objects, prepare them for real-world fabrication, and create virtual-reality simulations and photorealistic sculpture proposals. This course will utilize laser-cutters, CNC router and 3D printers.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: VIS1260 Or NME2100

Sound is explored as material in the context of the visual arts, using DAT recorders, sampling, synthesis, processing, computers, sensor control, and MIDI systems. Projects may include making sonic instruments, sounding objects, and experimental video; ambient, interactive, performative, and multimedia installations; and surround-sound DVDs. Advanced technological means enable uncharted explorations in the time-based arts.

Credits: 3

Explores the genre of alternate reality or pervasive gaming currently used as an alternative to traditional performance by contemporary theatrical and visual artists, dancers, and musicians. The blurring distinctions between game and narrative are examined, opening new possibilities for performance. Students design and stage their own live alternate-reality game as a means of storytelling or extend an existing narrative through transmedia.

Credits: 4

An immersion in project-based study of projection design for theater and contemporary performance. Students will develop designs based on script analysis, visual interpretation and collaboration with other designers and directors. Alongside learning principles of video projection and techniques for image editing and visualization, students will be introduced to software applications used in professional theatre.

Credits: 3

An overview of electronic media and its relationship to the fine arts. This course covers the genre from its infancy to the present and focuses on the study of the art and artists critical to the genre’s development. Lectures, hands-on demonstrations, and visiting artists are augmented by assigned readings, critical writing, and examinations.

Credits: 3