Jump to today

This course meets each Tuesday from 1:00 until 4:50pm. While we might not use the full alotted time every week, we will do so most of the time. Plan to be present for four hours each week. I start class on time, so be there right at 1:00—missing twenty minutes at the beginning will make the business of the course difficult to conduct.

Week 1: 15 February

In-class work

Introduce syllabus
Short writing: what is new media?
Talk: arc of the course
Get to know one another
Discussion: what is new media?
Screening: Man with a Movie Camera (start by 3:30pm)

Homework due this week

None

 

Week 2: 22 February

In-class work

Discussion: Manovich, Vertov, terms
Talk: Mapping New Media
Lab: OASIS; English department accounts; Basic HTML 1
-Assign Project 1: Home (Memento as guide)
Screening: first half of Memento (start by 3:45pm)

Homework due this week

Read Manovich, "Prologue: Vertov's Dataset," "Introduction"
Type answers to reading questions (email or print to turn in)
Get OASIS account in order, email Brendan

 

Week 3: 1 March

In-class work

Syllabus Quiz
Discussion: Manovich, definitions of new media
Screening: second half of Memento
Discuss Memento
Activity: Web "homes"
Lab: ftp, file upload, passwords, AUP.

Homework due this week

Read Manovich, "Ch1: What is New Media?"
Type answers to reading questions (email or print to turn in)
Download and play with composer. Start making web pages.
Read Syllabus carefully (There will be a quiz!)

 

Week 4: 8 March

In-class work

Discussion: McLuhan
Web activity
Lab: ftp, file upload, passwords, AUP.
Lab: Introduce GIMP
Work on Project 1

Homework due this week

McLuhan, "The Medium is the Message", (OASIS Handouts)
Type answers to reading questions (email or print to turn in)

 

Week 5: 15 March

In-class work

Discussion: Cultural interfaces
Share project 1 web
Talk: Interface metaphors
-Assign Project 2: Web Portal
Lab: HTML 2-- Tables, Rollover
Screening: Blade Runner (clip), Myst (clip/demo?)

Homework due this week

Read Manovich, first half of "Ch2: The Interface" (through page 93)
Type answers to reading questions (email or print to turn in)
Project 1: Home DUE

 

Week 6: 22 March

In-class work

Review projects w/ one another
Discussion: Manovich, Operations
Screening: Monty Python's Flying Circus
Discussion: Monty Python, selection, mixing, compositing
Screening: Starship Troopers (clips)
Talk: Interactivity

Homework due this week

Read Manovich, "Ch 3, The Operations"
Type answers to reading questions (email or print to turn in)

 

29 March

No class this week: Spring Break
Peruse Adbusters.org; Read at least two articles
Type answers to reading questions (email or print to turn in)

 

Week 7: 5 April

In-class work

Reflect on Web portals
Discussion: De Certeau, tactics, appropriation, Adbusters
Talk: Strategies and tactics
-Assign Project 3: Tactical appropriation
Lab: Accessibility, More image editing (Compositing, Layers)
Screening: Yes Men

Homework due this week

Read de Certeau, "Making Do", (OASIS handouts)
Type answers to reading questions (email or print to turn in)
Project 2: Web Portal

 

Week 8: 12 April

In-class work

Image exercise
Discussion: Barthes, The Doll Games
Screening: La Jetee
Talk: images, denotation, connotation
Lab: Frames

Homework due this week

Read Barthes, "The Photographic Message", (OASIS Handouts)
Read The Doll Games
Type answers to reading questions (email or print to turn in)

 

Week 9: 19 April

In-class work

Discussion: Manovich, database logic, La Jetee
Lab: site structure, navigation
Share project 3
- Introduce Project 4
Talk: metaphors of navigation
Meeting: brainstorming session, committees, subject areas, scope of the project

Homework due this week

Project 3: Tactical appropriations due
Read Manovich, "Ch5: The Forms"
Brainstorm ideas for project 4
Type answers to reading questions (email or print to turn in)

 

Week 10: 26 April

In-class work

Discussion: Donald Norman, design, and Affordances
Exercise
Lab: Accessibility, browser compatibility

Homework due this week

Read Norman articles:
- "Emotion & Design: Attractive things work better"
- "Affordances and Design"
- "Affordance, Conventions and Design (Part 2)"
- "Gratuitous Graphics and Human-Centered Website Design"
Type answers to reading questions (email or print to turn in)
Proposal rough drafts due from committees

 

Week 11: 3 May

In-class work

Discussion: Ray and Sontag, images
Talk: images, affect
Work on project
Prepare presentation for Student Affairs representative

Homework due this week

Read Sontag, "America, Seen Through Photographs, Darkly", (OASIS Handouts)
Read Ray, "The Mystery of Edward Hopper", (OASIS Handouts)
Type answers to reading questions (email or print to turn in)
Proposals due

 

Week 12: 10 May

In-class work

Discussion: Monmonier, de Certeau
Talk: Cognitive Mapping
Meeting: committee, progress reports
Report for Student Affairs
Evaluation day!

Homework due this week

Read either Monmonier, "Blunders that Mislead", (OASIS Handouts)
orRead de Certeau, "Walking in the City", (OASIS Handouts)
Type answers to reading questions (email or print to turn in)
Work on project 4

 

Week 13: 17 May

In-class work

Discussion: project progress thus far
Short writing
Talk: Architecture
Lab: work on project

Homework due this week

Rough drafts due

 

Week 14: 24 May

In-class work

Discussion: continuity and maintenence
Meeting: committee reports
- Brainstorm continuity needs, ideas, divide tasks
Lab: Copyediting, testing (divide work, double-team)

Homework due this week

Post peer review comments by Friday at noon.
Final draft due

 

Week 15: 31 May

In-class work

Fix errors found during proofing
Course reflections

Homework due this week

"Galley" Proofed version due