VIS 145A - DIGITAL MEDIA I: TIME, MOVEMENT, SOUND
(Cross-listed with ICAM 102)

Spring 2006

Professor: Jeff Knowlton
e-mail: eeeeeee(-#-) 34n118w.net
Please include "ICAM 102" in your subject line, so you don't get deleted.
phone: 661-555-1212 (but Skype is better)
Skype name:xxxxxxxxxx
Office Hours: Thurday, 11:00 - 12:00 PM
(e-mailing ahead is a good idea.)

This document resides at http://34n118w.net/145A.

Teaching Assistants: Owen .

Lecture
:
Thursday 6:30- 8:20 PM

Lab - one of the two 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.

Prerequisites: VIS 40 and 140. NOTE: Materials fee required

Requirements:

Readings, class participation, projects, a short final paper.
When a reading is due, please come to class with at least three questions/arguments you'd like to pose about each reading.

Grading is based on:

1) Attendance + participation - 20%

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 jknowlton@gmail.com 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.

Note - The syllabus is just a trajectory and always up for change. Some elements will mesh together better than others. Yeah I know it needs to be filled out.

 

 

Wks. 1 (1/11) The Medium is the Medium (and class intro)
How does technology effect our lives? What is art?


Reading from class (week 1)
Sonnet XVIII Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616
As We May Think Vannevar Bush, The Atlantic Monthly, July 1945
The Curse of Xanadu Wired Issue 3.06 | Jun 1995
The Man Who Invented the Web - Part 2
D.W. Griffith

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

Some other stuff:)

Wk 2 (1/18) HyperText & Conventions & Completion vs. Clicking

We will examin Eric Loyer Lair of the Marrow Monkey & Chroma and others. Directions are good. Helping the user out is good isn't it? Who are your users? Who is beta testing your work? .Everyone is required to bring in a list of no less than 7 usability conventions to class. Its part of the participation grade

Reading (due this class): " Look Who's Talking" Wired Issue 7.01 | Jan 1999. Be prepared to talk about the reading.

Readings (due class 3) to be announced, but will likely be from Jeremy Hight and Drew Hemmett and Jorge Luis Borges.

Wk 3 (1/25) Space is the Place.....Locative Media & Mapping.
Locative media, Cartography and so on.......
Jorge Luis Borges: The Library of Babel, The Babylon Lottery, The Cartographers of the Empyre
Robert Smithson, John Klima, Blast Theory, Pete Gomes, Lisolette Brunberg, Jeff Knowlton, Annina Ruest and many others More than enough info on locative media.
Reading (due this class) on Locative Media.
Written proposals for Mid Terms are due in sections.

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

Wk 4 (2/01) Networks, Systems, Structures and Visualization
The Legacy of Conceptual Art, Structure of information
Anthony Braxton, Sol Lewitt, Josh On & Future Farmers

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

Work:
Josh On : They Rule
IXI Software : Various sound software projects

Anthony Braxton : 1 , 2, 3 , 4, Notice the sweater

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

Gnom -nice stuff here
Organic HTML
Schemaball
proyecto Quiasma
information aesthetics
Dencity
coterie chat visualisation
Yahoo versus Google
Social Circles

Josh On : They Rule,
Ben Fry : Valence, Anemone
W. Bradford Paley : TextArc, TextArc Overview PDF
Shredder
Mark Napier Riot
I/O/D : WebStalker (download .zip file)
Maciej Wisniewski : Netomat

Some nice Images:
Boxes and dots
Weather Viz
Kaleidoscopic Visualization
Scroll down to the maps

 

Reading will be handed out for the next weeks lecture. Expect some dead French guys.

Wk 5 (2/08) Signifier-Signified.
Allegory, Metaphor & Semiotics
Discuss Semiotics readings -aka- the dead French guys.

Presentation of a few projects in class.

Readings (Week 6) yet to be determined.

Wk 6 (2/15) Conceptual Art,
Something will happen this week, but your guess is as good as mine.
Sol Lewitt : Wall Drawing at SFMOMA, GuggenHeim Arts Curriculum , Douglas Huebler, Joseph Kosuth and so on

Discuss as of yet undertermined readings.

Reading (due week 7)

Wk 7 (2/22) Computational Architecture & Hertzian Space

Readings (due week 8) The Cross Dressing Psychiatrist, The Crafter's Manifesto and The Long Tail

Wk 8 (3/01) A rare 2 4 1
The Cross Dressing Psychiatrist and The Crafter's Manifesto / The Long Tail
Lots to discuss with these readings.

Final Paper due:
a short (minimum 3 pages) paper will be due, incorporating class readings and discussions with original thought processes.

Readings for next week will be handed out and may contain excerpts from Neuromancer, Snow Crash and others. .

Wk 9 (3/08): Emergence
Terminator, Neuromancer, Distributed Systems, Orishas and Loas
John Klima : Ecosystm
Karl Sims : Galapagos , Evolved Virtual Creatures

We should spend some time helping Cyc learn. Then welcome our new overlord.

Discuss readings from from Neuromancer, Snow Crash and others.

Wk 10 (3/15):
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.