Review of course objectives, readings, assignments, projects, and grading.
Blogging as "hypomnemata": a medium for research, discourse, and documentation. Sign-up on Blogger.com.
Exhibition: America's Grave, American University Museum
Reading: Ted Nelson, Computer Lib / Dream Machine; Multimedia: From Wagner to Virtual Reality
Assignment: Discussion question for reading, America's Grave
Hypertext is the indeterminate and non-linear narrative form derived from linking media and the viewer's freedom of association. We will explore branching narrative, non-sequential writing and indeterminate forms.
Discussion of Ted Nelson's Dream Machine / Computer Lib
Review of network specifications with Matt Weiner
Project I: Hypertextual Poetics - creation of a poetic, Web-based narrative using text only that leads the viewer through multiple threads of meaning and interpretation.
Software: Dreamweaver, Firefox, Illustrator, Photoshop
Reading Assignment: William Burroughs, The Future of the Novel
Project Assignment: Have all 15 sentences in 15 documents linked for next Tuesday
Discussion of Reading: William Burroughs, The Future of the Novel, along with the technique of the cut-up and fold-over and how it relates to hypertextuality.
Presentation of "My Boyfriend Came Home from the War" by Olia Lialina; "Grammatron" by Mark Amerika
Rhizome, media arts resource; signup and become a member.
Work on Hypertextual Poetics project: distribution of blog entries in non-linear sequentiality.
Project Assignment: Continue two more days of entries on Hypertextual Poetics, to create one complete week. Completion on Thursday, Jan. 26.
Reading Assignment: Janet Murray's "Agency" (due Tuesday, Jan. 31), prepare discussion question
Exhibition Assignment: Interface show, Fraser Gallery, Bethesda (due Tuesday, Jan. 31), prepare discussion question. Gallery is located at: 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E, Bethesda, MD, (301) 718-9651, Tuesday - Saturday: 11:30am - 6pm
Continue work on Project I: Hypertextual Poetics.
Brief presentation of projects during last 30 minutes of class.
Project Assignment (due 2/2): Continue blog entries and use Photoshop to generate graphical text. If you do not know how to produce Photoshop graphics, visit the New Media Center. We will review next Tuesday, including the incorporation of graphics in Dreamweaver.
Discussion of reading assignment: Janet Murray's "Agency"
Agency is the satisfying power to take meaningful action and see the results of our decisions and choices.
Discussion of Interface show at Fraser Gallery
Review of Photoshop graphics for text.
Project Assignment (due 2/7): Complete graphical text piece based on blog entries from 1/26 to 2/2.
Exhibition Assignment (due 2/7): Choose an artwork or media project from the Rhizome Web site, best way is to search through the Net Art News pieces. Prepare a brief presentation for class and write a summary on your blog (also due 2/6).
Lab: work on Hypertext projects
Review Hypertextual projects
Presentation of Rhizome projects. Be sure you link from your Blog with your summary.
Project II: Hypersituational - Non-linear interpretation of the environment, its situations, occurrences, surprises, and unexpected twists and turns. This study of the hypersituational will involve the creation of a spontaneous narrative that evolves as a hypermedia construction incorporating text and image.
This project involves the selection of a environment and its intepretation captured through digital images and textual narration constructed as a Web site. Each student is responsible for obtaining a digital camera and the means to transfer images to the computer. See continued reading for project deadlines.
This week I will be doing a blog check, be sure your blogs are up to date no later than Wednesday.
Reading Assignment (due 2/9): "Hypertext, Hypermedia and Literary Studies: The State of the Art" by George Landow and Paul Delany
Discussion of reading: "Hypertext, Hypermedia and Literary Studies: The State of the Art"
"So long as the text was married to a physical media, readers and writers took for granted three crucial attributes: that the text was linear, bounded, and fixed... We can define Hypertext as the use of the computer to transcend the linear, bound and fixed qualities of the traditional written text." - George Landow
Review of Hypersituational project ideas.
Review of importing and layout of images in Dreamweaver.
Work on Hypersituational maps, routes, research location, etc.
Review images, texts and narrative of Hypersituational tours.
Work on projects.
Lab: work on Hypersituational projects.
Complete and Critique the HyperSituational projects.
Midterm Assignment (due March 9): Unofficial DADA Audio Tour
Reading assignment (due March 2): Review the Web feature at the National Gallery of Art.
Reading assignment (due March 2): dadaist manifesto by tristan tzara, franz jung, george grosz, marcel janco, richard huelsenbeck, gerhard preisz, raoul hausman, april 1918
Long live Dadaism in word and image! Long live the Dada events of this world! To be against this manifesto is to be a Dadaist! From the DADA manifesto, 1918.
We will create an audio tour (listen to example of an audio tour) of the DADA show at the National Gallery of Art. First review the Web feature at the National Gallery. Then visit the show, taking notes of specific works, describing them, but not in a typically scholarly way. Rather, in the style of DADA, which is to say, sometimes nonsensical, sometimes subversive, always challenging. Your tour should not be serious or merely information, rather, it is your interpretation,that should be whimsical, perhaps nonsensical, an overarching flavor of DADA for the visitor to exhibition at the National Gallery of Art.
Lab : Work on Project
Lab : Work on project
Complete projects.
Midterm Critique: review DADA Tour
Notes on the critique: We have discussed a number of topics related to interactive multimedia: hypertext, hypermedia, agency, situational narrative, and DADA influenced collage, etc. In our current midterm project, we are exploring audio as a narrative form, using DADA sensibilities, technique and aesthetics to guide the process. With that in mind, how does your project explore/connect with these ideas? From the listener's standpoint, how does the tour draw them into the exhibition? What is the desired effect? Humor? Surprise? Dramatic impact? Absurdity? Nonsense? Political commentary? Satire? Comic relief? Any of these are valid or perhaps you had something else in mind. From a compositional perspective, we are interested in the immersive nature of audio and how you can guide/transport the listener through the narrative.
Midterm assignment (due 3/9): Blog entries of weekly readings/artworks/discussions are due for review. Please incorporate images and links wherever it is useful to illustrate your discussion. Write about concepts explored in each topic: how do the ideas presented in the readings explore/confront/elaborate inform and influence your study of multimedia? Your entries need to include the following readings and exhibitions: America's Grave at AU Museum; Ted Nelson, Computer Lib; William Burroughs, Future of the Novel; Interface Show at Fraser Gallery; Janet Murray, Agency; Hypertext, Hypermedia, George Landow; DADA Show at the National Gallery of Art.
In your summaries cite references, links to sources, examples and Websites. Each summary should be approximately 150 - 300 words. Check spelling and grammar.
Video in the on-line realm (vlogs) is opening up new directions in personal narrative and story telling.
"The point is to capture, and share, fantastic, fleeting moments." - Chuck Olsen, Rocketboom correspondent
"The film of tomorrow will be even more personal than an individual and autobiographical novel, like a confession, or a diary." - Francois Truffaut, 1957
"The revolution may just be vloggerized." - Robert Mackay, NY Times, Dec. 2005
Project IV (final): Video Stories - This project involves the creation of a series of video narratives, presented in the on-line environment. The idea of the project is to use the medium of multimedia to contruct short, personal video stories. The stories are short and autobiographical. They are not epic as in feature length, but rather compressed specifically for on-line viewing. Over the next six weeks we will create one short piece per week until a collection of stories emerges. This collection will be place on-line with additional commentary/context. The collection will also be distributed via podcast.
Reading: TV Stardom on $20 Per Day (NYTimes on-line)
Examples:
Rocketboom, reportage from the video edge
Karmagirl, daily adventures in everyday life
Michael Verdi, his life, art, technology, and politics
Minnesota Stories, from Minnesota (where else?)
Minnesota Stories: capturing a live concert
Scratch Video, a documentary film editor in NYC by day makes these small pieces by night
Taylor Street Studio, and the very bizarre...
Review video recording and input to Final Cut Pro.
Assignment (due 3/24): write up a concept statement for your POV based on approaches you have seen in the example video blogs. Post on your blog and be prepared to discuss on Thursday.
Exhibition Assignment (due 3/28, post summary on blog): BRANDON MORSE : Static
March 17 - April 29, 2006
Conner Contemporary
1730 Connecticut Ave. NW. 2nd floor
Discussion of POV for video stories.
Produce a segment in class:
Review editing, transitions, and effects in Final Cut Pro.
Compression techniques.
Assignment (due 3/31): begin first video story. Check out camera from the New Media Center and shoot in time for class on Tuesday, 3/29.
Edit 1st video story.
Review of Final Cut Pro, including video output and compression.
Assignment (due 3/30): complete first video, save as Quicktime file, 320/240 pixel dimensions, fast start (for on-line streaming), Sorenson compression, 15fps.
Presentation / critique of 1st video story.
Discussion and refinement of POV for next piece.
Assignment (due 4/6): begin 2nd video story.
Updated code for displaying videos on-line:
<embed src="http://mmdd.katzen.american.edu/~rpacker/video/Clap_final_sm.mov" width=320 height=256 autostart="false" controller=true qtsrc="http://mmdd.katzen.american.edu/~rpacker/video/Clap_final_sm.mov" pluginspage="quicktime.apple.com" > </embed >
Guidelines for compression:
- open video (DV format) in Quicktime Player
- choose "Export" in file menu
- choose "Movie to Quicktime Movie" in export menu
- click on "options"
- click on "video settings"
- leave everything in default: H.264 compression, current fps, keyframe every 24 frames, high quality, best quality / multi-pass, datarate automatic
- click "OK"
- click on "video size"
- click on "custom size"
- type 320 (width), 240 (height)
- click on "sound settings"
- format=AAC, channels=stereo, rate=44,100, targetbitrate=96
- click "OK"
- be sure "fast start" is selected
- click "OK"
- save and compress file
Discussion of Mark Amerika's "Digital Personas" lecture. Question: What does Mark mean by digital personas in the context of on-line fiction. How is this different than characters developed in traditional fiction? See Grammatron and read about the character Abe Golam, for example.
Presentation / critique of 2nd video story. Discuss the developing POV, editing technique, etc.
Presentation / critique of 3rd video story. Discuss strategies for final video piece.
Preparation for submitting work to the Multimedia On-line Gallery.
The Multimedia program in the Department of Art is launching the Multimedia On-line Gallery to showcase student works. Each student enrolled in a multimedia course will participate by submitting a single work created during the semester. All submissions must be complete and uploaded no later than May 1, 2006.
Stage 1: Preparation (due Thursday, April 27)
(1) Select one of your works created during the Spring 06 semester.
(2) Write a 25 word short, concise summary of the work
(3) Write a 200 word long description of the work that gives a conceptual and technical overview
(4) Create a 350px X 350px .jpeg image that best represents the work
(5) Create a 75px X 75px .gif thumbnail image from the larger image (do not reduce, crop out)
(6) Optional: select any other graphical, audio, or video documentation. Audio or video files must not be larger than 5 Mb each. Graphics no larger than 640px X 480px and in .jpeg format. Write a 15-word caption for each media.
Presentation / critique of 4th video story.
Finalize Websites. Place audio pieces on-line, etc.
Upload images and text to the Multimedia On-line Gallery.
Assignment (due 5/4): Have all work documented on-line and be prepared to discuss your entire video blog project for the final critique. Write a 250 hyperessay on your blog that summarizes your series of videoblogs. Explain your POV, what have you brought to the viewer? How have you responded to working with the language of video in the on-line sphere? What discoveries have you made about your creative work? Etc.
Be sure your blog is up to date. Required entries: NY Times article on video blogging; Brandon Morse show; Mark Amerika lecture; final Hyperessay.
Multimedia On-line Gallery
http://multimedia.american.edu/gallery
Instructions for project submission
Gallery created by John Keleher, graduate student in Computer Science (john.keleher@villanova.edu)
These instructions are located @ http://multimedia.american.edu/showcase/instructions.txt
Critique of Video #4.
Assignment: Work on Website / blogs in preparation for final critique (Thursday, May 4).
Blog assignments for 2nd half of semester:
(1) RTV Stardom on $20 Per Day (NYTimes on-line)
(2) Brandon Morse show at Conner Contemporary
(3) Mark Amerika lecture: "Digital Persona"
(4) Final Hyperessay describing your video pieces, POV, how you approached video narrative, the compression of the narrative, etc.
No class
Final critique of the Video Stories project:
Be prepared to discuss your entire video blog project for the final critique. Explain your POV, what have you brought to the viewer? How have you responded to working with the language of video in the on-line sphere? What discoveries have you made about your creative work? Etc.