| Randall Packer - Course Information |
| Multimedia Seminar (MMDD 450) |
| Syllabus - Spring, 2005 |
| Monday, 5:30 - 8:00 PM |
| Randall Packer, Assistant Professor,
Multimedia Dept. of Computer Science, Audio Technology Physics (CAP) packer@american.edu office: #162 McKinley office hours: Mon., Tues., 4:00 - 5:00 pm or by appointment MMDD Website: http://multimedia.american.edu Personal Website: http://www.zakros.com/ |
| On-line Course Information: http://multimedia.american.edu/teaching Class blogs |
| Course Description Multimedia 450 is an immersion into contemporary concepts and practice of multimedia forms. Students work independently on advanced projects with regular critiques and discussion that emphasize aesthetic, social, cultural, and technological issues relevant to multimedia practice. Topics and issues will be researched and discussed in class based on readings by contemporary artists, designers, engineers and other practitioners of multimedia. Course Objectives The main objective of the course is for students to carry out and complete an independent project of their own choosing. Students are assumed to have learned design, production, and technical skills required to create a senior level, capstone project. Class time is used for critique and immersion in contemporary issues, in which students research and analyze advanced concepts for class discussion. Week 1 - January 10 Introductions, course overview, Blog notebook Assignments: Week 2 - January 24 Topic for discussion: Telepresence A computer-generated environment consisting of interactive simulations and computer graphics in which a human being experiences being present in a remote location. For more information. Presentations (readings + artworks) Assignments: Week 3 - January 31 Topic for discussion: Virtual Reality A computer-generated environment which simulates reality sufficiently for the human senses to experience it. Presentation: (readings + artworks) Assigments: Week 4 - February 7 Topic for discussion: Digital & Fluid Architectures Architectural concepts that take form in digital space, enabling navigation, speed, and structural chacteristics not possible in the physical world. Presentation: (readings + artworks) Assignments: -- Project - sketches Week 5 - February 14 Topic for discussion: Identity & Illusion in Cyberpsace The transformation of self, identity, human interaction, and the multiplicity of fragmenting one's sense of being as experienced via computer-mediated environments. Presentation: (readings + artworks) Projects: presentation of sketches Assignments: Week 6 - February 21 Topic for discussion: Networks & Social Transformation The way in which individuals and communities exploit networked technologies to bring about the transformation of social relations and the creative possibilities that emerge from these interactions. Presentation: (readings + artworks) Projects: presentation of sketches Assignments: Week 7 - February 28 Presentation: Final Sketches Assignments: Week 8 - March 13 Topic for discussion: Artistic Mediation & Political Intervention Ways in which the artist uses artistic means to bring about change or new ways of thinking in relation to the political and social environment. Presentation: (readings + artworks) Assignments: Week 9- March 20 Topic for discussion: Blog as Narrative Practice Blogs (or Weblogs), originally conceived as on-line journals, now present new narrative possibilities and ways of creating decentralized, distributed narrative practice in on-line social space. Blogs are being used to mobilize communities, create opportunities for collaboration, etc. Presentation: (readings + artworks) Projects: work-in-progress critique Assignments: Week 10 - March 27 Topic for discussion: Invisible Technologies & Wireless Media Transparent technologies, often invisible to the eye, present new means to alter physical spaces and social relations. Presentation: (readings + artworks) Projects: work-in-progress critique Assignments: Week 11 - April 4 Program Documentary: deadline for submission of work Projects: work-in-progress critique Status: finalize menus, artwork, graphics, video, audio production Assignments: Week 12 - April 11 Projects: final production presentations Status: integrating artwork and media; demonstration of user interaction Assignments: Week 13 - April 18 Projects: final production presentations Status: finalizing projects Complete Blogs Assignments: Week 14 - April 25 Projects: Presentation / Final Critique Multimedia Open Studio & Project Showcase Week 15 - Exam Week Independent critiques, April 26,27 Assignments and Grading Blog
writing – 10% Midterm Sketches Concept and narrative of the final project, including design, storyboard, and information layout sketches. Final Project Interactive Multimedia project choosing subject matter of your own choice. Project will be designed, produced and presented as a finished work. Each student will be responsible for conceptualizing a project that relates to an area of interest, acquiring and producing content (video, graphics, sound, animation, text), editing and authoring. You can choose any medium or platform you like: Web, DVD, installation, performance, etc., but the project must involve the key elements of multimedia, including: interactivity, integration of all media types (text, sound, video, graphics), and must have original content –no portfolio presentations. The project will be assessed based on originality, artistic/design quality, imaginative use of the media and technology, compelling subject matter, and the overall ability to make to exploit multimedia as a medium and as a set of tools for creative expression. Attendance and Class Discussion Attendance is mandatory. Each missed class without valid excuse drops one grade. 4 missed classes is an automatic fail. Assignments can’t be turned in late without valid excuse. Required Reading Randall Packer / Ken Jordan, Multimedia: From Wagner to
Virtual Reality Resources Each student must have a firewire drive ready for use by mid-semester at the very latest. Order right away. Both Studio 15 and the New Media Center will be available for project work. |