Electronic Media
and Culture
Monday, 4:00 - 10:00
PM
Randall
Packer, Instructor
office hours: TBA
Website: http://www.zakros.com/
On-line course information:
http://www.zakros.com/mica/
EMAC technical
support information
Course Description
Electronic Media
and Culture is a broad overview of the tools, aesthetics, and cultural
paradigms brought about through the application and integration of electronic
media. Students will be introduced to an array of multimedia tools and
techniques used in the production and authoring of graphics, text, animation,
video and sound. The goal of the course is to develop practical and
critical skills vital to the creation and interpretation of digital
and electronic art forms.
Week 1 (August
27)
Review of course
objectives, assignments, and projects.
Introduction to
media types: image, text, sound, video and animation. The first half
of the course will cover basic techniques in working with the essential
components of digital production, understanding their unique processes,
methods of editing and manipulation, and strategies for creative application.
1. Digital
Imaging – We will overview basic techniques in digital imaging
in Photoshop: digitalization through various input processes including
scanning and digital photography; resolution; sizing and positioning;
and file formats. Glossary of terms.
Macintosh basics
- Each week we will also cover basic aspects of the Macintosh operating
system as it is used in digital production. This week we will cover:
file management; file and directory naming; directory paths; saving
and backing up. Desktop example.
Assignment
#1 : Media Transformations - The history of technology can be
viewed as a continuous transformation of our culture and the way we
interact in society. Communications technologies, media technologies,
information technologies, machine technologies have all had impact
on the quality and nature of our daily existence.
This assignment
is to capture those transformations resulting from electronic media
as a composite of photographic images. Over the next two weeks, we
will collect images that reveal transformations resulting from media
that are taking place all around us. These images can be of people,
places, broadcast media, billboards, etc. The only requirement is
that each image reveal how the electronic media has altered some aspect
of the human or social condition as a result of its implementation
and use.
Week 2 (September
10)
1. Digital
Imaging – We will continue with more advanced techniques
in digital imaging including: layers and layer properties; moving
images, adjusting color and light values; cloning and touchup; flattening
and saving.
Assignment
#1 : Media Transformations - The second part of the assignment
is to take your collection of images and create a collage, sequence
or juxtaposition. It is up to you to decide how you want to layout
your composite: the number of images, size, orientation, configuration,
etc. It is important though that the result articulate your perspective
on the transformative nature of technology. Utopian? Dystopian? Optimistic?
Future as Blade Runner? This is your observation.
Reading: Selections
from William Gibson's Neuromancer
(first three paragraphs, the last includes the very first use of the
word 'cyberspace'); and William Mitchell's e-topia
(Information, Infrastructure, and Opportunity from Chapter 1).
Week 3 (September
17)
1. Special
Topic – In light of the recent attack on the Pentagon and
the World Trade Center, we will spend an additional week on imaging,
creating a project the confronts the exploitation of terrorism in
the media. We will create a collage using images I have downloaded
from the Web, or you may gather on your own. The purpose of the assignment
is to show how the image, as distributed through electronic media,
can be used as a weapon. The assignment is due next Monday and we
will explore the idea of a class exhibition soon after.
See the full topic
description below:
Terrorism
and Media
Week 4 (September
24)
2. Text
– Introduction to text manipulation in Adobe Illustrator. Illustrator's
vector graphics capability allows the manipulation of text as a graphic
object, while retaining the ability to scale the object without loss
or degradation (as is the case in Photoshop's rasterized imaging).
We will cover the creation of text objects, paths and text aligning,
transforming techniques, file formats, etc.
Assignment
#2 : Media Avant-garde - During the early 20th century, the avant-garde,
most notably such movements and schools as the Futurists, Dadaists,
Constructivists, Bauhaus, de Stijl, and Surrealists, were interested
in treating text as a graphic object to be manipulated, not limited
to its literary connotation. In particular, El Lissitzky spoke of
the potential for representing text as a dynamic medium, with the
speed, movement and intensity of the modern age.
Now with such
advanced tools as Illustrator, we have unprecedented control over
text elements as expressions of meaning and dynamic shape. The assignment
is to write a text as your own statement of revolutionary thought
pertaining to digital media and how it is advancing artistic expression.
Your design should reflect how you can imagine the representation
the digital medium through text elements: it's speed, virtuality,
changeability, interactivity, and immersive qualities. The requirement
is to use only text, no images. The result is to be a printed poster
"advertising" digital media as a revolutionary new medium
for artists and designers.
Week 5 (October
1)
2. Text
– We will discuss outputting Illustrator files for print: color,
resolution, settings, etc.
Assignment
#2 : Media Avant-garde - Completion of posters.
Week 6 (October
8)
3. Sound
– Introduction to sound production in SoundEdit 16. We will overview
basic techniques in recording, digitizing, editing, processing, and
mixing digital audio.
Assignment
#3 : Sound Habitat - Such composers as Edgard Varése and
John Cage introduced the idea in the early 20th century that any sound
could be used for compositional purposes, not just traditional ones
played by musical instruments. They introduced percussion sounds,
noises played by instruments, recorded sounds, and electronically
generated ones.
For this assignment
we will collect found "sound" objects, collected in your
apartment or house and its surroundings. Any sound that you think
might be interesting in the sonic reconstruction of where you live.
No musical instruments or recorded music! Just those that you record,
such as: ambient sounds (traffic out the window, people talking in
the next room, someone cooking in the kitchen, etc.); sounds that
you compose (such as banging a pan, vocal sounds, walking, running,
etc.). The resulting composition should be a portrait of your everyday
life and habitat through sound.
Week 7 (October
15)
3. Sound
– Advanced techniques in sound production including: special
effects, filtering, changing tempo, etc.
Assignment
#3 : Sound Habitat - Complete sound compositions.
Week 8 (October
22)
Midterm Critique
– Present your sound project and one other project.
Week 9 (October
29)
4. Animation
– Introduction to vector animation in Flash. Overview of basic
animation techniques: the creation of vector-based graphical objects
and text, keyframes, layering, motion 'tweening, etc.
Assignment
#4 : Vision in Motion - The response to technology in the early
20th Century was to embrace the forward-leaning possibilities of machine
aesthetics, geometric shapes, and the illusion of these elements moving
in space. This was often referred to as the space-time continuum,
when many artists were interested in new scientific ideas related
to the 4th dimension. Among the artists who pursued these possibilities,
were László Moholy-Nagy and Kazimir Malevich, as well
as the film animator Oskar Fischinger, all of whom were interested
in the composition of visual media in time.
In this assignment,
we will explore the space-time continuum, the relationship between
time and space, by creating simple animations that spatialize geometrical
shapes in temporal trajectories. We will not only be composing shapes
and their juxtaposition, but also composing the elements of time.
The result of the project will be an animation that we will export
for playback in Flash and video formats.
Week 8 (October
29)
4. Animation
– Saving animation files for integration with Flash, video and
the Web.
Week 9 (Nov.
5)
Assignment
#4 : Vision in Motion - Complete animations.
Week 10 (November
12)
5. Hypermedia
– We will cover the essential techniques for constructing hypermedia
environments in Dreamweaver: layout, integrating text and graphics,
hyperlinks, etc.
Assignment
#5 : Telematic Identity - Everyone who uses the Net has as a result
formed new ideas about identity, and communication with others. It
is inescapable. The Net is changing everything around us: our sense
of self, the way we communicate, and the way we make art.
For this project,
I want everyone to analyze or possibly even fabricate their own telematic
identity in the form of a home page. How do you think of yourself
in relation to the medium? Are you Utopian, with grand aspirations
for the future of the medium? Are you a Luddite, with great skepticism
about the dangers of where the Internet is leading us? Are you a Lurker,
who likes to roam anonymously about the Net? Are you an Anarchist,
who wishes to undermine established hierarchies from politics to aesthetics?
Are you a Hacker, with a desire to write subversive code?
Construct a home
page that includes a photo of yourself (it can be modified in Photoshop),
a personal description / bio, links to sites that you frequent, and
anything else that articulates your perspective of the networked world.
Week 11 (November
19)
5. Hypermedia
– We will cover the essential techniques for constructing hypermedia
environments in Dreamweaver: layout, integrating text and graphics,
hyperlinks, etc.
Assignment
#5 : Telematic Identity - Work on projects.
Week 12 (November
26)
5. Hypermedia
– Continue work on final projects.
Week 13 (December
3)
5. Hypermedia
– Continue work on final projects.
For the final
Critique, we will prepare the following:
- Present your
Hypermedia work
- Write a 250
word brief summary of your Telematic Identity and how it is expressed
through your project (due on the 11th)
- Lead a brief
Q & A discussion with the class
Week 14 (December
10)
Assignments
and Grading
Projects (50%)
Biweekly projects
will be assigned focusing on the application of digital tools and
techniques.
Final Project
(50%)
A final project
will consist of a hypermedia work that integrates all the media through
the Web.
Miscellaneous
Materials
Each student is
required to store their work on zip cartridges.
Internet Access
Everyone is required
to have an e-mail account. All written assignments will be handed
in electronically by e-mail. An e-mail listserve will be used for
class discussion and announcements.
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