SMART MEDIA AND CRITICAL INFORMATION DESIGN

Thursday, 6:00-8:30pm, Media Studio A, 2252A College Library

This seminarlab focuses on “smart media” or emerging genres of scholarly communication, such as digital storytelling, theory comix, podcasts, Pecha Kucha, and interactive installations. We approach smart media from two perspectives: 1) exploring their historical and theoretical relation to 20th- and 21st-century experimental texts by such writers as Barthes, Benjamin, Deleuze/Guattari, Doxiadēs/Papadimitriou, DuPlessis, Hofstadter, Hayles, Latour, Mandelbrot, McLuhan, and Ronell, and 2) experimenting with their aesthetic and technical connections to contemporary information design. Honing analytic and practical skills, students work both individually and collaboratively, studying and producing smart media projects based on their own research, as well as materials and issues raised in class. Design theory and artist activist readings include works by Applebaum, Critical Art Ensemble, Crimp, McCandless, Tufte, and Wurman.

Students complete two main projects and a series of design exercises. For the first project, students collaboratively research and produce a multimedia proposal for an interactive installation of experimental theory. For the second project, students produce individual multimedia proposals for a similar project of their own choices (eg, translate a seminar paper or dissertation project into a media campaign). Exercises grow out of daily readings and materials and for each reading, students write conceptual thumbnails summarizing main arguments, defining critical concepts, and posing critical questions. The final grade breakdown is 33% each for Project 1, Project 2, and Participation. Exercises and thumbnails, along with discussion and attendance, comprise the Participation component of the class. Two absences may result in final grade reduction; three in failure.

Books to purchase (University Book Center, online, etc.)

McLuhan, Marshall and Quentin Fiore. 1967. The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects. New York, Bantam Books.

OPTIONAL:

DJ Readies. Intimate Bureaucracies: A Manifesto. 2012. Brooklyn: Punctum Books.

Doxiadēs, Apostolos K, and Christos H. Papadimitriou, et al. 2009. Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth.  New York : Bloomsbury.

Hayles, Katherine. 2002. Writing Machines. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Latour, Bruno. 1996. Aramis, or the Love of Technology. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Ronell, Avital. 2004. Crack Wars: Literature, Addiction, Mania. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Readings (pdf downloads)

Applebaum, Ralph. 1997. Untitled essay. In Information Architecture. Ed. Richard Saul Wurman. New York: Graphis Inc. Pp. 150-161.

Bolter, Jay David and Richard Grusin. 1999. Remediation: Understanding New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Bradford, Peter. 1997. Untitled essay. In Information Architecture. Ed. Richard Saul Wurman. New York: Graphis Inc. Pp. 62-74.

Brown,Tim. 2009. Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation. New York: HarperCollins.

Crimp, Douglas with Adam Rolston. AIDS Demo Graphics. Seattle: Bay Press, 1990.

Critical Art Ensemble. 1994. “Utopian Plagiarism, Hypertextuality, and Electronic Cultural Production.” From The Electronic Disturbance. Brooklyn: Autonomedia.

Duarte, Nancy. 2007. Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media.

Guerrilla Girls. 1995. Confessions of the Guerrilla Girls. New York: HarperCollin.

Lawler, Philip F. Operation Rescue: A Challenge to the Nation’s Conscience. Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor Books, 1992.

McCandless, David. 2009. The Visual Miscellaneum: A Colorful Guide to the World’s Most Consequential Trivia. New York: Collins.

McKenzie, Jon. 2001.  “Towards a Sociopoetics of Interface Design: etoy, eToys, and TOYWAR.” Strategies: A Journal of Theory, Culture and Politics 14:1: Pp. 121-38.

Mierzoeff, Nicholas. 2004. “Anarchy in the Ruins: Dreaming the Experimental University,” in The Interventionists. Ed. Nato Thompson and Greg Sholette. North Adams, MA: Massachussetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

Norman, Donald. 1990 (1988). The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Doubleday. Pp. vii-33.

Tufte, Edward. 1990. Envisioning Information. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press.

Wurman, Richard Saul, ed.  1997. “Introduction.” In Information Architecture. Ed. Richard Saul Wurman. New York: Graphis Inc. Pp. 15-19.

Schedule

1/23	Intro : McLuhan/Fiore Audio A B Videos 1 2 3 4 Ken Robinson RSAnimate	assign proj 1: interactive theory exercise 1: make a toy
1/30	Experience design – McKenzie 121-138; Norman vii-33 Make a toy	assign exercise 2: map a book in three ways
2/6	Information Architecture  Wurman; Applebaum; Bradford Map a book in three ways	assign exercise 3: 2 look and feels for 1 map
2/13*	Information Design  –  selections from Tufte, McCandeless watch McCandless TED talk 2 look and feels for 1 map	exercise 4: analyze a museum exhibit
2/20*	Interactive Learning: field trip
2/27	Presentation workshop	workshop
3/6	Open workshop	workshop
3/13	Present Proj 1	workshop
3/20	BREAK Read theory comix Mierzoff	proj 2: ARIT
3/27	Introduction to ARIS	exercise: map theory as quest
4/3	Experimental/Experiental Learning Pine/Gilmore, Mirzoeff, Lefebvre	STS training in ARIS
4/10	For class: Foucault, Barthelme, Kemp Storyboarding with ARIS objects–begin making connections between objects and sequence. Create dialogues. ARIS: Discuss design elements and teach requirements. Homework for Next Week:  begin implementing game design into ARIS first draft of proposal due next class (including clear explication of UX, xD ,iA ,iD elements)	workshop
4/24	Discuss and adjust User/player Experience.  ARIS–Teach requirements; breakout groups and trouble shooting.
5/1	Draft of game due with all requirements and features. Critique games in groups.  (Finalize games and proposals for last class).
5/8	Final presentations