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Interactive Telecommunications Program

Spring 2010

Course Descriptions

TIER 1- FOUNDATION COURSES

Introduction to Physical Computing

H79.2301.1     Wed 09:30am to 12:00pm     Thomas Igoe
This course expands the students' palette for physical interaction design with computational media. We look away from the limitations of the mouse, keyboard and monitor interface of today's computers, and start instead with the expressive capabilities of the human body. We consider uses of the computer for more than just information retrieval and processing, and at locations other than the home or the office. The platform for the class is a microcontroller, a single-chip computer that can fit in your hand. The core technical concepts include digital, analog and serial input and output. Core interaction design concepts include user observation, affordances, and converting physical action into digital information. Students have weekly lab exercises to build skills with the microcontroller and related tools, and longer assignments in which they apply the principles from weekly labs in creative applications. Both individual work and group work is required.      Syllabus

TIER 2

Animals, People and Those In Between

H79.2746.1     Tues 3:30pm to 6:00pm     Marina Zurkow
This class uses animals, humans, and other creatures as a way to think about character representation. Claude Levi-Strauss’ observation that “Animals are Good to Think” is the starting point from which we make, discuss, and examine the ways in which art works imagine the interrelationships between the human, the animal, and our environment. If we can only perceive these things through mediation (media representations), then how we represent them is the fundamental question, reflecting our ideologies, prejudices, hopes, and fears. Do we speak for animals, and if so what are we saying for them? Are they friends, pets, environmental equals or beasts? How are hybrid monsters (chimera) created and what do they mean? How do we understand our places as subjects in a landscape or a datascape? How can anthropomorphic cuteness be subversive? This class focuses on questions of intention, relation, and subjectivity, through critical engagement with representations of people, animals, monsters, and mutants, in their respective environments. The class is further focused on the use of character in context, via toy design, robotics, animation, video, image generation or data visualization. There are introductory texts on character development, and generally an emphasis on literary, philosophical and natural history texts, including Jorge Luis Borges, John Berger, Giorgio Agamben, Donna Haraway, Rebecca Solnit, Steve Baker, Deleuze & Guattari. Assignments include studio work and readings. There is more emphasis on the development and analysis of ideas, and less emphasis on particular media or forms. Students make several short projects, backed up by readings and research into precedent art works. There is a final project. Class is a combination of studio critique, responses to art works, reading and discussion.      Syllabus

Big Games

H79.2454.1     Fri 3:30pm to 6:00pm     Gregory Trefry
What happens to games when they escape the boundaries of our tabletops and desktops and VV TV screens and living rooms? From massively multiplayer online games to networked objects that turn the city into a gigantic game grid, new forms of super-sized gaming are expanding at an alarming rate and opening up vast new spaces in which to play. Whether these games are measured in terms of number of players, geographical dimensions, or temporal scope, they represent a new trend in which the "little world" created by a game threatens to swallow up the "real world" in which it is situated. This class is a hands-on workshop that is focused on the particular design problems of large-scale games. In this class students: develop a foundation of basic game design understanding from which to approach the specific issues particular to big games; analyze existing digital and non-digital large-scale games, taking them apart to understand how they work; as interactive systems; and work on a series of design exercises that explore the social, technological, and creative possibilities of large-scale games.      Syllabus

Copyright, Cyberlaw and the New Free Culture

H79.2828.1     Wed 6:30pm to 9:00pm     Frederick Benenson
The phrases 'free software', 'free culture', and 'peer to peer production' are often casually referenced in the current discourse on digital media and culture. But each are coherent topics and phenomena representing radical challenges to our established notions of authorship, ownership, and collaboration of cultural works. In order to fully investigate these new modes of production, this course will introduce basic concepts in copyright and cyberlaw (Are ideas ownable? What is fair use? What are my rights online?) while taking time to examine the underlying technology of our digital communications infrastructure (the TCP/IP stack, routing, file sharing, etc.). Students are expected to actively participate in free culture communities, open source projects, and engage in a discourse regarding the future of cultural production. A basic understanding of open communities and a desire to investigate the legal and technical implications of radical thought are required. Readings will include Lessig, Stallman, Benkler, Doctorow, Shirky, Barlow, Coleman, Patry, Wu, and Zittrain.

Creating Community Environments

H79.2838.1     Fri 6:30pm to 9:00pm     Kristen Taylor
Why are some communities fun? Why do we only reluctantly participate in others? In this class, we do community fieldwork--battling for mayor on Foursquare, offering opinions in Hunch, researching products and services on Get Satisfaction to discover how collaborative actions happen. With a special focus on navigation, we'll think about markets and audiences, looking for ways to create receptive environments for interactive work. Along the way, we'll research language markers, design cues, griefing, upcycling, excellence, and craft as we focus on the agency of objects and the targeted representation of ideas. Readings range from single-purpose sites like WafflePeople.com to ecofuturist short stories to Irish poetry; students will use Tumblr blogs to respond to readings and share their observations with text, images, and video. Heavy emphasis on small group work in class meetings will lead to user testing at the midterm and an individual final project refined and evaluated by the class. Students will develop a deep understanding of consumption and contextual patterns to apply to their larger portfolio.      Syllabus

Dataflow Audio Programming

H79.2748.1     Wed 12:30pm to 3:00pm     Hans Steiner
Graphical dataflow programming languages like the Max family (Pd aka Pure Data, Max/MSP, jMax, etc.) provide a more intuitive approach to media creation and manipulation. This paradigm is based on mapping out the flow of the data, which more closely mirrors the experience of realtime media. Pd has its roots in realtime audio programming and that is the core of the class. We start with the basics of Pd itself, and cover sampling, synthesis, processing, syncing video, sensor I/O, networking, and how to organize large projects. The Max paradigm is compared to text-based languages like Processing to provide an idea of their differences and similarities, as well as their respective strengths and weaknesses. This course is structured around learning by doing, so students have regular assignments to explore the ideas covered in class, as well as a final project. The focus is on Pd, but much of this knowledge is applicable to Max/MSP as well.      Syllabus

Design Expo

H79.2274.1     Tues 3:30pm to 6:00pm     Nancy Hechinger
Students address a design challenge that is presented at the start of the term. Over the course of the semester, students work in small teams to prototype and develop ideas in response to the challenge; classes take the form of critique sessions of these ideas and their presentation. This year's theme is still being finalized and it is likely that several other universities from various countries will also be participating in the Microsoft Design Expo. It is planned that one of the project teams from each university will be invited to present their work to the research and design groups at Microsoft in Redmond, WA over the summer.      Syllabus

Design Frontiers in Biology and Materiality

H79.2816.1     Mon 2:30pm to 5:25pm     Amanda Parkes
Biological organisms and systems are essentially living machines. Digital technologies allow us to create a control structure with computational predictability and precision. What happens, however, when designers begin to incorporate the self-determined internal control structure of a biological system as part of a design strategy? This course offers a new approach to materiality, positing that all matter is dynamic but exists within a continuum of control ranging from passively temporal (wood, water) to electronically active (photovoltaics, thermochromics) to biologically alive (plants, tissue). This course presents alternative design strategies for creating computational interfacing with living matter and state change of natural materials. Students are introduced to the world of the bio lab from a designer’s perspective, both conceptually and practically. We examine the state-of-the-art in artistic experimentation with biological systems such as the genetic manipulation projects of Eduardo Kac, or the carbon nanotubes grown into architectural structures of Ryan Wartena. We also examine more DIY approaches to living systems integration and interactivity with biological systems. Students use a hands-on approach in their design process, with biological sensing as input and indicators or material state change as an alternative method of information display, for example. This course is designed to further our computational relationship with the natural world pushing forward ideas in sustainability, interactivity, energy production and the emerging relationship between the designer/artist and the bio lab, approaching biology as an open frontier for digital design.

Developing Assistive Technology: Field Service Learning

H79.2842.1     Tues 6:30pm to 9:00pm     John Schimmel
This is a two-point field service learning internship. Participating students are supervised by John Schimmel and work with collaborating faculty and graduate students from the Department of Occupational Therapy in addition to host clinical sites (including Rusk Institute for Rehabilitation Medicine and The ALS Association.) Assistive technology projects and research are pre-determined and include: digital photography and adaptive cameras; re-gaining access to reading for individuals with limited mobility; and gaming and recreation for individuals with limited mobility. Approval required by supervising faculty. Participating students will meet as a group bi-weekly (Tuesdays 6:30-9:00)

Digital Imaging: Reset

H79.2550.1     Fri 12:30pm to 3:00pm     Eric Rosenthal
Digital cameras and printers are making photography more ubiquitous and more useful than ever. This course is a workshop that looks at changing the rules for capturing and printing digital imagery. By gaining a better understanding of the engineering fundamentals and limitations of digital photography, students can produce breathtaking images with all the benefits of digital media but with an image quality that rivals film. Students experiment using low cost, hands-on tips and tricks in software and hardware to capture high dynamic range, expanded color, night color, 3D, time lapse, and stop motion images using a digital camera and printer. While using mostly off-the-shelf tools, these experiments require students to dig down to see the nitty-gritty of today's and tomorrow's technologies for digitally sensing, encoding, compressing, transmitting and displaying images.      Syllabus

Dynamic Web Development

H79.2296.1     Tues 12:30pm to 3:00pm     Christopher Sung
How does one move away from creating static websites and toward building active, evolving hubs of activity? This class covers the design and implementation of the "dynamic" website in two distinct but related contexts: the technical aspects of manipulating content "on the fly", and the end user experience of interacting in this type of setting. Particular attention is given to social and community-based web interaction. The production environment consists of the MySQL database and the PHP programming language. Students can expect to develop a firm knowledge of database design and optimization, the SQL query language, and the use of PHP to create dynamic activity of both orthodox and unorthodox nature. Late-semester topics focus on interfacing this environment with other technologies such as JavaScript and Flash, along with data population and site architecture methodology. Introduction to Computational Media or equivalent programming experience is required. Students are also expected to have fluency in HTML or to come up to speed with it outside of class. Class requirements include homework assignments to reinforce each week's concepts while simultaneously contributing to the student's "toolkit" of code and design principles. There is also a midterm project, and a final project of the student's choosing. Given the wide range of applications that would benefit from a web-accessible database, students should feel free to use their project(s) from this class to support or enhance projects from other classes.      Syllabus

Electronic Project Development Studio

H79.2814.1     Fri 10:30am to 11:45am     Eric Rosenthal
This class is an environment for students to work on their own electronic project ideas that may fall outside the topic areas of existing classes. This particular studio is focused on projects involving electronics. Students are required to present a project description on the first day of class. They then work together with the class and the instructor to develop a production plan for their project. Class meetings consist of critique and feedback sessions on individual or group projects, and breakout sessions with students working individually or in groups of people working on similar projects. When technical topics of general interest emerge, they will be covered in class. Students are expected to show their projects multiple times during the semester, test the projects in stages, and get feedback from both class members in class and from the audience for whom their projects are intended outside of class.

Embedding Privacy

H79.2310.1     Fri 3:30pm to 6:00pm     Marc Libarle
Numerous commentators have pronounced the loss of, and end to, privacy. To protect privacy, the ranks of experts, foundations, and watchdog groups expand their focus. There is a growing tension between national security and digital commerce on the one hand and personal privacy on the other. This course questions whether the historical notion of privacy is adequate to champion individual autonomy in an interactive digital age. The course examines how privacy is increasingly encompassed by information technology that mimics a ‘digital enclosure’ – a virtual consciousness of interactivity derived from the capacity to track and record every digital move. What is the connection between monitoring personal data and surveillance? What are the privacy issues connected with biometrics, I.D. cards, smart cards, data-mining, and pattern analysis? This course analyzes how in various technical, legal, and political ways, privacy is now asymmetrical: first personal privacy is invaded and then business and government assert privacy rights to bar individual access to data collection. The class discusses new approaches to thinking about what privacy is and what information autonomy means. Privacy is analyzed in terms of existing policies of restraint in contrast to the next generation of embedded privacy. Our study lends itself to one of ITP’s great assets: creativity. Students capture a conceptual understanding of privacy as an identity platform upon which can be embedded the architecture of digital autonomy. Note: This two-point class meets every other Friday.

Exhibit Design: New York Hall of Science

H79.2796.1     Wed 3:30pm to 6:00pm     Eric Siegel
In this class students will develop and design interactive exhibits for the New York Hall of Science (NYHS) . It will be taught by Eric Siegel and Nancy Hechinger. Eric is the Director and Chief Content Officer at the New York Hall of Science. He leads the education, programs, exhibition development, science, and technology. The class will learn-- from readings and hands-on experience--what is required to take an exhibit from concept through design, prototype and testing with real users. Eric will present a design brief for a suite of exhibits to be installed at the Hall. The brief will include: the topic, references for the scientific principles to be demonstrated, the educational goal, the target audience, the location within the museum, and budget. Nancy will work with the class in the role of design manager. Eric (NYHS) is the client, Nancy and the class are the design team. …first as a whole class to brainstorm solutions, then in smaller collaborative teams to realize the ideas and produce prototypes. Class discussions will range from seminar type discussions on readings to design crits that will mirror a client-design firm interaction. Please NOTE: There will be three times during the semester that the class will meet for 4 hours on Saturdays at the NYHS. There will no class on the Wednesday of those weeks.: 1) 2nd week…to experience and get to know the Hall, meet the scientists and exhibit developers, take measurements of the location, etc. 2) 6th week…first prototyping session on the hall—with real visitors, observation and documentation of problems, formative evaluation for design revision. 3) 13th week…final projects review with visitors and NYHS staff

Flash Back

H79.2532.1     Tues 3:30pm to 6:00pm     Veronique Brossier
This class is aimed at programming novices or at students who had trouble with Introduction to Computational Media and want to try again in different, higher level language and with a different environment. Programming is often viewed as an arcane art, an esoteric skill that is far removed from design and user experience. With the advent and evolution of higher-level programming languages however, the power of coding is becoming accessible to an increasingly broad audience of designers, artists, and enthusiasts. This course explores the use of programming as a tool to create interactive experiences, in the context of Adobe Flash's ActionScript programming language. Students focus on core programming concepts, and use these basic concepts to prototype personal projects. While the focus of the course is on developing with ActionScript, the concepts learned are common to all programming languages. It also fulfills the ICM requirement for people who have not yet taken it. This two point course meets for the first seven weeks of the semester.

Giant Stories/Tiny Screens

H79.2830.1     Wed 6:30pm to 9:00pm     Daniel Liss
What kinds of video narratives does the Internet allow or encourage? How does the intimacy of millions of viewers sitting alone at home change the possibilities for public story-telling? What thrives? What fails? And why? And maybe most importantly: what kinds of stories get told, when the financial pressure of needing a vast audience is removed? We explore existing work (including weekly videochats with some of the leading makers in the field) and create our own - with a goal of challenging traditional media and crafting the kinds of stories we ourselves would like to see. Part production (a brief overview of camera/editing technique) part studio, this class explores the ways technology can enhance and inspire the creative act.

GL Art

H79.2548.1     Wed 6:30pm to 9:00pm     Mark Napier
This course explores OpenGL as an artistic medium. The computer provides artists with a bewildering variety of options for creating images: image editors, 3D modelling tools, animation tools, and dozens of programming languages. Yet at the lower level of all computer rendering lies a relatively simple and very powerful graphics processor. OpenGL provides access to this lower level of rendering, and gives artists the opportunity to create their own "brush and canvas", to produce high performance animated graphics in both 3D and 2D. The purpose of this course is to introduce OpenGL and provide a working knowledge of this powerful API. Though we explore OpenGL briefly through Processing, in most of the course we use Java, Eclipse and an OpenGL library to develop graphical applications.  Through hands-on programming examples we explore basic concepts of OpenGL such as coordinate systems, navigating in a 3D space, cameras, rendering models, mouse and keyboard input, lighting, texturing and blending. The course consists of weekly programming assignments and a final project. This class is intended for students who are comfortable with programming. Prerequisites: Programming in Java and/or Processing.      Syllabus

Hospitable Room: Designing a Hospital Pediatric Recreation Room

H79.2820.1     Tues 12:30pm to 3:00pm     Marianne Petit / Daniel O'Sullivan
Children in rehabilitation treatment often stay in the hospital for months at a time. We have the opportunity to create a room that will make that stay more fun and entertaining for them. This course will work in collaboration with the NYU Langone Medical Center: The Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine Pediatric Department. We have outfitted the pediatric recreation room with a video tracking, projection and transmission system through which ITP students participating in this class will build projects that examine how these environmental technologies can improve one's quality of stay in hospital. The technical exercises in the class will be around lighting, camera and coding tricks for video tracking and augmented reality as well as audio and video transmission over IP. Physical computing techniques will also be supported as projects require them. In addition, the class will cover issues of designing for the range of physical and cognitive function of children who will use this space. How can this system be used therapeutically? recreationally? how can it be used to decrease isolation? or foster collaboration? keep them smiling? Students in this class will meet with recreational and occupational therapists, the hospital's Therapeutic Recreation, Child Life & Creative Arts Therapies Department, as well as patients, to determine needs and usage. Final projects to deploy into the facility will be selected by faculty and hospital staff.

If Products Could Tell Their Stories: Towards a Model of Sustainable Design

H79.2738.1     Mon 11:00am to 1:55pm     Jennifer van der Meer
Is there lead in my nephew’s toy? Does my new HDTV have a much greater impact on global warming than my old TV? When I finally recycle those old cell phones and computers that have been collecting dust in my closet, where will they be taken, and will anything or anyone be harmed as they are recycled? Without answers to these questions that people are seeking, there are limits to the role consumption can play in our shift to a more sustainable economic model. As product developers, designers, tinkerers, and technologists, we have the means to uncover these answers, and communicate the backstories of the things that we make. The objective of this course is to explore sustainable models, methods, and practices of both production and consumption. The class explores an interaction design model proposed by Bruce Sterling’s Shaping Things, in which he implores, “Designers must design, not just for objects or for people, but for the technosocial interactions that unite people and objects.” Additional content exposes students to the relationship between production, consumption, and impacts to the earth’s ecosystem and human health. Students learn how to analyze product/service systems and are expected to perform a Life Cycle Analysis based on the Okala Design framework. Students also are asked to investigate and communicate a product backstory to an existing product. The final exercise of the course involves the creation of a new product/service system that provides a framework for users to affect and modulate the environmental and social impacts throughout their relationship with that object. Class participation is required and group projects are encouraged. Note: This course meets for 12 sessions beginning Monday, January 25.      Syllabus

Information and Technology for Socio-Political Change

H79.2822.1     Tues 6:30pm to 9:00pm     Christina Goodness
If you saw radical injustice happening right in front of you, what would you do? This course will investigate how others are answering that question right now, using specific political and technological toolsets. From the Iranian “Twitter revolution” in Azadi square to Sri Lankan bloggers, from post-election Kenyan crowdsourcing to the grassroots humanitarian Katrina response, to the Obama election, this class will investigate technologies created or re-purposed for socio-political change. What are the design and implementation issues? If we view government as a “platform,” what does that mean for new interfaces? Are all governments a stable compilation? If not, what are the implications for interaction design? Is there any way to avoid bias in application design? How do we accommodate for those with whom we do not agree? How should transparency and security issues be properly balanced when these issues are translated in applications? What are the real tools that have been used or are being used right now to rectify injustice and bring positive social change? What have been their advantages and disadvantages, and how has political context defined their use? How does the digital divide modify the outcome? Together in this class we will look at live global case studies to answer these questions, from the viewpoint of the individual user of both government and technology. We will review underlying design issues around freedom of information and privacy, structured change vs. creative chaos, crisis-driven vs. long-term change, and strength in numbers vs. the value of dissent, all with an eye towards producing good new ideas for positive social change. You will be asked to select one case study to follow through the semester, be given readings and outside speakers will be invited to present issues. You will present your case study findings and will be expected to integrate your findings into your final assignment: one prototype for potential or actual implementation. Rather than learning about specific tools (this is not a production or design class), this class is about understanding a user scenario. Your challenge would be to make the case for which technologies are useful means to specific positive ends, and to prove it through with a testable prototype.

Interactive Documentary

H79.2412.1     Mon 2:30pm to 5:25pm     Ruth Sergel
Interactive documentaries provide radical new possibilities for both community creation and active audience engagement. This class explore the history of the documentary form through photography, oral history, film/video, performance and current hybrid projects. Interactive Documentary is a production class. Weekly experiments in creating documentaries are supported by lectures, viewing of non-traditional works and learning the necessary audio/video & projection tools. Assignments focus on developing works whose creation mirrors the themes we are seeking to explore. In the past documentaries were created with an expectation of the audience operating as passive consumers. Interactive documentaries enable us to dream new possibilities with audiences actively participating in the work. Note: This course meets for 12 sessions beginning Monday, January 25.

Learning Bit by Bit

H79.2836.1     Thur 3:30pm to 6:00pm     Heather Dewey-Hagborg
From mailing a letter to shopping online to walking down a city street, applications of machine learning have penetrated our daily experience. Our faces, our voices, the emails we write, the products we buy, the content we choose, all constitute our data portrait: aggregates of information that are meticulously sifted, sorted and searched by algorithms behind the scenes. This class will take a critical tour of the technologies that learn from this data. We will look at the information that defines us and how it is analyzed using techniques common to biology, computer science, robotics and surveillance. We will cover both the theory and the implementation of machine learning techniques that are commonly used today in applications of text analysis, web search, face recognition, speech recognition, hand writing analysis, and content suggestion. We will discuss the concept of a data portrait and how heuristics and inductive bias shape the way we are seen. Finally, we will apply these techniques to create portraits of our own. This class will involve weekly readings, as well as in and out of class work on individual and group projects engaging with the concepts. Students will be encouraged to implement projects in a variety of media including electronics, robotics, performance, installation, writing, websites, or software. Prerequisite: H79.2233 Introduction to Computational Media or equivalent programming experience.      Syllabus

Little Computers

H79.2750.1     Fri 12:30pm to 3:00pm     David Nolen
Apple sold the iPhone as a phone, but its buyers use it as a little computer. In no time, hackers cracked the phone and found it to be not much different than their OS X based laptops and desktops. The cute device runs a mature UNIX based operating system and it supports most of Apple’s object-oriented API, Cocoa. The class covers object oriented programming, C/Objective-C/Objective-C++, scripting languages, OS X internals, Interface Builder, and XCode. The Cocoa and Cocoa Touch APIs covered include: Quartz, OpenGL, Core Location, CFNetwork (wifi), as well open source frameworks such as GData (Google) and XMPPFramework (Jabber). We'll also explore the rapid developing OpenFrameworks port for the iPhone/iPod Touch. Access to a Mac running OS X 10.5 is the minimum requirement, but having a real Cocoa Touch device like the iPhone or the iPod Touch to test on will make the class more enjoyable. The class is highly technical in nature and is geared to intermediate to advanced programmers, or /extremely/ dedicated beginners. That said, the goal of the course is to actively and creatively explore this new field of little computers using the iPhone as the main research platform.

Live Experimental Interactive Television

H79.2840.1     Tues 6:30pm to 9:00pm     Shawn Van Every
What happens when interactive technology is used live by hundreds or even thousands of individuals simultaneously? How do you create engaging and interactive content through television which is traditionally a passive, lean back medium? Through this class, we will be exploring those questions by developing live television shows. In the first part of the semester we will do a series of experiments using emerging technology for audience interaction with live broadcast content: sms, chat, phone calls, video conferencing, networked objects and the like. Particular attention will be paid to how these technologies may be used in the context of a live show with a large audience. The second portion of the semester will be centered around the development of a live program from concept to broadcast and beyond. Students will be working in small groups to develop and produce a live broadcast television show.      Syllabus

Living Art

H79.2534.1     Tues 09:30am to 12:00pm     Todd Holoubek
Generative Art creates a process of evolution, where most art imitates life, generative art has a life of it’s own. This is a class that combines Physical Computing and Generative Art, providing an environment for students interested in pursuing an artistic outlet for their physical computing skills. Generative Art has been chained to the personal computer for too long. What would happen if we took the methods employed in software art and applied them to the physical world through sensors and reactive elements? or like Ned Kahn’s piece “Wind”, apply laws of nature to physical works? In this class we apply simple rules to dictate the shape or function of a work and add to it an inherent complexity that is both beautiful and intelligent. By combining the simple rules, or a system, with physical computing, we are marrying the work to the intention of the artist. This helps us define what we are doing when we create, it takes the assignments beyond exercises in executing basic electronics and drives it to an intention. The challenge for this class exists in taking this approach away from the personal computer and applying it to the physical world. In some cases it is very clear how we can apply the Generative methods in the use of motors or light grids, but how do we apply fuzzy logic? Where do we use the Golden Section with an FSR, proximity sensor or how do we create algorithmic motion in the physical world? This class is for students who have completed Intro to Physical Computing.      Syllabus

Mechanisms and Things That Move

H79.2624.1     Thur 6:30pm to 9:00pm     Dustyn Roberts
This class is designed to equip the student with a basic knowledge of mechanical engineering, materials, and component selection for practical use. Emphasis will be placed on finding and using affordable,everyday components for the hobbyist. Real-world, professional level components and technologies will also be covered in case studies and class examples. From kinetic sculptures to modern architecture, from product design to interactive art, learning how to create sound mechanical interfaces between inputs and outputs to a system helps us interpret and interact with our environments. There is little use in building effective circuitry for physical computing if the mechanism to be controlled is too weak to handle the task set forth for it. Systems can also be optimized and protected from expensive over-engineering with a basic knowledge of mechanics and materials. A breadth of topics will be covered ranging from how to attach couplers and shafts to a motor to converting between rotary and linear motion. Many topics will be presented in the form of competition, challenges, or group installations. Weekly lectures will be supplemented by in class demos and out of class lab work. Both Individual and group work will be required. Prerequisite: Intro to Physical Computing      Syllabus

Methods of Motion

H79.2448.1     Thur 12:30pm to 3:00pm     Marianne Petit
This class explores methods of storytelling through animation. We examine a range of techniques including pixillation, stop motion, collage, abstract and cartoon animation. We apply a variety of tools such as iStopMotion, After Effects, and Flash. There are five animation short animation assignments and one final project. Students are encouraged to experiment. Drawing skills are not necessary though students are required to maintain a weekly sketchbook. A basic knowledge of digital video is a plus.      Syllabus

Mobile Me(dia)

H79.2690.1     Thur 3:30pm to 6:00pm     Shawn Van Every
Mobile devices (phones) have become devices for both the production and consumption of rich media—augmenting their original purpose as one-to-one communication devices. In this course we will explore the technology that enables the consumption and production of media on these devices with an eye towards how that media can be used in conjunction with the devices’ original social and communicative purposes. In short, this course will examine social and participatory aspects of mobile media consumption and generation. Students will create projects that utilize the available technology to explore new forms of social media creation and consumption. In this course will cover Multimedia Messaging, the mobile web, mobile photography, mobile video, live streaming, geocoding and more. We will utilize both PHP (web side) and Java (Android or Mobile Processing, device side) for development. ICM is a prerequisite. (Programming, Video, Mobile )      Syllabus

Narrative Lab

H79.2261.1     Mon 11:00am to 1:55pm     Douglas Rushkoff
This seminar and laboratory considers the impact of interactivity and technology on traditional narrative structure, and explores new methods for conveying the essential narrative elements in non-linear and interactive forms of art, entertainment, and communications. Throughout, we will be formulating approaches to traditional narrative in interactive contexts, as well as piloting new narrative constructs developed for non-linear media. Each class meeting is broken up into two parts. The first is a seminar discussion examining an aspect of traditional narrative, and the way it is threatened or rendered obsolete in an interactive context. The second takes the form of workshop exercises and short projects through which alternative narrative forms specifically suited for an interactive environment are conceived, prototyped and evaluated. Students also work on longer-term experiments in interactive narrative, developing rule sets through which emergent narratives may form. These may take forms ranging from augmented theater, interactive comics, and video games to robots, installations, software, amusement rides, or prototypes for as-yet undefined media. Readings will include Aristotle, McKee, Ibsen, Brecht, Marie Ryan, Scott Mcloud, Rushkoff, Carse, Huizinga, Burroughs, and a few current game theorists. Note: This course meets for 12 sessions beginning Monday, January 25.

Project Development Studio (Marina Zurkow)

H79.2742.1     Wed 3:30pm to 6:00pm     Marina Zurkow
This is a workshop for students to develop an existing project idea. It is a combination of self-directed study, with the structure of a class and an opportunity for peer learning. This particular studio is appropriate for projects in the areas of installation art with a focus on the moving image, non-linear or multi-channel video and animation, and site-specific projects. Each class time is a chance to work on your project, share project development and critique. Students devise and then complete their own weekly assignments updating the class wiki regularly. They also present to the class every few weeks. Topics of shared interest are presented by a member of the class, or by the instructor. The rest of the meeting time is spent in breakout sessions with students working individually or in groups of students working on related projects.      Syllabus

Reading and Writing Electronic Text

H79.2778.1     Fri 3:30pm to 6:00pm     Adam Parrish
This course introduces the Python programming language as a tool for reading and writing digital text. This course is specifically geared to serve as a general-purpose introduction to programming in Python, but will be of special interest to students interested in poetics, language, creative writing and text analysis. Weekly programming exercises work toward a midterm project and culminate in a final project. Poetics topics covered include: character encodings (and other technical issues); cut-up and re-mixed texts; the algorithmic nature of poetic form (proposing poetic forms, generating text that conforms to poetic forms); transcoding/transcription (from/to text); generative algorithms: n-gram analysis, context-free grammars; performing digital writing. Programming topics covered include: object-oriented programming; functional programming (list comprehensions, recursion); getting data from the web; displaying data on the web; parsing data formats (e.g., markup languages); and text visualization with Processing. Prerequisites: Introduction to Computational Media or equivalent programming experience.

Redial: Interactive Telephony

H79.2574.1     Thur 6:30pm to 9:00pm     Christopher Kairalla
New technologies, such as Voice over IP, and open source telephony applications, such as Asterisk, have opened the door for the development of interactive applications that use telephony for it's traditional purpose -- voice communications. This course explores the use of the telephone in interactive art, performance, social networking, and multimedia applications. Asterisk and low cost VoIP service are used to develop applications that can work over both telephone networks and the internet. Topics include: history of telephony, plain old telephone service (POTS), voice over IP (VoIP), interactive voice response systems (IVR), audio user interfaces, voice messaging systems (voicemail), text to speech and speech recognition, phreaking (telephone hacking), VoiceXML, conferencing and more. This course involves programming with PHP, Perl or Java. Some proficiency with one of those languages is required.      Syllabus

Sociable Objects Workshop

H79.2672.1     Wed 12:30pm to 3:00pm     Robert Faludi
Sociable objects are devices that share. They can talk to each other, gain information about their context and react accordingly. Recent advances in wireless mesh networks have created the potential for a massively interconnected world of easy information sharing. Cheap communications, high reliability, unique addressing, small size, standardization, and routing features combine to enable exciting new interactions. Developers of toys, wearables, performance devices, portables, network objects and sensor arrays can take advantage of radio mesh networking to design more interesting behaviors for their projects. This course explores devices that connect with and respond to each other in a workshop format. The technical focus will be on 802.15.4/ZigBee wireless mesh networks. Interconnections with other platforms and devices will be examined as needed. Students will gain an expertise in using low-power radio networking to facilitate smart and novel object interactions. Prior experience with basic electronics and physical computing is helpful. Most labs and projects involve group work, so students should be ready to collaborate extensively as they experiment on the cutting edge of device interaction.      Syllabus

Social Facts: Motivation

H79.2518.1     Fri 12:30pm to 3:00pm     Clay Shirky
Social Facts centers on two questions. The first is, how do we function in groups? Group effort presents significant coordination problems, problems that have to be overcome even to do anything as simple as getting everyone in the same place at the same time. Getting a group to function as a relatively cohesive unit means getting its members to set aside enough of their autonomy, and to come to regard their membership in the group as important. The second, related question is, why do we function in groups. Group life is often unpleasant – it can be frustrating or boring in the extreme, and yet we often chose group membership over individual action when given the choice, whether on Monday morning or Friday night. What are the motivations that lead people to give up enough autonomy to participate in group action, either extrinsic (seeking fame and fortune) or intrinsic (feelings of accomplishment or appreciation of others.) Readings are drawn from classic sociological literature (Emil Durkheim, Mark Granovetter, Robert Axelrod) and from recent observations about mediated groups (danah boyd, Dan Hill, Clay Shirky); course work involves readings, class discussions, observation of existing groups, and three papers discussing the design of group interaction.      Syllabus

Sound and The City: Sound and Urban Intervention

H79.2834.1     Thur 12:30pm to 3:00pm     Daniel Perlin
Sound and The City is a studio course designed examine design and architectural strategies for sound in the urban context of New York. This course is divided into two parts. First, we will examine the characteristics of sound: what, if any, are the differences between sound, noise and music? What makes sound? How can sound effect the way people engage and perceive public space? Aside from an examination of the physical attributes of sound itself, this first section will involve presentations and research into the histories sound art and sound design within the contexts of urban environments. With this in mind, this research will be directed towards the second phase of the course: the production of a sound- based work that is to be proposed for public space in New York. Emphasis will be given on situating sound both spatially and temporally, understanding the work in terms of site specificity as well as its location within the larger discourses and histories of sound, design and urbanism. Technical prerequisites are basic sound programs such as Audacity or any basic knowledge of some form of sound-making tools. Course examples may be given using Max/MSP, Processing, Logic, physical computing etc., but only to illustrate concept. The focus will be on the content and context of the works, and participants will be responsible for defining the best tools for the deployment of their ideas. Final works will be presented as working prototypes/designs or full deployments of the sound interventions. This studio will include a midterm concept critique and final critique by guest architects, artists, designers and sound designers.      Syllabus

Spatial Media

H79.2756.1     Thur 6:30pm to 9:00pm     Jared Schiffman
Computer screens are nothing new. But what happens to the screen when it becomes a table or a mirror or a sidewalk? How does one design for such a screen? This course explores how interactive media can be integrated into physical spaces and furniture through the creative use of projectors and embedded displays. The course also examines the multitude of questions that arise when when designing for this type of media. Emphasis is placed on the role of spatial and social context and the importance of relevant content within each of these environments. Technical topics include display integration techniques, vision-based sensing, interface programming and methods of fabrication. Students work in pairs to complete two large projects over the course of the semester. Projects are evaluated on both the quality of the design and the success of implementation. Additionally, there are weekly assignments that challenge students to consider a wide variety of spaces that are ripe for transformation through the integration of digital media. Since this class involves programming on an intermediate level, a working knowledge of Processing or C is a prerequisite.      Syllabus

Sustainable Energy

H79.2466.1     Thur 09:30am to 12:00pm     Jeffrey Feddersen
This class examines technology from the perspective of energy sources and power flows. The course begins with a broad overview of the topic, a definition of terms, and an opportunity to discuss political and social ramifications. At the same time, students are introduced to a handful of technical concepts that draw on skills learned in physical computing (a prerequisite for the course) to gain a concrete understanding of energy. These skills allow the student to evaluate, monitor, harvest, and store small and/or intermittent sources of (typically electrical) energy, such as those from solar cells, turbines, and other sources. Students execute several small hands-on projects and one larger-scale project using the concepts learned in theclass.

Telling Stories with Data, Sensors & Humans

H79.2818.1     Mon 6:00pm to 8:55pm     Nick Bilton
Each day more and more data becomes available online; earthquakes, government systems, crime statistics, user web data and on services like Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook etc. Until this data is collected, culled and visualized, it sits in spreadsheets as a clustered mess of numbers. In this class we'll learn to tell visual stories with this data. We'll learn about and use data sets that already exist from government websites like data.gov and from private websites. We'll learn the balance of telling stories with information - function, and making the content visually appealing - form. We'll also explore mapping information using geocodes and location information. Later in the course we'll build data collections using hardware (Arduinos, mobile phones etc.) and in turn tell stories with this information. The final section of this course will look at a specific reporting problem from The New York Times and try to investigate using or creating data sets. *Every alternate class will have a range of guest lecturers including news, government and private businesses. **Must have intermediate Processing & Adobe Illustrator skills. Guest Lectures Include: Sarah Slobin. Graphics Director, The Wall Street Journal Ben Fry. Co-Creator, Processing Michael Driscoll. Founder dataspora.com Mark Hansen. Statistician/Professor CENS (Center for Embedded Network Censors) UCLA Ben Cervegny. Flickr, Frog Design, Stamen Aaron Koblin. Visualization Artist & Google Visualization Lab Dennis Crowley. CEO, Foursquare. & members of The New York Times Multimedia/Graphics Department Note: This course meets for 12 sessions beginning Monday, January 25.

The Nature of Code

H79.2480.1     Tues 12:30pm to 3:00pm     Daniel Shiffman
H79.2480.2     Wed 12:30pm to 3:00pm     Daniel Shiffman
Can we capture the unpredictable evolutionary and emergent properties of nature in software? Can understanding the mathematical principles behind our physical world world help us to create digital worlds? This class focuses on the programming strategies and techniques behind computer simulations of natural systems. We explore topics ranging from basic mathematics and physics concepts to more advanced simulations of complex systems. Subjects covered include forces, trigonometry, fractals, cellular automata, self-organization, and genetic algorithms. Examples are demonstrated using the Processing (http://www.processing.org) environment with a focus on object oriented programming. Prerequisite: H79.2233 Introduction to Computational Media or equivalent programming experience.      Syllabus

The Softness of Things: Technology in Space and Form

H79.2578.1     Thur 3:30pm to 6:00pm     Despina Papadopoulos
Jasper Johns once wrote in his notebook: "Take an object. Do something to it. Do something else to it." In this class we investigate what it means to "do things" to objects in ways that transforms them and our relationship to them. We experiment with materials and objects, stretching their limits and exploring their relationship to space and the body. These investigations are grounded in an understanding of the interactional possibilities of gestures, social and spatial dynamics, networks and open source systems while we develop a new set of artifacts and construction techniques. Softness, modularity, adaptability and re-configurability, washability, power management, connectors and ways to engage the senses (and sensors) are just some of the ideas and topics we examine through weekly assignments and social experiments.      Syllabus

The World-Pixel by Pixel

H79.2273.1     Wed 12:30pm to 3:00pm     Daniel Rozin
Images and visual information are perhaps the most potent tool at our disposal with which to engage viewers of our computer based creations. Computers have the ability to share our visual world by means of evaluating visual information, transforming visual content and even generating visuals from scratch. This class focuses on the art of computer graphics and image processing. We explore the concepts of pixilation, image representation and granularity and the tension between reality and image. Students are introduced to the tools and techniques of creating computer images from scratch, manipulating and processing existing images, compositing and transitioning multiple images, tracking live video and masking, compositing and manipulating live video. The class uses the C language (which is taught in class) and the various API’s required for graphics including Open Frameworks.      Syllabus

Time

H79.2826.1     Wed 6:30pm to 9:00pm     Che-Wei Wang
The ways we keep time are the ways we are kept. One might argue that humans ideated timekeeping and now we take it for granted. Without clocks we can't enjoy the benefits of social synchronicity. But with them, we are unwillingly constrained to arbitrary increments that guide our countless decisions. This class uses technology as a way to rethink and recapture the ways we keep time. Over the first half of the semester, we prototype a series of time keeping devices around a set of themes. Blindness, bio-mechanics, materials, space+location, isolation, synchronicity, and collaborative time. Each class begins with the delivery of tools to help construct various types of timepieces along with reviews and discussions. Video, software, motors + mechanisms, electronic signaling and communication tools are covered each week in relation to how they can be used to re-imagine time-keeping. Classes later in the semester are tailored to provide technical and conceptual support for final projects.

Toy Design Workshop

H79.2450.1     Thur 3:30pm to 6:00pm     Daniel Rozin
Toys are an important element in the learning process of young children. Toys are always interactive and can easily take advantage of the tools and disciplines of thought we use at ITP. Toys make it OK to develop something just to be fun. We were all kids, so no-one knows better than us how to invent toys. This class is centered around the creation of toys for children of ages 5 - 12. Students in the class have an opportunity to research, design, prototype and test new ideas for toys using both digital and non-digital materials. Projects are developed individually and in teams. We test the designs with children and educators, and receive feedback from professionals, possibly including people from Mattel or Fisher Price.      Syllabus

Video for New Media

H79.2256.1     Mon 6:00pm to 8:55pm     Gabe Barcia-Colombo
In 1967 the Sony Portapak became the first portable video system available to the public. Suddenly motion pictures became accessible to artists, experimenters and social activists, not simply Hollywood production companies. The introduction of the Portapak had a great influence not only on the development of ITP but also on the way we create, consume and distribute media today. How do we create video that is non-linear yet compelling, interactive yet engaging? The goal of this class is to provide an overview of both the history of video, and its relevance to present day new media. Topics covered include aesthetics and concepts, camera usage, editing, lighting, as well as an introduction to interactive video software such as Jitter and Isadora. Through a series of weekly experiments and assignments, students gain experience with video blogging, short format documentary style, post linear narrative, interactive video installations as well as theatrical video design. Previous video experience is not required and experimentation is highly encouraged! Note: This course meets for 12 sessions beginning Monday, January 25.      Syllabus

When Strangers Meet

H79.2762.1     Tues 3:30pm to 6:00pm     Kio Stark
Even the simplest exchange among strangers can contain a tangled accumulation of meanings: what transpires may have physical, emotional, social, political, technological and historical dimensions. This class takes an analytical approach to unraveling and understanding these charged moments. In the process of the studying how and why strangers interact in public, we address some of the abiding themes at ITP—urban behavior, spontaneous interaction, the pleasure of the unexpected, how technology can mediate and/or enable human experience—and we make a close and thorough examination of how they play out in this narrow slice of human experience. This approach is designed to bring students to a more concrete understanding of these larger abstract ideas. Classwork consists of readings, class discussions, field assignments (a series of assigned interactions with strangers that the students will document and discuss) and an analytical final paper. Students learn how the interactions of strangers have changed historically (and why), what the experience of interaction with strangers means to the participants, how strangers 'read' each other, how they initiate interactions, how they avoid interactions, how they trust each other and how they fool each other. Readings range from seminal works on urban sociology and public behavior (Georg Simmel, Stanley Milgram, Erving Goffman, Jane Jacobs, William H. Whyte, Elijah Anderson) to more lyrical examinations of strangers in cities (Tim Etchells, Italo Calvino, Roland Barthes, Walter Benjamin, Edgar Allan Poe) to recent neuropsychiatric discoveries about trust, mimicry, and flash judgments. Because stranger interactions are at heart a means to interrupt the expected narrative of the everyday, we consider the works of artists and thinkers who show how such disruption, surprise, spontaneity, and play are fundamental to the pleasure and substance of urban life, for example: the Situationists and their descendents, Sophie Calle, Marina Abramovic, Francis Alys, Graffiti Research Lab, Robert Rauschenberg, Survival Research Labs. We also explore recent art/technology projects that specifically engage strangers, such as Familiar Strangers, the Listening Station, PostSecret, Oddible, Loca: Set to Discoverable, Following/the Man in the Crowd, Mobile Feelings, and others.      Syllabus

Wildlife Observation Tools: Interaction in the Wild

H79.2824.1     Wed 3:30pm to 6:00pm     Thomas Igoe
Wildlife tracking presents a number of technological challenges. What types of sensors and communications devices are available? How do you hide the equipment in nesting places, feeding places, and other regularly visited spots? Can you attach tracking radios to the animals themselves without causing them hardship? How do you “ruggedize” the equipment? How do you gather data from the equipment you've placed regularly and reliably? These challenges are related to common interaction design problems with humans, so understanding and mastering them is valuable experience for interaction designers. For anthropologists, zoological, and veterinary researchers, understanding the technologies behind their tracking equipment, and the approach that technology designers take in developing and deploying these tools can benefit their research. The goal of this class is to give students an introduction to the technological challenges of tracking and observation of wildlife. Specifical ly, students are presented with the challenges faced by Professor Anthony Di Fiore's research group in tracking spider monkeys in Ecuador. Students discuss the challenges associated with spider monkey research, survey the state of the art in animal tracking with a focus on appropriate tools for this research project, and work in groups to develop interactive prototypes to address one or more of these challenges. Our hope is that this class serves both to introduce students to the subject, and also develop some workable prototypes that could be developed further in future semesters, either through other research projects related to this particular work, or on their own. In order to realize the goals of this class, students have access to current tracking tools: radio collars, “ruggedized” cameras, microphones, and other current tracking technologies. We also introduce common sensor and communication technologies used in physical interaction design practice. Students use the latter to either modify or extend existing gear or to develop new devices.

Writing and Reading Poetry in the Digital Age

H79.2832.1     Thur 12:30pm to 3:00pm     Nancy Hechinger
"If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that it is poetry." — Emily Dickinson 1) I can't think of a time I felt that way about any piece of multimedia art or an interactive story. 2) Great poems are intense distillations of emotion, thought, experience. 3) Usually fairly short... even long ones are shorter than a novel. 4) Multimedia experiences (on handhelds or on the web) are better when they are short. 5)...also a lot of people are afraid of poetry or have been turned off in high school. This will be an experimental class to first explore different ways we might read poetry, using published work of modern or traditional poets. Students are encouraged to use media that they are most comfortable with--animation, video, processing, etc. There will also be writing exercises based on the poems we use in class. Through this work we will explore what makes a poem a poem. It's not necessarily rhyme or meter, but there are underlying structures and guidelines: the use of tension, stresses; how and where a poem 'turns' to deliver an inevitable surprise; what is left unsaid, that a poem does not explain...and more. Students will then begin to explore different ways to write poetry...thinking of it perhaps not so much as a reading or even spoken experience, but maybe as something else. Who knows? This class, like writing poetry, is about discovering what it's about..but at least we know that we will read some great poetry, play with new ways of experiencing it, and create some new work of our own. I will invite 'real' poets as guest speakers to read in class and respond to our work.



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