Category Archives: Graduate

Courses for IMA Juniors and Seniors Only

Spring 2020

Tangible Interaction & Device Design (ITPG-GT 2061)

Tangible interfaces are interfaces that you touch. You control them with your hands, feet, and other body parts. Their shape, feel, and arrangement provide feedback. This is where interaction design meets industrial design. In this class, you’ll design, program, and build devices with tangible controls in order to better understand how humans understand and control technical systems through our sense of touch. We’ll discuss physical interaction concepts such as expressive interfaces and utilitarian ones, real-time control vs. delayed control, and implicit vs. explicit interactions. You’ll learn programming and electronic techniques to sense state change, thresholds, peaks, and other signs of user action. You’ll also learn how to design, shop for, and construct housings for the devices you build. On the electronics side, the primary tools will be the microcontroller and common tangible controls: pushbuttons, switches, rotary encoders, rotary and slide potentiometers, force sensors and touch sensors. The class will also cover on-device feedback through LEDs, speakers, and force-feedback actuators. On the fabrication side, you’ll work with the tools of the shop and XXX CAD program. You’ll design and build four projects in the course of the semester. Projects will be designed (and parts specified). Projects will build on the skills learned in Intro to Physical Computing and Intro to Fabrication. Prerequisites: Intro to Physical Computing and Intro to Computational Media, or a working knowledge of microcontroller programming in Arduino; Intro to Fabrication or basic knowledge of laser cutter.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)

ITPG-GT 2061-000 (23076)01/27/2020 – 05/11/2020 Wed9:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Igoe, Thomas · Light, Benjamin

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Art & Design) IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Physical Computing & Experimental Interfaces)
Fall 2021 Fall 2023 Fall 2024 Spring 2020

Designing the Absurd (ITPG-GT 2052)

Inspired by the Japanese art of Chindōgu, this class will introduce a playful and whimsical approach to learn industrial design. In this 14-week studio format class, students will develop gadgets, inventions, and electronic devices that present absurd solutions to problems, while learning concepts and techniques of design ideation, prototyping, model making, CMF (color, material, and finishes), and manufacturing. This is a production heavy four-credit course, where students will learn about industrial design and tangible interactions. Prerequisite: Intro to Phys. Comp. (ITPG-GT 2301)

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2024)

ITPG-GT 2052-000 (15716)09/05/2024 – 12/12/2024 Thu3:00 PM – 5:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Galvao Cesar de Oliveira, Pedro

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Art & Design)
Spring 2020

Artist’s Life (ITPG-GT 2057)

This class will introduce the basic skills and resources required to pursue a career as an artist. Students will learn the day to day tasks of working artists, such as writing critically about their own work, drafting grant proposals, and planning the business administration of their studios. They will also learn how to balance commercial and experimental projects, collaboration and community work, and teaching and studio practice. They will engage in the critical text about ethical dilemmas of working with art institutions, corporations and academia. By the end of class, students will write a personal statement, update an art portfolio, and apply for an artist residency. While the class will focus on contemporary art and artists, students who are interested in other disciplines may benefit from learning about entrepreneurship, authorship and cultural industry.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
4 credits – 12 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)

ITPG-GT 2057-000 (23266)01/30/2020 – 04/23/2020 Thu12:00 AM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Choi, Taeyoon

Graduate
Spring 2020

In and Out of Reality: Integrative Mixed-Reality (XR) Studio (ITPG-GT 2060)

There is a substantial gap between what AR/VR is capable of today and the future that enthusiasts envision. The hardware is progressing, yet there are lack of design tools and methodologies. Effective augmented and virtual reality games and experience require good storytelling, animation, production and solid graphics. Students will learn a myriad of processes including spatial interface design, volumetric capture, working with spatial audio, porting animations and game programming. This course presumes no prior knowledge and is intended to jump start a career in AR/VR development and interaction design. The goal is to have relevant portfolio projects for entering industry. Students will create content in Unity 3D to agnostically deploy on headsets, mobile phones or tablets. Students will have access to a wide range of available hardware. In the beginning of the course, students will learn to implement the most important AR/VR interaction concepts – concepts such as selection, manipulation, travel, wayfinding, menus and inputting text in Unity3D. In the latter part of the course, students will implement prototypes that will be periodically critiqued by experts at Oculus, Magic Leap, Google, and other top companies. *You do not need to be a programmer. This is intended for students interested in 3D art, interaction design, sound design and game development. All are important for immersive development*

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Media & Entertainment)
Spring 2020

Data and Publics (ITPG-GT 2053)

In this course, we’ll investigate two closely related ideas: public data and data publics. We’ll learn how to access and represent data from an assortment of existing public data sources, how to liberate currently obfuscated data sets, and how to create our own useful/whimsical/critical APIs from scratch. We’ll also investigate the act of putting data into public space – through sculpture, projections, performance, and participatory interventions. Particular attention will be paid to methods which bring data back to communities from which it was collected, and to tactics which build grassroots literacies, respect local ways of knowing and reinforce capabilities for stewardship and sovereignty.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
4 credits – 12 Weeks

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Programming & Data)
Spring 2020

Introduction to Synthetic Media (ITPG-GT 2054)

Generative machine learning models open new possibilities for creating images, videos, and text. This class explores the idea of how artists, designers and creators can use machine learning in their own design process. The goal of this class is to learn and understand some common machine learning techniques and use them to generate creative outputs. Students will learn to use pre-trained models, and train their own models in the cloud using Runway. For each week, we will discuss the history, theory, datasets, application of the machine learning models, and build experiments based on the model. In addition to Runway, we will be using JavaScript libraries like the p5.js, ml5.js, and TensorFlow.js, and software like Photoshop, Unity and Figma. Students are expected to have taken ICM (Introduction to Computational Media), or have equivalent programming experience with Python or JavaScript. A list of ML models we will be covering: Image generation: StylanGAN: https://github.com/NVlabs/stylegan BigGAN: https://github.com/ajbrock/BigGAN-PyTorch Style Transfer Fast-style-transfer: https://github.com/lengstrom/fast-style-transfer Arbitrary-Image-Stylization: https://github.com/tensorflow/magenta/tree/master/magenta/models/arbitrary_image_stylization Semantic Image Segmentation/Synthesis Deeplab: https://github.com/tensorflow/models/tree/master/research/deeplab Sapde-coco: https://github.com/NVlabs/SPADE Image-to-Image Translation: pix2pix: https://phillipi.github.io/pix2pix/ pix2pixHD: https://github.com/NVIDIA/pix2pixHD Text Generation LSTM gpt-2: https://github.com/openai/gpt-2

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 6 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)

ITPG-GT 2054-000 (23367)01/31/2020 – 03/13/2020 Fri9:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Shi, Yining

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Media & Entertainment)
Spring 2020

Machine Learning for Physical Computing (ITPG-GT 2050)

With Machine Learning models are getting smaller, and microcontrollers are getting more computing power, Machine Learning is moving towards edge devices. This class explores the idea of how machine learning algorithms can be used on microcontrollers along with sensor data to build Physical Computing projects. In this class, we will learn about TensorFlow Lite, a library that allows you to run machine learning algorithms on microcontrollers. We will talk about common machine learning algorithms and techniques and apply them to build hands-on interactive projects that enrich our daily lives. Students will learn to use pre-trained models, and re-train the models with sensor data. We are going to talk about Image Classification, Transfer Learning, Gesture and Speech Detection. For each topic, we will first discuss its history, theory, datasets, and applications, and then build simple experiments based on the topic. Prospective students are expected to have taken Introduction to Physical Computing and Introduction to Computational Media course, or have equivalent programming experience with Arduino and JavaScript.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 6 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)

ITPG-GT 2050-000 (22889)03/24/2020 – 05/05/2020 Tue6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Evening)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Shi, Yining

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Physical Computing & Experimental Interfaces) IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Programming & Data)
Spring 2020

Critical Communications (ITPG-GT 2056)

The ways in which we communicate has changed radically in the last 100 years. As the communication systems we use have increased in complexity, so has the effort it takes to understand how they work. Most of us use protocols like LTE, HTTP, TCP/IP, and BLE every day. We take them for granted, almost like we do the laws of nature. But there are more than the laws of physics, more than techniques of engineering, embedded in the design and implementation of our protocols of communication. To understand their role in our lives, we need to look into the societal and economic contexts in which they came to be. In this class, we will examine communication protocols using Raspberry Pi’s, Arduinos, Software Defined Radios, and other connected devices. We will look closer at organizations like iSOC, ICANN and IEEE to better understand how protocol designs are implemented and standardized. Through readings, research and hands-on work we will build an understanding of how these protocols work, how their designs incorporate the physical, technical, cultural, corporate and political assumptions of the actors behind them. In the first half of the class readings and assignments will help familiarize students with some of the different protocols we rely on every day. In the second half, students will work in groups to investigate a communications protocol and consider its impact from a technical, societal and environmental perspective. Final projects will communicate their findings in whatever form students deem appropriate – explanatory blog posts, physical or digital installations, or even videos and podcasts.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 6 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)

ITPG-GT 2056-000 (22886)03/30/2020 – 05/11/2020 Mon6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Evening)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Mattu, Surya

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Programming & Data)
Spring 2020

All Maps Lie (ITPG-GT 2049)

Introduction to Critical Mapping and Open Source Geospatial Web Analysis and Visualization is an introduction to critical perspectives in cartography and geospatial information systems and web technologies. This course will introduce students to the foundations of geographic data analysis and visualization, grounding practical studio based exercises and projects with critical readings and theory. Students taking this course will gain an appreciation for geographic thinking, learn to ask geographic questions, and apply basic methodologies to “make sense” of geographic data. The course will be conducted with open source geographic information systems and web technologies. Students are not expected to enter the class with knowledge of these tools, but will be expected to learn and apply them through studio exercises and project briefings.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 6 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)

ITPG-GT 2049-000 (22872)03/30/2020 – 05/11/2020 Mon6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Evening)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Lee, Joseph K

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Programming & Data)
Fall 2020 Fall 2021 Spring 2020

Experiments in Augmented Reality (ITPG-GT 2037)

Is augmented reality technology about to enter the mainstream? AR platforms have finally become widely accessible to artists, designers, and technologists thanks to recent advances in mobile performance and a new collection of powerful computer vision techniques. As such, the medium offers rich possibilities for experimentation and a chance to rethink how we experience the intersection of the physical and digital. In this course, students will acquire an understanding of basic concepts and techniques necessary to prototype and build simple AR experiences – with a consideration of not just visual but also aural AR. We’ll supplement practical exercises with an overview of the history of AR, and discuss the ethical, legal, and societal considerations cropping up around this topic. Our tool of choice will be Unity, but we will go over prototyping techniques outside of the platform to speed up the design process. If there is interest, we will cover how to get started building projects in openFrameworks, mobile, or web AR – and discuss why or when you might want to work within other platforms. Even though code samples will be provided, students are highly encouraged to have a basic understanding of Unity or at least have taken an introductory programming course. A working knowledge of Unity can be gained through Unity tutorials (https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials) or Lynda (https://www.nyu.edu/lynda).

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2021)

ITPG-GT 2037-000 (22657)09/02/2021 – 12/14/2021 Mon6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Evening)at OnlineInstructed by

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Media & Entertainment)

Motion Design for User Feedback (ITPG-GT 2059)

Credits: 1
Duration: 1 Day
Dates:

Microinteractions are everywhere, you interact with them on a regular basis. Animated emojis, heart buttons that burst with love when you tap them or password fields that shake when you type in the wrong password – these are the tiny animations that produce delightful moments while providing users with valuable feedback. They can intuitively guide your users without having to explicitly write a set of descriptive rules. They are the soul and character of your interface, and if crafted well they can turn every interaction to a joyful moment while improving the user experience. Using Adobe After Effects and Lottie as our primary tool, we’ll learn how to design, animate and export playful SVG animations as interactive components. We’ll examine the basic principles of UI motion, cover how to create loopable animated states with fluid transitions between them.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
1 credits – 1 Day

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Art & Design) IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Media & Entertainment) Spring 2026

Critical Objects (ITPG-GT 2496)

Art, design and experimental electronics can be great tools for inciting discussions of complex issues such as privacy, sexism, racism, economic inequality and climate change. This course aims to provoke thoughtful discussions of pressing issues through the combination of Art, Industrial Design and Embedded Electronics (sensors, actuators, wifi enabled microcontrollers – ESP32, raspberry pis). Topics will include technological disobedience, adversarial design and critical engineering. In this 14 week class, students will combine technology, design, and critical theory to build Art Objects / Interactive Sculptures that are aesthetically intriguing while socially relevant. This is a production heavy four-credit course, where students will learn about new-media critical theory, design and electronics. Prerequisites include an open mind, the drive to make, and physical computing.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2025)

ITPG-GT 2496-000 (11360)09/04/2025 – 12/11/2025 Thu3:00 PM – 5:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Galvao Cesar de Oliveira, Pedro

Fall 2025 Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Art & Design) IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Physical Computing & Experimental Interfaces)
Spring 2020

Escape Room (ITPG-GT 2491)

Over 7 weeks students in this course will explore different game mechanics, puzzle mechanics, group dynamics, and narrative structures and work in groups to design and build a room sized escape game. We will explore how to design immersive and participatory experiences through play and problem solving. Students will construct weekly puzzles and narratives and in the final week build and operate an “escape room” experience. Prerequisites: Physical Computing and ICM. Comfort with fabrication strongly encouraged.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 6 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)

ITPG-GT 2491-000 (22864)01/28/2020 – 03/10/2020 Tue9:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Rios, David

ITPG-GT 2491-000 (22865)03/24/2020 – 05/05/2020 Tue9:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Rios, David

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Physical Computing & Experimental Interfaces)
Spring 2020

Music Interaction Design (ITPG-GT 2475)

This class is a project development studio for interactive music projects —that is, pieces of music that are not linear, but rather offer multiple dimensions for listeners to explore (on their phones in a crowded subway, at an abandoned factory in Palermo, back on their couches after a long day, at a classical concert hall). Students will take a project from concept to execution over several iterations, applying Interaction Design principles and techniques. During the first half of the semester, they will gather aural and visual references, compose graphic notations, and create interactive studies to explore specific elements of their composition. This work will lead to the implementation of the midterm project: a functional, high-fidelity prototype. For their final projects, students will evaluate their midterm pieces from the perspectives of music, visual design and interaction design, and refine them to produce an expressive piece of interactive music. ICM or equivalent experience is required. Some experience in making or producing music will be useful, but is not required.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)

ITPG-GT 2475-000 (22929)01/28/2020 – 05/05/2020 Tue12:00 AM – 2:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Pereira Hors, Luisa

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Programming & Data)
Spring 2020

Autonomous Artificial Artists (ITPG-GT 2497)

Autonomous Artificial Artists (AAA) is a class to explore ways of making artworks “autonomous.” In this context, “autonomy” brings together three independent but related criteria: 1) artificial intelligence being a primary determinant in an artwork’s aesthetics 2) autonomous software principles culled from peer-to-peer network design, blockchain and decentralization technology, serverless and federated machine learning, cryptoeconomics, and agent-based multiplayer simulation. 3) crowd-sourced art where mass, unbounded cooperation of many participants creates novel artworks which represent the “hive mind” or collective input. The goal of this class is to learn a little bit about each of these seemingly disparate fields, and see how they may interact in interesting new ways. The idea of autonomous artworks is very new, and is being actively discussed by a small group of interdisciplinary researchers and artists since 2016/2017. Although the topic is highly experimental, it is nevertheless based on concrete technologies, making simultaneous use of several techniques which are under active development and have potentially far-reaching ramifications well outside the domain of art. The time is ripe for people within more design-oriented fields to begin thinking about how they might be used in a broader context. The class has both a theoretical component (learning about each of the individual technologies and their interplay) as well as a practical component: training and deploying generative models on computational environments that are as close to decentralized or autonomous as possible. In addition, we will explore prior notions of crowd-sourced or mass-collaborative art, touching on older principles and strategies such as Oulipo, exquisite corpse, and crowd-sourced computational artworks like Electric Sheep, Exhausting a Crowd, and others.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 5 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)

ITPG-GT 2497-000 (22882)04/06/2020 – 05/11/2020 Mon3:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Kogan, Gennady

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Programming & Data)
Spring 2020

Product Design: Designing for People (ITPG-GT 2479)

In this course, students will learn the process of developing products that address user needs. Students will go through the process of identifying a user need, developing a product prototype, evaluating the product with the target user, and outlining the next development steps. Topics will include such elements as need finding, archetype development, user journey maps, ideation, prototyping, user evaluation and validation.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 5 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)

ITPG-GT 2479-000 (22859)01/30/2020 – 03/05/2020 Thu9:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Lobel, Inna

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Art & Design)
Spring 2020

Sound in Space (ITPG-GT 2485)

Stereo (2-speaker) sound is the default way we produce and distribute most audio. This class challenges the stereophonic-centricity of digital sound and instead focuses on the context of listening, interfacing and interacting with audio beyond 2 speakers. We will take a novel approach to spatialization by interfacing web technologies (Javascript, Web Audio, WebRTC) with multichannel audio to create room-scale interactive music and sonic spaces, and then make our findings publicly available through musical artifacts, open source tools, and documentation. We will explore conventional and unconventional loudspeaker arrangements ranging from 3 to 40 channels and how distribution and context affects music. Together, we will participate in a semester-long project examining the affordances of spatial and multichannel sound, designing and build open source tools to interface Tone.js, Higher-Order Ambisonics (HOA) and other multichannel techniques. Students will perform/install their final on the 40-channel speaker array at Dave&Gabe’s studio in Bushwick. Topics include 3D sound, open source, space and listening. Prerequisites: willingness to listen critically, some programming experience. No formal music training required.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 12 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)

ITPG-GT 2485-000 (22868)01/27/2020 – 04/20/2020 Mon6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Evening)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Mann, Yotam

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Programming & Data)
Spring 2020

Resist! Intro to Technology Political Activism [A Product Design Perspective] (ITPG-GT 2483)

This class will apply a product and service design lens to the rapidly evolving role of technology in politics, government services, and human rights, with a dual focus on the use of technology to advance the public good, and the threats that technology can pose to various aspects of civil society. On the one hand, there has been an explosion of technology tools that aim to promote healthy and peaceful democracies, provide more efficient government services, and promote human rights. This course will survey those efforts and the product design methodologies that guide them. On the other hand, 2018 has been a reckoning year for technology all over the world. The post-mortem of the 2016 US Presidential election shined a light on technology’s role in a promulgating a deeply polarized electorate, enabling election-meddling from foreign actors, and profiligating fake news, while also raising deep concerns about data privacy and security for everyday citizens. Meanwhile, new technologies like AI and Blockchain are poised to have deeply transformative effects on multiple aspects of society – from policing to education to financial services. This course will also explore the risks various technologies can pose to privacy, safety, liberty, and well-being. The course will feature guest speakers from leading practitioners in the space. Potentially including the ACLU, Higher Ground Labs, Elucd (YC17), NYU Better Policing Initiative, Microsoft, and more.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 6 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)

ITPG-GT 2483-000 (23099)01/29/2020 – 03/11/2020 Wed6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Evening)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Resner, Lyel

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Seminar/Studies)

Big LEDs (ITPG-GT 2481)

Credits: 2
Duration: 7 Weeks
Dates: Thu

Light Emitting Diodes or LEDs are used creatively all around us. They have the ability to emit light at different colors and intensities instantly and from very tiny points. How can we make creative visual works out of these amazing devices? What construction methods can we use to make those works reliable? Big LEDs will cover the process of designing large LED systems. We will cover LED array hardware and how to map pixels from computer generated media onto them. We will go through every major part of the hardware – different styles of LED arrays, drivers and gateways, cables, data protocols, and how to safely power all of them. We will learn to use the pixel mapping softwares Enttec ELM and Madmapper. We will also cover the paperwork needed to furnish a professional LED installation, including drafting riser diagrams, plan, section, and elevation views, creating a bill of materials, and writing instructions for users and installers. This year’s final project will be a site-specific LED sculpture installed in a public space at 375 Jay St. The installations will be able to display student chosen media that can be viewed for one minute. Students will work either in groups or alone and can choose from one of four installation options to present on: – A prepared square section of 2.0mm pitch LED video tiles (approx 256px x 256px, 2’-6” x 2’-6”) – A prepared low-resolution sculpture with diffused linear elements (approx 500px, 2’-6” x 5’-0” overall) – A student conceptualized LED video tile project – A student conceptualized low-resolution project Because of this year’s pandemic, unprecedented changes have come to the professional world of LED installations. As a result, we will be using remote tools such as networked-based cameras, remote desktop applications, and virtual private network connections to watch and operate the final projects. We will spend class time setting these tools up together. The two prepared options for the final project will be installed and maintained by the instructor.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 7 Weeks

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Media & Entertainment) Spring 2026