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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Device to Database (ITPG-GT 2473)

How do you process data from connected devices? This class examines how to build systems to collect, process, store, and visualize data from connected devices. The class will review and discuss real world IoT systems using case studies and actual projects. We will build system using Arduino hardware and open source software. We will discuss how to IoT systems are built on commercial cloud infrastructure. Students will learn about IoT devices and the data pipelines for processing data. They will build an Arduino based device to send and receive data over WiFi via MQTT. Students will write code to move data from MQTT into a database. Students will learn how to query the database and present data as tabular data and graphs. To gain an understanding of an entire IoT system from device to application, we will start at a high level and then drill into each of the pieces — we will: * Discuss sensor hardware and wireless options (WiFi, Cellular, LoRaWAN, LTE-M, etc) for moving data to the server * Discuss transport options MQTT, CoAP, AMQP, HTTPS, etc. * Examine SQL, NoSQL, and Time Series Database * Look at tools and techniques for querying and visualizing data. Prerequisite: * Introduction to Physical Computing * Introduction to Computational Media (suggested) The class will be a mix of lecture, discussion, and building IoT systems. Real world examples and case studies will be used to demonstrate how IoT can be built.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 6 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)


ITPG-GT 2473-000 (22887)01/30/2020 – 03/12/2020 Thu12:00 AM – 2:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Coleman, Don

Digital Security and Human Rights (ITPG-GT 2188)

What do WhatsApp and Nelson Mandela have in common? How about Mr. Robot and the UN Council for Human Rights? When most people think “digital security”, they rarely think of these connections; but the connections are there. Digital security is much more than an industry buzzword— it encompasses techno-social idealism, open source development, and symbiotic coordination between sectors in tech, the humanities, and civic society. Certainly, we’re going to talk about Signal, Tor, VPNs, and OTR. But let’s dig even deeper. In this course, students will learn the principals of digital security; from end-to-end encryption, to circumvention technology, resilient communications, and beyond. Part lab exploration, part oral history, and part prototyping workshop, students will come away with the tools they need to undertake development projects with end-user security in mind; and foster an appreciation for digital security’s integral, timely, and often life-saving role in human rights struggles across the globe.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 8 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)


ITPG-GT 2188-000 (22879)01/27/2020 – 03/23/2020 Mon6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Evening)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Holmes, Harlo

BioDesigning the Future of Food (ITPG-GT 2131)

We’ve been tinkering with the living systems that generate our foodstuffs for millennia. But climate change is radically and rapidly shifting these food landscapes, and the impacts include the extinction of many of the foods we love: chocolate, wine, beer, coffee and more importantly starvation for those in the world who are already food insecure. In this class, we’ll explore biotechnologies and bioengineering along with microbes and mushrooms to design and create pathways for the restoration of some of the damage we’ve wrought on our food system. We’ll also use art and design and systems thinking to build speculative and actionable projects that will focus not just on the future of food but the future of our planet and all of its inhabitants. This class is part of the Biodesign Challenge.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 6 Weeks

Sections (Summer 2021)


ITPG-GT 2131-000 (6365)05/24/2021 – 07/05/2021 Tue6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Evening)at OnlineInstructed by Bardin, Stefani R

Magic Windows and Mixed-Up Realities (ITPG-GT 2122)

Magic windows that allow us to peek into different realities without leaving our physical space, lenses that reveal hidden layers of objects or navigating new universes within the same room. More than ever, mobile devices are getting a human-scale understanding of space and motion allowing us to create more intimate interactions with our surrounding spaces, leveraging them as a canvas to experience other realities. We now have the potential to give life to inanimate objects, tell stories through space, customizing private views of public spaces and recognize places we’ve never been. We’ll question what it means and how can we blend reality exploring themes such as: augmented space and new paradigms in social interaction, public space and privacy; storytelling and navigating the physical space like turning pages in a book; tangible interfaces, mixed objects and animism; Magic windows, x-ray vision, time-machines and impossible universes; Far away so close: telepresence and remote collaboration. The course will survey the past, current and up and coming technologies and experiences in Mixed Reality including environmental augmented reality and interactive projection mapping, handheld devices while fostering a strong user experience perspective on the affordances and constraints of each. We’ll research and discuss the design principles and guidelines for creating mixed reality experiences focusing on the links between real and virtual objects, interaction space and asymmetries between physical and digital worlds, environmental semantics and multimodal and tangible interaction. Technologies explored will be focusing on mobile platforms (phones, tablets) including Vuforia, SLAM, image and object recognition, depth sensing, projection mapping. Unity3D will be the development platform: students must have previous working knowledge of Unity3D and feel comfortable with independently developing using this platform. A working knowledge of Unity3D may be gained by going through the Unity 5 3D Essential Training Lynda Course prior to the course (log in to Lynda for free via https://www.nyu.edu/lynda).

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 6 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)


ITPG-GT 2122-000 (23437)01/30/2020 – 03/12/2020 Thu6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Evening)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Pereira, Rui

Open Source Cinema (ITPG-GT 2865)

The medium of motion pictures will be will be transformed by virtual reality technologies. But the emerging hybrid form will likely have less to do with the iconic VR headset and immersion, than in the newly possible flow of expression in the other direction, out of the participant. This class looks at the true potential of virtual reality as its mutability, to put ordinary users in the role of director of visual media as they already are in their dreams and fantasies. Democratizing media by breaking it down into discrete more easily remixable parts has historically, from DNA to alphabets to movable type led to an explosion of expression and knowledge creation. Motion pictures, perhaps our most convincing medium, is now undergoing such a transformation thanks to virtual reality technologies. Specifically, we will look at how tools like depth cameras, motion capture, and machine learning can treat a scene as a collection of elements instead of a collection of pixels. We will work with the real-time 3D rendering capabilities available, even in your phone, for the instant contrivance of visual reality using compositing, the transformation of images and models as well as virtual camera moves. The class will also consider how the more conceptual dissection of film by cinema scholars and psychologist into things like plots and character types might be templated into reusable formulas for non-experts to create an emotionally satisfying dramatic arcs.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 6 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)


ITPG-GT 2865-000 (22861)03/25/2020 – 05/06/2020 Wed3:00 PM – 5:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by O’Sullivan, Daniel

Hacking the Browser (ITPG-GT 2811)

Web browsers were originally used only for displaying simple HTML pages, but over the years they have become supercharged all-powerful web execution machines. In this class we’ll explore experimental new features and HTML5 APIs that allow browsers to communicate with the OS and their environment. APIs that will be covered may include: Battery Status, Geolocation, notifications, accelerometer usage, video access, speech recognition, and text-to-speech. We’ll cover the mechanics of bookmarklets and Chrome extensions, with a sustained multi-week focus on building extensions and exploring Chrome’s extensions APIs. Class workshops will include projects such as building an ad blocker, programmatically replacing text and images on a website, and making sites that respond to external events. Students will give weekly in-class presentations on web capabilities, complete small weekly assignments, and present a final project. This class leans heavily on web technologies, and experience with HTML, CSS and modern JavaScript (ICM with p5.js or Commlab Web/Networked Media) is required.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 5 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)


ITPG-GT 2811-000 (22881)01/28/2020 – 03/03/2020 Tue6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Evening)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Forsyth, Cory

100 Days of Making (ITPG-GT 2793)

Credits: 2
Duration: 6 Weeks
Dates: Tue

Iteration and its impact on your creative process is the theme of this class. The format of the course turns its head on the traditional class structure and instead of focusing on syllabus that builds to a final project, the course is focused on a daily, iterative practice. Students will identify a theme, idea or topic they would like to explore over the course of 100 days and must commit to making or producing a variation on that idea and posting social evidence of their work every day for 100 days. Projects can focus on building, writing, drawing, programming, photographing, designing, composing or any creative expression. In parallel to the making, in-class lectures will examine the work of artists whose work has been defined by iteration and discuss the role of discipline and routine in the creative process.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 6 Weeks

Dynamic Web Development (ITPG-GT 2577)

Credits: 2
Duration: 6 Weeks
Dates: Fri

This 7-week, 2-point course will provide a framework for learning how to develop and program web applications. It will focus on server side development using JavaScript, Node.js with the Express framework, and persistent databases on cloud based infrastructure. Additional topics will include login and session management, web services and APIs, and will lightly touch on front-end web development. The course will be a mixture of lecture and in-class collaborative coding, with weekly programming and reading homework.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 6 Weeks

Rest of You (ITPG-GT 2975)

You live with illusions. The nature of these illusions has long been described in mystical practices but is now increasing corroborated by modern research such as neuroscience, behavioral economics, social psychology, embodied cognition, and evolutionary psychology. What does this have to do with computational media? With technology, we have the ability to revisit some of these vestigial illusions that made sense in ancient environments but that might limit our personal happiness or the overall functioning of modern society. Will the computer’s ability to run more objective statistical analysis on data gathered tirelessly over time, across individuals and locations allow us to more accurately see ourselves and the world as it is. Can we build computer interfaces that give a fuller expression of our experience when we are not limited by an illusory view of ourselves? The insights into how into how to reach people more fully comes with a responsibility to then ask what should say to them. As the computers are able to understand us better than we understand ourselves will we relinquish control to them? At a practical level, the class looks at interfaces for digitizing signals from the less consciously controlled parts of your body using things like biosensors and cameras. It then moves on to opportunities for finding insights in from patterns in the mounds of already digitized expression you have produced every day for years, for instance in your email. Then we look at the possibility of bypassing consciousness with techniques like subliminal priming to affect behavior. Finally, we will look at how we can use things like browser extensions to manipulate shared media in an attempt to counter some filter bubble effects that emerge at a group level based on the illusions discussed in this class. This class will use skills from Physical Computing and ICM.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 8 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)


ITPG-GT 2975-000 (22862)01/27/2020 – 03/23/2020 Mon3:00 PM – 5:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by O’Sullivan, Daniel

Recurring Concepts in Art (ITPG-GT 2586)

As a response to developing technologies, artists working in areas of new/digital media are continually inventing new concepts for self-expression – interactivity, the passage of time and resolution, just to name a few. Yet these concepts are new only in the sense that they are being adapted to new media. For example, the notion of interactivity, frequently observed as original and specific to the user-interaction component of computer-mediated works, was equally, if differently, specific to Gianlorenzo Bernini’s 17th-century Baroque sculpture and architecture. Indeed the very concept of new media, and the concomitant implication of critically significant artistic development, applies throughout history. Oil revolutionized painting in the Renaissance, as did house-paint (on canvas) in the 1950s; in the 1910s, the found object indelibly altered definitions of art, the importance of the object being subsumed by that of the concept in the 1960s. This course examines how artists working before the boom of digital technology utilized other media, techniques and approaches to effect formal, conceptual and experiential dynamics comparable to those being investigated by new media artists today. The objective of the course is to provide students with not only knowledge of the immensely rich history of artistic creativity, but also a platform through which that knowledge might be utilized to reconsider new media strategies of artistic expression. It is the goal that through observation, discussion, reading and projects (both written and hands-on), students acquire mental tools to approach their own work with an expanded understanding of artistic possibility. Organized thematically, each class focuses on a different concept derived from the field of new media production and examined with regard to artistic precedents. The course focus primarily, though not exclusively, is on 20th/21st-century art. It is conducted as a combination lecture/discussion class. Critical theory is incorporated into the readings and discussions, but this is not strictly a theory course. The course has been conceptualized and designed to enhance understanding through a variety of means, from basic observation, to exploratory conversations, to more rigorous thinking informed by lectures, readings and focused discussions.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 5 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)


ITPG-GT 2586-000 (23425)01/31/2020 – 03/06/2020 Fri9:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Krantz, Georgia

Comics (ITPG-GT 2925)

Code without content gets boring fast. This seven week course will show you how to create stories around which you can weave the technology learned in other classes. When content comes first, interesting problems arise to solve. Participants will get solid grounding in how to tell a visual story using words and images in a traditional format, so then they can take that format and reimagine it in entirely new and unique ways. The first few classes are devoted to getting basic comic skills. The remaining classes will hone and expand these abilities while posing the question: what can be done differently, and how can technology add to what we have created? At the end of the semester you will have a something that sets you apart; – original content AND technological know how. Students will combine words and images, look at each other’s work, look at examples of published works. Reimagine how these stories can be told in new and unique ways. This a demanding course. There is a lot of work involved, they will end up with a lot of original content. During the first half we look at and make traditional comics. Second half we experiment with comic format WHILE honing storytelling skills. Relevant speakers will come in to discuss what they do and how they work etc.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 6 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)


ITPG-GT 2925-000 (22870)01/28/2020 – 03/10/2020 Tue9:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by White, Tracy

Introduction to Fabrication (IMNY-UT 242)

An introductory course designed to familiarize students with all the IMA prototyping shop has to offer. We will cover everything from basic hand tools to the beginnings of digital fabrication. You will learn to use the right tool for the job. There will be weekly assignments, created to develop your fabrication techniques. There will be in class lectures, demos, and building assignments. Emphasis will be put on good design practices, material choice, and craftsmanship.

Undergraduate