Archives

Spring 2020

Causal Inference (DS-UA 201)

Causal Inference provides students with the tools for understanding causation, i.e., the relationship between cause and effect. We will start with the situation in which you are able to design and implement the data gathering process, called the experiment. We will then define causation, identify preconditions required for A to cause B, show how to design perfect experiments, and discuss how to understand threats to the validity of less-than-perfect experiments. In this course, we will cover experimental design and then turn to those careful approaches, where we will consider such approaches as quasi-experiments, regression discontinuities, differences in differences, and contemporary advanced approaches.

Data Science (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)

DS-UA 201-000 (20565)01/27/2020 – 05/11/2020 Wed,Fri2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Strezhnev, Anton

DS-UA 201-000 (20567)01/27/2020 – 05/11/2020 Mon2:00 PM – 2:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by

DS-UA 201-000 (20568)01/27/2020 – 05/11/2020 Wed11:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by

Undergraduate
Spring 2020 Spring 2021 Spring 2022

Machine Learning for Language Understanding (DS-UA 203)

This course covers widely-used machine learning methods for language understanding—with a special focus on machine learning methods based on artificial neural networks—and culminates in a substantial final project in which students write an original research paper in AI or computational linguistics. If you take this class, you’ll be exposed only to a fraction of the many approaches that researchers have used to teach language to computers. However, you’ll get training and practice with all the research skills that you’ll need to explore the field further on your own. This includes not only the skills to design and build computational models, but also to design experiments to test those models, to write and present your results, and to read and evaluate results from the scientific literature.

Data Science (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2022)

DS-UA 203-000 (9643)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Wed2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Bowman, Samuel

DS-UA 203-000 (9644)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Tue3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Programming & Data) Undergraduate

Machine Lab (IM-UH 2113)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates:

The saying goes, “If all you have is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail.” What if all you have is a 3D Printer? In this course, students will be introduced to, and engage critically with, a range of contemporary machines inside and around the Interactive Media Lab. Leveraging historical perspectives, current use-cases, and hands-on making, the course will explore how machines enhance, or limit, our creative processes. Readings and discussion will be paired with practical designing, prototyping, and making of creative computer controlled devices, such as drawing machines, musical instruments, and a collaborative Rube Goldberg contraption. Over the course of the semester, students will be exposed to a variety of tools, materials, and fabrication techniques as well as learn how to use micro-controllers and software to give their machines unique behaviors and abilities. By thinking about machines, using machines, and making machines, the course will offer insight into our creative relationships with our tools.

Interactive Media (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Physical Computing & Experimental Interfaces) Spring 2026 Undergraduate

Understanding Interactive Media – Critical Questions & Theories (IM-UH 1013)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu
Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu,Mon,Wed

This seminar course is an introduction to the theories, questions, and conditions that encompass interactive media. Students will engage in readings that critically examine both the impact that interactive media and technology have on culture and societies as well as the ways in which social contexts shape the development and application of these technologies. The contexts become apparent by examining interactive media and interactivity through the lenses of relevant perspectives including politics, ethics, race, gender, and cybernetics. Throughout the semester students will leverage theory to analyze interactive media works and build a vocabulary for making sense of our increasingly mediated world. The course thus serves to lay a conceptual foundation for students to inform and direct their own creative practice. Readings, discussions, research, and writing constitute the body of this course.

Interactive Media (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Fall 2025 IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Seminar/Studies) Spring 2026 Undergraduate

Future Punk (IM-UH 2513)

The future: let’s patch it together from scraps. Future studies and strategic foresight are methods of guiding businesses and politics. Punk means to take the master’s tools apart, repurpose them to serve our own goals, to outsmart our adversaries, and to prevail. The compound of the words future and punk, just like in cyberpunk or steampunk, indicates that in the case of future punk, future itself would be setting the stage for the narrative, provide the condition against which the human beings in the world of the story would have to struggle: So in the good old punk tradition, we, too, want to take futurism and use it for our own creations. This class introduces speculative fiction and the more scientific forms of speculation as a means to students to envision, draft, and draw and paint their own images and imaginations of alternative worlds. Students will apply the futurist methods to creative projects and in addition, discuss and critique the field.

Interactive Media (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2025)

IM-UH 2513-000 (13614)

Fall 2025 Undergraduate

Introduction to Digital Humanities (IM-UH 1511)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates:

What happens when the arts and humanities are represented in digital form? What kind of new insights can we have when by looking at the data of the humanities? This course will look at intersections between computers and the humanities, a form of inquiry known as “digital humanities.” The course is structured around a broad examination of concepts important in today’s society (computational thinking, digital identity, text as data, dataset, pattern, algorithm, network, location). Students will discuss these concepts critically, explore real-life examples and put them into practice in hands-on activities. Examples of such hands on work might include, but are not limited to, creating accessible web design, analyzing text digitally, building and visualizing a dataset, curating an open bibliography, thinking about art as data, building a Twitter bot, teaching a computer to recognize human handwriting, visualizing social networks or making digital maps. The course assumes no prior technical skills, but a willingness to explore new technologies is essential for success.

Interactive Media (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Programming & Data) Spring 2026 Undergraduate
Spring 2020 Spring 2021 Spring 2022

Politics of Code (IM-UH 3310)

While our relationships between ourselves, our environment, and other people are inherently political, computer technologies and technology companies consistently claim to remain “neutral”. This course will assume the opposite – software is political – and focus on how software applications share commonalities with political systems, how they affect their users as political actors and how we can build alternatives to those systems. This course is aimed at deconstructing the design and implementation of software as a political medium, such as Facebook’s timeline algorithm, city officials’ use of computer simulations to orchestrate urban life, blockchain-backed proof of ownership and algorithmic criminal assessment. Along with an introduction to political theory and media studies, coupled with an exploration of the underlying political impacts of those systems, students will work on several hands-on projects to offer functioning alternatives to those systems. To that end, this course will include several workshops in JavaScript and Python.

Interactive Media (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 16 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2022)

IM-UH 3310-000 (18389)

IM-UH 3310-000 (21644)at Abu DhabiInstructed by Blumtritt, Joerg

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Programming & Data) IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Seminar/Studies) Undergraduate
Spring 2020 Spring 2022

Alternate Realities (IM-UH 3311)

This course will introduce students to the design and development of Virtual Reality experiences. We will examine these increasingly popular means of delivering content and social interactions and identify their unique affordances over existing platforms. Students will be challenged to harness the specific advantages of VR from conception through functional prototype. The class will also cover case studies of effective use of VR in information delivery, as well as social and artistic experiences.

Interactive Media (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 16 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2022)

IM-UH 3311-000 (23471)01/24/2022 – 05/17/2022 Tue2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Abu DhabiInstructed by Allison, Michael · Sherwood, Aaron

IM-UH 3311-000 (24132)01/24/2022 – 05/17/2022 Thu1:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Abu DhabiInstructed by Allison, Michael · Sherwood, Aaron

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

Introduction to Interactive Media (IM-UH 1010)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates:
Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates:

With the advent of digital computation, humans have found a variety of new tools for self-expression and communication. Thinking about how we interface with these tools beyond the mouse and key-board, we can approach software and electronics as artists and designers, exploring new interactions with machines and each other. This introductory course will provide students hands-on experience with screen and physical interaction design through programming and electronics using microcontrollers, electronics, and software development. Weekly exercises encourage students to experiment freely, creating their own novel interfaces and controls for working with machines. The course culminates with a final projects exhibited at the program’s end-of-semester showcase.

Interactive Media (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Fall 2025 Foundation Spring 2026 Undergraduate
Spring 2020

Make Believe (INTM-SHU 217T)

We live in an era of information where the information can be written, accessed, shared, and also eliminated with a single stroke. As a result, the objective “truth” is brought to a question. In the last decade, artists have been experimenting with the fakeness of the truth and the truthfulness of the fake by creating fake documents, staged marriages, an arguably authentic artifact, imaginary advertisements both historical and contemporary. What does it mean to tell the truth in the context of art? How does art cross the boundaries between the real and the fake, truthfulness and misrepresentation? This course will examine social engagement of art and how “truth” is treated, interpreted, and presented. The class will take a field trip to a propaganda museum, have readings and discussions, and analyze artists working with fiction as a medium in art making. Students will work on projects to construct believable reality through object making (3D fabrication) and narrative construction (audiovisual material). Prerequisites: Interaction Lab or Communication Lab or Application Lab

Interactive Media Arts (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)

INTM-SHU 217T-000 (23355)02/03/2020 – 05/15/2020 Thu9:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at ShanghaiInstructed by

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Media & Entertainment) Undergraduate
Fall 2020 Fall 2022 Spring 2021

Introduction to Animation (INTM-SHU 243)

Tangible heritage (site, object, and structure) and intangible heritage (motif, icon, character, textile, wardrobe, music, performance, language and ritual) are unseparated parts of the cultural heritage. The narrative and messaging of cultural heritage can be preserved by moving sequences, motion design and animation. The richness of heritage contents can be further disseminated and known by the dynamic media. This course aims to utilize animation and motion media to depict and preserve the richness of cultural heritage contents. 3D animation and motion graphics techniques will be addressed and applied to the storytelling. Students will be guided to research the Asian cultural heritage contents including the tangible and intangible heritage. They will further explore the visual design and production pipeline of animation. Visiting expert of interactive media design and intangible heritage performance will get involved to share the insights to the students. Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: IMA/IMB elective.

Interactive Media Arts (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2022)

INTM-SHU 243-000 (17303)09/05/2022 – 12/16/2022 Mon,Wed4:00 PM – 5:00 PM (Late afternoon)at ShanghaiInstructed by Chen, Wu Wei

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

Nature of Code (INTM-SHU 254)

The Nature of Code is an intermediate course based on Daniel Shiffman’s The Nature of Code course at NYU ITP and was adjusted for undergraduate students. This course explores the fundamentals of programming, such as Object-Oriented Programming, and the application of simple principles of mathematics and physics in order to recreate natural behaviors in a digital environment. Prerequisites: This class uses p5(p5js.org) and requires Interaction Lab, Communication Lab, Application Lab, or similar programming background. Knowledge of other languages, such as Processing, three.js and OpenFrameworks, is also encouraged.

Interactive Media Arts (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)

INTM-SHU 254-000 (23412)02/03/2020 – 05/15/2020 Wed5:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Late afternoon)at ShanghaiInstructed by Moon, Jung Hyun

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

Creative Coding Lab (INTM-SHU 135T)

In this course students will learn the fundamentals of computation, software design, and web technologies, through a series of creative projects. The course is intended to equip students with the skills to develop artistic and business projects that include a significant computational component. Topics such as variables, functions, components, and functional and reactive programming will be brought together to create interactive applications, generative art, data visualization, and other domains. Within the framework of these creative projects students will develop a greater understanding of how computer programs operate, be exposed to various concepts used to create experiences and interactions, and become more familiar with some of the technologies that constitute the internet. This course is intended for students with no prior programming background. Prerequisites: None

Interactive Media Arts (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)

INTM-SHU 135T-000 (23244)02/03/2020 – 05/15/2020 Tue,Thu11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at ShanghaiInstructed by Steele, Oliver

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

Extended Perception (INTM-SHU 138T)

Utilizing technological and scientific research / case studies / artifacts, this class introduces students to the topic of enhanced / extended perception and how technological augmentation allow us to sense and perceive alternative layers of our surrounding world, reconfiguring our understanding of what reality really is. Students will be asked to develop their own prototypes that demonstrate a conceptual or functional outcome on how perception can be extended, enhanced, or even hacked.

Interactive Media Arts (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)

INTM-SHU 138T-000 (23245)02/03/2020 – 05/15/2020 Mon9:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at ShanghaiInstructed by Didakis, Stavros

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

After Us: Post-human Media (INTM-SHU 139T)

Ours is a time of unceasing image production. CCTV cameras wrap around the planet, machines make visual learning sets for other machines, hundreds of billions of hours of video material is livestreamed online every year, artists speculate about the possibility of making virtual reality for animals, and seemingly natural phenomena such as climate change can only be apprehended through risk simulations and data visualisations. Simultaneously, from deep fakes to computergenerated influencers and webcam models, digital images without real-life referents are set to become a part of social life, posing questions about the agency of media makers and consumers in an increasingly simulated world. Contemporary visual culture is not made by humans alone and sometimes not even meant for human eyes. What are we to make of aesthetics when they become automated? How can human collectives be thought from the perspective, or collaborate with, the semi-autonomous technological systems around us? What kind of conceptual capacities do we need to be able to think about the future of such media globally, and in specific geographical locations? In this class, we will explore the shi< that media theory and philosophy of technology have made towards the inhuman. From biometrics, insect media, and eco-media to so<ware art, augmented reality, and satellite imagery, we are witnessing a paradigm change in how we think about the relationship between human, animal, and machine agency in visual culture. Looking at a variety of contemporary media objects, we will read state-of-the-art theory, write a research paper, and collaborate on a post-human media studies syllabus spanning texts and objects from across the globe.

Interactive Media Arts (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)

INTM-SHU 139T-000 (23410)02/03/2020 – 05/15/2020 Mon9:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at ShanghaiInstructed by

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Seminar/Studies) Undergraduate
Spring 2021

Working with Electrons (INTM-SHU 130)

This class focuses on the curiosity behind the greatest discovery of electromagnetism. By replicating experiments both with magnetic and electrical fields, we will explore the major breakthroughs that enabled us to power up devices, connect people, and store information. During the course we will have seminar discussions analyzing texts that contextualize the lab experiments and we will work toward conclusions on the implications of these discoveries. We will analyze different perspectives that led to the development of theories about the electromagnetic field, radio waves transmissions, and the quantum properties of electrons. Students will propose their own creative experiments, linking their personal interests with how electrons behave. As part of their final project report, they will submit an essay describing the technical methodology, critical framework, and the results of their experiment. Throughout the course they will acquire a working knowledge of components like capacitors, lasers, antennae, and circuit prototyping tools. Prerequisites: None Fulfillment: CORE ED; IMA/IMB elective.

Interactive Media Arts (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 16 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2021)

INTM-SHU 130-000 (18327)01/25/2021 – 05/14/2021 Wed4:00 PM – 7:00 PM (Late afternoon)at ShanghaiInstructed by Cossovich, Rodolfo

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Physical Computing & Experimental Interfaces) Undergraduate
Spring 2020 Spring 2021

Movement Practices and Computing (INTM-SHU 134)

People use their bodies in the workplace whether they are dancers or athletes, managers or engineers. Physical wellbeing, social teamwork, and cognition may be affected by our movement practices. How do people use physicality and motion to think? What is the interaction between body, motion, place, and goals? We will explore these questions by building physical-computing-based systems that encourage us to bring movement into new times and places in daily life, that coach users and develop learning environments for movement practices, and that test our understanding of ways that we “think with the body”. In this course we will bring practices such as fitness, dance, sports, and martial arts into a series of interactive installations, movement learning projects, and workspace modifications built on computing, sensing and actuator technologies. In this course we will also explore these questions through review of existing creative projects in this area, readings, presentations, and knowledge-sharing sessions. Prerequisites: Creative Coding Lab, Interaction Lab or equivalent programming experience Fulfillment: IMA/IMB elective.

Interactive Media Arts (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 16 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2021)

INTM-SHU 134-000 (18340)01/25/2021 – 05/14/2021 Tue,Thu11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at ShanghaiInstructed by Minsky, Margaret

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

Topic: Media Past and Future (INTM-SHU 206T)

An attempt to better understand and participate in the communications revolution we are undergoing through an investigation of the nature and consequences of previous communications revolutions. Using readings ranging from Plato to Sontag to Kundera, the course will look closely at the history of spoken language, images, writing, printing, photography, film, radio and television. How were they understood? How were they initially used or misused? What were their effects upon social patterns, politics and thought? How did innovations occur? What can that tell us about the potential and potential influence of digital communication? Students will be asked to undertake innovative experiments of their own in forms of new media. Prerequisites: None

Interactive Media Arts (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)

INTM-SHU 206T-000 (23250)02/03/2020 – 05/15/2020 Wed1:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)at ShanghaiInstructed by Stephens, Mitchell

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Seminar/Studies) Undergraduate
Spring 2020 Spring 2021 Spring 2022

Critical Data and Visualization (INTM-SHU 204)

Data is at the heart of the increasing role technology has in our lives. Data collection and algorithmic processing are not only central to recent technical breakthroughs such as in AI and automation but have created new economic paradigms where data equals value and shape political approaches to power and control. Decisions based on algorithms affect society at large whether it’s changing the way we transport and distribute goods, or influencing the things we buy, the news we read or even the people we date. The world that algorithms see is data. For the average person, however, data is seldom more than an abstract idea. So what exactly is data? How is value extracted from it? And why should we care? How can we ethically balance the positive uses of data-driven systems with the threats they pose to discriminate and infringe basic human rights? This class seeks to untangle some of these issues practically and theoretically. Prerequisite: Creative Coding Lab or equivalent programming experience. Fulfillment: CORE AT; IMA/IMB elective.

Interactive Media Arts (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 16 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2022)

INTM-SHU 204-000 (17718)01/24/2022 – 05/13/2022 Tue,Thu9:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)at ShanghaiInstructed by Eckert, Leon

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Programming & Data) Undergraduate