In this class students learn how to use data. If you can learn to live with uncertainty, you can make something beautiful and true. Students will learn about data as another form of evidence. We will collect our own datasets to learn about challenges and opportunities. We will explore sources of uncertainty, and how imagination and empathy can help uncover ways that data can lead to insight or alternatively, lead one astray. We cover basic stats principles to show how even properly collected data may lead you astray; we cover design principles, we introduce technical tools for visualizing data. Students collect their own data set, share reactions to assigned readings, and find their own examples of data usage that are positive or misguided.
ITPG-GT.2073.1 () | Instructor: Carl Bialik | Syllabus | Sat 12:00pm to 6:00pm / Sun 12:00pm to 3:00pm | Meeting Pattern: S-Special | Start Date
Drawing is one of the most ancient forms of communication – it has the power to engage users like no other technology. Drawing can connect people beyond language or culture, helping humans express emotions and abstract ideas where words fail. But often times people are too self-conscious to even pick up the pen, let alone draw something someone else will see. How can new interactive interfaces give people the confidence to draw without inhibition, and inspire previously impossible collaborations and creations? In this weekend workshop, we’ll examine the game design behind analog drawing games and how to translate them into digital experiences. Past class deck: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1XD6aTw6nxSYQ9_fQLCi7jxQ5m9p-Ph6VGDBvb_kUS9Y/edit#slide=id.g43bf3213f3_0_13
ITPG-GT.2538.1 (22537) | Instructor: Alon Chitayat | Sat 12:00pm to 6:00pm / Sun 12:00pm to 3:00pm | Meeting Pattern: S-Special | Start Date
Masks have been used around the world since antiquity for ceremonial and practical purposes, as devices for protection, disguise, entertainment and bodily transformation, made to be worn or displayed. Sociologist Erving Goffman wrote about the everyday life as a masked theatrical performance. The performative aspect of our lives today is ever so present in our use of social media, where we present a curated version ourselves for the immediate visual consumption of others. In our `Selfies`, we can assume a multitude of identities and characters. Recent tools and platforms have evolved social media portraiture to an art form and have created new opportunities for artists to create and distribute interactive augmentations, forming new relationships between artists and viewers. This class explores the developing language of social media portraiture enhanced by Augmented Reality. Students will: - review masks in art history, leading up to today - ideate, design and develop an interactive mask (AKA effects/lenses/filters) - learn to use the Meta Spark software to create AR effects. This course requires CL: Hypercinema or equivalent experience.
ITPG-GT.2044.1 () | Instructor: Ziv Schneider | Sat 12:00pm to 6:00pm / Sun 12:00pm to 3:00pm | Meeting Pattern: S-Special | Start Date
Want to make an interface that can be squished, stretched, stroked, or smooshed? This course will introduce the use of electronic textiles as sensors. Focus will be placed on physical interaction design - working with the affordances of these materials to create interfaces designed to invite or demand diverse types of physical interaction. This course does not require knowledge or love of sewing - a variety of construction methods will be introduced. It will rely on a physical computing approach, with Arduino being used to read sensor values. Working with a breadth of conductive and resistive materials, students will learn to design and create bespoke alternative interfaces that can live in our clothing, furniture, and built environments. Prerequisite: Intro to Phys. Comp. (ITPG-GT 2301)
ITPG-GT.2030.1 () | Instructor: Kate Hartman | Sat 12:00pm to 6:00pm / Sun 12:00pm to 3:00pm | Meeting Pattern: S-Special | Start Date
Is it a plaything? Sculpture? Nostalgia? A Product? Art toys exist at the center of a unique Venn diagram. Each student in this class will develop an original limited-edition art toy. We will cover toy fabrication, character design, material selection, packaging design, and art toy culture. The class will be fabrication heavy, there will be weekly assignments, and a final project.
ITPG-GT.2196.1 (22545) | Instructor: Ben Light | Tues 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
This course explores the fundamentals of storytelling through animation. Students will create two short animation pieces over the course of seven weeks. The first part of the course is devoted to the stop motion using Dragon Stop Motion. The second part of the course is devoted to digital collage animation using After Effects. Drawing skills are not necessary for this class, however, you will keep a sketchbook. Basic video and sound skills are required.
ITPG-GT.2002.1 (5806) | Instructor: Marianne Petit | Mon 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2002.2 (5806) | Instructor: Marianne Petit | Tues 8:00pm to 10:30pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2002.3 () | Instructor: Pedro Galvao Cesar de Oliveira | Wed 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2002.4 () | Instructor: Pedro Galvao Cesar de Oliveira | Wed 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2002.5 () | Instructor: Gabe Barcia-Colombo | Mon 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
This course explores the fundamentals of sound and video. Students will learn the basics of both audio and video recording using audio field recorders and a variety of cameras as well as editing and exporting in Adobe Premiere. Students will work in teams to produce both an audio soundscape in Adobe Audition and a three-minute video short. This 2-credit course meets for the first seven weeks of the semester.
ITPG-GT.2001.1 (5799) | Instructor: Gabe Barcia-Colombo | Wed 7:00pm to 9:30pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2001.2 (5797) | Instructor: Gabe Barcia-Colombo | Tues 12:10pm to 2:40pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2001.3 () | Instructor: Gabe Barcia-Colombo | Mon 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2001.4 () | Instructor: Aidan Nelson | Tues 12:10pm to 2:40pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
The goal of this course is to provide students who are new to the principles of visual design with the practical knowledge, critical skills and confidence to effectively express their ideas in a visually pleasing and effective way. Over the course of 7-weeks an overview of the many tools and techniques available to convey an idea, communicate a message and influence an experience will be presented, discussed and applied. Topics covered in the course include: typography, color, composition, branding, logo and information design. This class is intended for students who do not have formal graphic design or visual arts training but recognize the powerful impact of visual decisions in their work. COURSE OUTLINE Class 1 – Principles of Visual Communication Class 2 – Typography Class 3 – Letterforms Class 4 – Color Class 5 – Composition Class 6 – Logo and Brand Design Class 7 – Information Design Each meeting a new topic will be presented. The format will be a class discussion with a focus on examples of the theme for the week. Each topic will have a related assignment that will done by each student individually and presented and critiqued in the following class. For students new to or with limited skills in Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator there will be a series of informal weekly workshops led by residents to teach the basics and answer questions on use of the software. Completion of the assignments and participation in the class discussion is required. Students must maintain a blog where they post their assignments.
ITPG-GT.2005.1 (5802) | Instructor: Su Hyun Kim | Wed 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2005.2 (5803) | Instructor: Katherine Dillon | Wed 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2005.3 (5801) | Instructor: Katherine Dillon | Wed 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
💧 What can cybernetics, the study of how we shape and are shaped by systems, teach us about the sexual and social reproduction of gender and sexism? How does sex become gender and what are the politics surrounding who gets reproduced? We will explore how social regulatory systems are encoded into technological platforms and disentangle how they produce social pressure and govern behavior through somatic exercises, discussion, and project making. 💧 In this class, we will not shy away from difficult conversations and work closely together to cultivate a space of openness and mutual support. Discussion and project-making is core to this class. Together we will read the work of scholars such as Donna Haraway, Ruha Benjamin, Paul Preciado, Silvia Federici, & Audre Lorde. 💧 Along with lecture, discussion, and in class activities, students will be encouraged to explore their own research interests and personal histories. When projects are discussed, we will practice communicating ideas through presentation as a medium and will co-create a culture of constructive feedback.↝
ITPG-GT.2074.1 () | Instructor: Melanie Hoff | Syllabus | Fri 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
This course will focus on a range of human-centered design research and innovation workshop methodologies including Design Thinking, LEGO Serious Play, Lean UX, Google Ventures Sprints, Gamestorming, Futurecasting, and Service Design. Students will look for design opportunities within the unprecedented challenges that we are currently facing as global citizens. Students will define a problem space based on the drivers that they're most interested in exploring and will have the option to work alone or form small design research teams. They will learn how to conduct primary and secondary research, creating deliverables such as personas, journey maps, concept canvasses, and prototypes. Students will be required to apply design research approaches and workshop methodologies, develop and test a rapid prototype and then share their work in a final presentation.
ITPG-GT.2997.1 (22552) | Instructor: Dave Derby / Heidi Brant | Fri 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
In the 1960’s and 70’s, club culture was a social phenomenon that introduced new forms of technologies, experiences and designs. In this course, students will study a variety of different cultures (from social, to visual to sound) from pre-1600s to present day. These learnings will realize historical patterns and psychologies displayed throughout the decades. These social investigations are generally practiced through a United States lens, but students will also be invited to explore how similarly communities were developed around the world due to a variety of parallel conditions. Relationships between counterculture movements and visual and sonic creations will be examined. Students will then experiment with audio-visuality and study how light, sound and color and other senses are used to design an experience within different spaces, particularly spaces for entertainment. This course will culminate with students co-creating a series of temporary audio-visual clubs for public entertainment. Technologies introduced in this course include Cinema4D, Ableton, Max/MSP, and TouchOSC.
ITPG-GT.2047.1 () | Instructor: Ari Melenciano | Thur 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
Juxtaposed to traditional comics, Experiential Comics combines emergent tech, unconventional comic book art/structure, and game engines to offer users a more immersive, continuous storyworld experience. Challenging the status quo of classic and contemporary digital comics, students will explore new technologies/world-building techniques better suited to craft innovative comic book narratives and formats --worthy of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Students will ingest a brief history of classic and digital comics formats, collaborate with comic book artists to design engrossing characters, engage in world-building sessions, play with Unity/Unreal engines to generate avatars/ virtual environments, work with actors in motion capture/volumetric capture studios, learn the latest iteration of the Experiential Comics format, and share their unique expressions of Experiential Comics in a final presentation. Throughout a 7-week period, the course will be divided into 7 themes 1) The Disconnection of Digital Comics 2) Classic and Unconventional Comics Continuity 3) Marvel vs DC vs Insert Your Universe Here 4) Fourth Industrial Revolution Technologies 5) Capture & Creation 6) Infinite Engagement and Unlocking Immersive Format 7) Experiential Comics Presentations. Each weekly class will be divided into two halves 1) Exploration of Theme/Discussion 2) Process, Practices, & Play. This course requires CL: Hypercinema or equivalent experience.
ITPG-GT.2072.1 () | Instructor: Tony Patrick | Syllabus | Fri 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
Today’s internet, made up of mostly text documents and two-dimensional images and videos, is the result of historical limitations in bandwidth, graphics processing and input devices. These limitations have made the internet a place where the mind goes, but the body cannot follow. Recent advances in motion capture devices, graphics processing, machine learning, bandwidth and browsers, however, are paving the way for the body to find its place online. Experiments on the Embodied Web will explore the new realm of embodied interactions in the browser across networks. The course will include discussion of influential works in the development of online embodied interaction, including the works of Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz, Susan Kozel, and Laurie Anderson. Together we’ll explore pose detection across webRTC peer connections in p5.js and Three.js. Experience with Node, HTML and JavaScript is helpful but not required. ICM level programming experience is required. Prerequisite: ICM / ICM: Media (ITPG-GT 2233 / ITPG-GT 2048)
ITPG-GT.3013.1 () | Instructor: Lisa M Jamhoury | Syllabus | Mon 12:10pm to 2:40pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
Lies. Hoaxes. Conspiracies. Rumors. Propaganda. Fake news is an age-old phenomenon—but the internet is making targeted misinformation cheap and scalable. That is affecting politics, public opinion, and the everyday experience of the internet. In this 6-week class, we will explore the cutting edge of “fake news” by engaging in ethical research and fabrication. Participants will manufacture and observe a controlled “fake news” event. We will experiment with command-line tools for doctoring video, neural nets and deepfakes to fabricate reality, Twitter bots, behavioral psychology, and the dark underbelly of the ad economy.
ITPG-GT.2151.1 (22559) | Instructor: Ben Moskowitz | Mon 6:30pm to 9:25pm | Meeting Pattern: 6-First Half | Start Date
Computers are able to understand human speech better than ever before, but voice technology is still mostly used for practical (and boring!) purposes, like playing music, smart home control, or customer service phone trees. What else can we experience in the very weird, yet intuitive act of talking out loud to machines? The goal of this course is to give students the technical ability to imagine and build more creative uses of voice technology. Students will be encouraged to examine and play with the ways in which this emerging field is still broken and strange. We will develop interactions, performances, artworks or apps exploring the unique experience of human and computer conversation. Students will learn how to use text-to-speech and speech-to-text technologies, voice assistant devices, generative text techniques, open speech APIs, Node.js, and conversational UI design. There will be weekly assignments leading up to a final project. ICM or comparable programming experience required.
ITPG-GT.2988.1 () | Instructor: Nicole He | Wed 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
The 17th century philosopher Spinoza described \"wonder\" as a state of suspension in the mind, a paralysis resulting from a confrontation with something wholly new, disconnected from past experience such that judgements of whether it is good or bad are not possible. At this moment in time, we are caught in such a state of suspension with digital technologies. Creating computer applications instead of simply using them will provide you with a deeper understanding for the essential possibilities, limitations and unknowns of computation. The first half of Introduction to Computational Media focuses on the fundamentals of programming the computer (variables, conditionals, iteration, functions, and objects) and includes a basic introduction to HTML5/DOM. The JavaScript-based \'p5.js\' programming framework is the primary vehicle for the class. All sections assume no programming experience at all. The second half focuses on applying fundamental programming concepts to generate and manipulate various media including imagery, sound and text and data. This course assumes a working knowledge of JavaScript and the \'p5.js\' programming framework. Students who already have experience with programming in JavaScript and p5.js may join the course in the second half. Pre-requisite: ICM: Code or equivalent programming experience.
ITPG-GT.2048.1 () | Instructor: John Henry Thompson | Wed 8:00pm to 10:30pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2048.3 () | Instructor: Mimi (Yue) Yin | Tues 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2048.4 () | Instructor: Allison Parrish | Wed 12:10pm to 2:40pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2048.5 () | Instructor: Mimi (Yue) Yin | Wed 12:10pm to 2:40pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2048.2 () | Instructor: Luisa Pereira | Thur 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2048.6 () | Instructor: Lisa M Jamhoury | Fri 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2048.7 () | Instructor: Ellen Nickles | Mon 8:00pm to 10:30pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
In even the tiniest fragment of digital sound (especially music) there lies a multiplicity of information hidden within. Using audio analysis techniques, this data can be distilled into a vast array of characteristics that describe various different features of the sound. These include things like the loudness, pitch, or the spectrum of frequencies being detected. Through additional analysis, these data points can be used to detect higher level musical features representing things like tempo, rhythm, or melody. Furthermore, the sound and music information can be used to train deep learning models that can then make accurate predictions (eg. what a sound is, what genre a song is, what mood a song evokes). Or, we can use machine learning for generative purposes using the data to guide the creation of new sounds, synthesizers, or even entire songs. The preceding are activities that fall under the areas of digital signal processing, music information retrieval, and machine learning, a trifecta that form the technological foundation for the research area known as machine listening. With a focus on ambient sound and music, this class will explore how tools and techniques from the field of machine listening can become a powerful aspect, or even strategy, in the realm of creative applications. This course will not cover, nor will it assume knowledge of, the underlying technical aspects of machine listening, or music theory. Resources for further pursuance of each week’s topics will be provided but will not be required for class. Instead, our aim will be on understanding what these techniques are doing, when and where to apply them, and how to access and apply them effectively through powerful software libraries. This high level approach will allow us to keep our efforts directed towards creative experimentation without becoming bogged down. Ultimately, students will synthesize the semester’s work into their own creative application involving sound. Here are some examples of the types of projects this class could support: An app that visualizes audio through graphics or DMX/LED lighting to create synesthesia-like effects An automatic system for transcribing music based off of a recording or real-time input A music remixing system where tracks are automatically selected, spliced, processed, and rearranged A musical instrument that adapts to its player based on real-time analysis of the played sound A synthesizer that uses machine learning to optimize and tune its parameters A music education software that visualizes rhythm and melody for the purpose of instruction A rhythm game that derives its gameplay from music information (Guitar Hero, Rock Band, DDR) A tool that analyzes the health of a machine based on its sound through a contact microphone The course will be taught in JavaScript with ICM-level programming experience recommended. No formal training in sound or music is expected or required. This course will be a great fit for any student that is interested in sound and wants to explore it more deeply. Please feel free to reach out to me via email with any questions about the class.
ITPG-GT.3018.1 () | Instructor: Michael Simpson | Thur 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
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/wearable 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 and head mounted displays 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 include and are not exclusive to Unity3D, Vuforia, Microsoft Hololens, Google Project Tango, volumetric video, SLAM, image and object recognition, depth sensing, projection mapping. Students should have previous working knowledge of Unity3D and feel comfortable with independently developing using this platform. Code samples will be provided for each technology/platform taught. 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). Students should feel free and are invited to use any other technologies they might find suitable to develop their ideas.
ITPG-GT.2122.1 (22588) | Instructor: Rui Pereira | Wed 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
You affect others’ experience. Just by existing. If anyone has ever interacted with anything that you have ever made - you are a curator of experience. Curation means to care for. And all experience is time-based. From theaters to art installations to mobile apps to VR to games to thought experiments to fMRI procedures to elevators. You are an experience-designer. This is a class for experience-designers. If the world were clear, art would not exist. Time-based art and “theater” more specifically is a perfect manipulator of experience. Many creators of time-based art look for the “universal.” What happens in the minds of all truly happens. How can we use art to make our brains experience the same things? What behind-the-scenes work can we employ to manipulate experience? Film scoring works on us in ways we don’t perceive in the moment. Can we pay closer attention to this when making work? Sometimes what we have for lunch affects our experience of art more than the hours of labor that went into the most miniscule of decisions when making that art. Show don’t tell. How does the play take place in the room in front of us? How can public performance not be awkward? How do we experience a performance rather than watch it. Goals: Identify the reality / micro realities of your surroundings. Use what you identify to aid in curation of emotion with or without narrative (i.e. “art”) Format: Workshop / Laboratory / Post-mort. Students will be expected to make. Rapid prototyping and releasing early and often will become mantras for breathing life into performance ideas. How do we show not tell? How do we use science as a blueprint for staging? How do literal experiments become curated experiences for others? We will research. We will make. We will critique what we make. We will make again.
ITPG-GT.2032.1 () | Instructor: Andrew Schneider | Mon 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
\"Being a person is not the essence of humanity, only – as the world\'s history suggests – one of its masks.\" -- John Gray \"my main concern with someone stealing my identity is that they would be a better me\" -- @BrandyLJensen \"A caterpillar who seeks to know himself would never become a butterfly.\" -- André Gide We are currently living in a society that operates under the principle that one body equals one agent, one vantage point, one identity. But emerging technologies may create a future in which the notion of a single personal identity becomes outdated. That future includes: machine learning techniques that make emulating the style and behavior of other people fast and easy; widely available AR/VR headsets that get people to identify with however many faces and bodies they choose, instead of just those they were born with; cryptocurrencies enabling the use of pseudonymous economic identities to transact across the planet in a permissionless manner. This is a course where we will get to explore and anticipate the utopian and dystopian aspects of this weird future of identity, by: designing weekly interventions for obfuscating, simulating, multiplying, and merging ourselves online and offline, using tools like Puppeteer and Runway; looking at projects that seek to redefine, expand, or dissolve concepts of personal and social identity, from artists such as Lynn Hershman Leeson and Stelarc; and reading widely about the historical, philosophical, and psychological underpinnings of identity.
ITPG-GT.2041.1 () | Instructor: Dan Oved | Wed 6:30pm to 9:25pm | Meeting Pattern: 6-First Half | Start Date
In an age of pressing and complex problems like climate change, extreme inequality, and surveillance capitalism, “problem solving” is a central feature of innovation, design, and planning. But can these wicked problems actually be “solved”? And why does the cutting edge of problem solving look so limited? Machine learning. Predictive analytics. Algorithmic decision-making...Is planning for the future being outsourced to machines? In this class, we’ll take back control of the future by learning how it has historically been predicted, planned, and produced in board meetings, think tanks, writers’ rooms, and policy circles, and how those methods are being impacted by new technologies. During a series of discussions and hands-on workshops, we will learn specific, tangible, and collaborative practices for prediction and planning that can augment and transcend computational capabilities, making for marketable future-proof skills that can help redefine the future for humanity.
ITPG-GT.2033.1 () | Instructor: Michelle Shevin | Thur 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
This course will challenge students to reflect on the concept of value creation, specifically the growing intersection of economic, social, and environmental value in the context of an interconnected and interdependent global society, and the role that technology and design can play in the advancement of social good. In the tradition of ITP, this class will take a deeply interdisciplinary and cross-sector lens. Students will survey a breadth of innovations that represent an exciting new toolkit for creating and scaling social value including social entrepreneurship, business-minded NGOs, impact investing, venture philanthropy, and public-private partnerships. These innovations are being used to tackle the world\'s biggest problems in a variety of fields – education, healthcare, financial empowerment, poverty alleviation, climate change, civics, and so on. Students will learn to identify motivations and pathways for traditional private and public-sector actors to develop social impact strategies, as well as motivations and pathways for social sector actors to access and leverage the capital markets and private sector methodologies. In particular, students will focus on how the application of design and technology principles can advance leading-edge work in these contexts. The class will be structured as a 7-week seminar. Each week will be a module featuring a major concept Social Innovation. Students will learn about the innovation mechanics and evolution, modern examples, and will consider problems and opportunities for design and technology-driven interventions. We will also aim for at least one expert guest speaker per module. Final Project: Business Plan, Product Plan, or Installation that addresses one of the following questions: How can we create a world where people can more easily express their values through their participation in the economy (as consumers, producers, or otherwise)? How can we create a world where private sector actors are more transparent about their social and environmental accounting? Students may also use an existing idea for a social enterprise or product pending instructor approval.
ITPG-GT.2990.1 () | Instructor: Lyel Resner | Wed 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
Successfully communicating is a critical skill not only for a graduate thesis, but also in the career that will follow. It boils down to this question: Are you persuading, influencing, or communicating your thoughts and ideas effectively, to any audience be it three people or three hundred? In this class, we will systematically work our way through a four-step method to improve your ability to connect with your audience. We will explore the science that explains why stories work. We will tackle a basic framework for what a story is, using a process and foundation to develop any talk or presentation. Now that we have what you are going to say, we will also focus on how you say it, along with strategies to give you confidence to be your best self when speaking in front of a crowd. This is a particularly good class to take in preparation for your thesis in the Spring. This seminar examines and deconstructs verbal storytelling as a discipline in its own right. It is an exploration of speaking and storytelling as a fundamental building block of human evolution and innovation. We will look at the learnings from ancient times through modern scientific research—looking at theories attempting to explain what happens physiologically and psychologically when we are moved by a spoken narrative. This is a contextual approach that will focus on both the theory and the application in the marketplace of developing and delivering narrative as it relates to presenting oneself, a product or a service. As such, we seek to understand what drives current trends toward narrative education and storytelling as a competitive advantage in learning, communicating, persuading and influencing. Students will also contribute to designing a collaborative verbal communication template for the class and for the Final Project: a presentation that applies some of the concepts learned to themselves or their projects, products, ventures and/or service concepts.
ITPG-GT.2157.1 (22567) | Instructor: Adaora Udoji | Mon 3:20pm to 6:15pm | Meeting Pattern: 6-Second Half | Start Date
We are experimenting with a change to Thesis with this pilot class. The idea is to extend thesis over both semesters, each with a 2-point class that meets every other week. Part 1 focuses on research and concept development. Students will have the time to explore deeply into their areas of interest, narrow their focus and, finally, develop a concept and plan for their final thesis project. They will be structured assignments throughout on research methodologies and concept development techniques. They will end the semester with a paper and a plan for design and production.
ITPG-GT.2098.8 () | Instructor: Michael Naimark | Thur 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2098.1 () | Instructor: Nancy Hechinger | Thur 12:10pm to 2:40pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2098.2 () | Instructor: Kathleen Wilson | Mon 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2098.3 () | Instructor: Kat Sullivan | Thur 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2098.4 () | Instructor: Luisa Pereira | Mon 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2098.5 () | Instructor: Zoe Fraade-Blanar | Wed 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2098.6 () | Instructor: Stefani Bardin | Wed 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2098.7 () | Instructor: Margaret Smith | Mon 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
When it comes to climate change, election, or coronavirus spread, telling a story through words can be limited. We need visuals like maps, data visualization, or photography to understand complex and hard to grasp information. Visual journalism is a way of telling stories through visuals. Due to the development of computation and technology, there has been a big improvement in visual journalism. Large amounts of data can be rendered on a screen. Readers can experience a story through AR or VR. Games can be used to deliver complicated investigative stories. The goal of this class is to learn how to tell engaging and easier to understand stories through visuals. We will go over the best practices of visual journalism and learn its way of storytelling. We’ll look at how it’s produced. Work process, most frequently used tools and coding materials will be shared. This class will also focus on how to tell stories right. Many things should be considered when telling stories through visuals. Data can be biased. Visualization can be incorrect or misleading. Texts might not be referenced. We’re going to learn how these are carefully addressed in various visual stories. Stories start with a question. Students will bring their own questions and be helped to answer them. The final deliverable for students is to create a visual story that started from the question. Format can be various from paper storyboard to interactive visual storytelling. Week 1: An introduction to visual journalism Week 2: The process of making a visual story in a newsroom Week 3: What is data and how it\'s used Week 4: Data visualization and its best practices Week 5: Telling a story as a narrative (scrolly telling + game + animation) Week 6: Telling a story as an experience (AR/VR, chatbot) Week 7: Final presentations and critique
ITPG-GT.2071.1 () | Instructor: Youjin Shin | Syllabus | Mon 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
This studio and seminar course explores the basic principles of food biochemistry, enzymology and food processing and how they relate to memory, the senses and the processing of information. Students will also learn basic principles of molecular gastronomy and modernist cuisine as framing devices for understanding how food also functions in the context of bodily health, environmental health as well as cultural and political narratives. Our food system consists of more than food production and consumption and this class will address how science and food science plays a more integral role in this system and how this knowledge can be mined for work that creatively and functionally contributes to this emerging field. Assignments for the class will be based on the incorporation of food science into design and technology projects that uses food as a substrate to explore and illuminate information within the food system. Workshops involve using liquid nitrogen + hydrocolloids as well as creating performative food objects and a Futurist meal.
ITPG-GT.2569.1 (22571) | Instructor: Stefani Bardin | Thur 7:00pm to 8:40pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
This multidisciplinary course allows students from a variety of backgrounds to work together to learn about and develop assistive technology. Partnering with outside organizations, students will work in teams to identify a clinical need relevant to a certain clinical site or client population, and learn the process of developing an idea and following that through to the development of a prototype product. This course provides an overview of some of the assistive technologies currently used by people with disabilities to participate in life’s activities, including those used for computer access, mobility, and activities of daily living (ADLs). Working in small groups, you will work with a mentor with a disability to solve a problem by creating a tech solution making the problem easier to deal with. We have a number of ongoing projects such as developing interactive activities to improve balance of preschoolers with hearing impairments and cochlear implants, or working with a deaf woman in Argentina to develop a tool that can allow her to participate in group discussions. Other projects may include working with people with physical and sensory disabilities. This course provides you your own evidence of the benefit of using client centered design with input from multiple professionals.
ITPG-GT.2446.1 (22572) | Instructor: Anita Perr / Amy Hurst | Syllabus | Tues 6:45pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
This introductory class is designed to allow students to engage in a critical dialogue with leaders drawn from the artistic, non-profit and commercial sectors of the new media field, and to learn the value of collaborative projects by undertaking group presentations in response to issues raised by the guest speakers. Interactive media projects and approaches to the design of new media applications are presented weekly; students are thus exposed to both commercial as well as mission-driven applications by the actual designers and creators of these innovative and experimental projects. By way of this process, all first year students, for the first and only time in their ITP experience, are together in one room at one time, and as a community, encounter, and respond to, the challenges posed by the invited guests. The course at once provides an overview of current developments in this emerging field, and asks students to consider many questions about the state of the art. For example, with the new technologies and applications making their way into almost every phase of the economy and rooting themselves in our day to day lives, what can we learn from both the failures and successes? What are the impacts on our society? What is ubiquitous computing, embedded computing, physical computing? How is cyberspace merging with physical space? WHY ARE WE HERE? -To see how the many things you might learn at ITP might be applied in the world (across many different fields), and to develop your own nuanced point of view on those applications -Think through the lens of designing engaging experiences -To build a shared language with your cohorts - about ITP, about your interests, about emerging technologies and ideas -To practice to collaboration in a way that emphasizes generosity, curiosity and communication -To practice a process of observation and articulation as a starting point for a design process. -To be inspired by different possible visions for your future. -To get a glimpse of the foundational character of the program: experimentation, play, thoughtfulness, emergence, interdisciplinarity, collaboration, criticality -To co-create a culture in which you have a sense of belonging / agency through your own ability to participate in its making WHAT HAPPENS IN CLASS? -Groups facilitate an experiences for the class, in response to the prior week’s guest -Small group discussions -Distribute invitations, made by you, to experiences in NYC -Hear from Guest Speaker -Short Q&A/ Final discussion with Guest
ITPG-GT.2000.1 (5660) | Instructor: Nancy Hechinger | Mon 09:00am to 12:00pm / Sat 09:00am to 10:00am | Meeting Pattern: 6-First Half | Start Date
Beginning with the release of Crowther and Woods\' \"Colossal Cave Adventure\" in 1977, the potential and unique affordances of computation as a means of storytelling have become more and more apparent. Combining approaches from literary theory, anthropology, computational creativity and game design, this class considers how narrative structure can be represented as data and enacted through computation, and invites students to implement practical prototypes of their own interactive and procedurally-generated narratives using a variety of technologies. Topics include (but are not limited to) hypertext fiction, \"choose your own adventure\"-style branching narratives, text adventures, visual novels, story generation from grammars and agent-based simulations. Students will complete a series of bite-size weekly assignments to present for in-class critique. Each session will also feature lectures, class discussion, and technical tutorials. Prerequisites: Introduction to Computational Media or equivalent programming experience.
ITPG-GT.2198.1 () | Instructor: Allison Parrish | Thur 12:10pm to 2:40pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
The virtual expansion of screens began during the 1960’s with the exploration of head-mounted displays. Since the 60’s, virtual reality has been explored in a multi-disciplinary context including philosophy, design, arts, behavioral therapy. Baudrillard, with his publication of Simulacra and Simulation (1981), declared that human experience is being replaced by a simulation of reality (HyperReality). His theories brought the dystopian narrative of the virtual to mainstream pop-culture, as seen in films such as The Lawnmower Man and The Matrix. Contrary to Baudrillard, Canadian VR Pioneer Char Davies brings a more positive perspective to Virtual Reality, “facilitating a temporary release from our haitial perceptions and culturally biased assumptions about being in the world, to enable us, however momentarily, to perceive ourselves and the world us freshly.” Throughout the class, the friction between Baudrillard and Davies will create the foundation of our exploration of Virtual Reality, where we will use room scale headsets and game engines to create meaningful “temporal experiences” exploring themes from behavioral sciences to narrative storytelling. We will be exploring: - existing VR projects, popular culture references and theory. - concepts such as sense of embodiment (SoE), social VR design, and interactive storytelling techniques. - methods for designing, modeling and rigging avatars for VR. - live and pre-recorded animation. - spatial audio techniques such as ambisonic sounds engines. - packaging and distributing applications for social VR. This is a production class, along with a theoretical foundation, in which we will prototype projects with networking, inverse kinematics, raycasting and face tracking technologies to explore questions such as “how does the viewer become part of the experience?” and “how does the real space relate to the virtual worlds we design?” In the second half of the class, students will work in groups to build a final social VR project based on their exploration of the above framework.
ITPG-GT.2461.1 (22579) | Instructor: Igal Nassima | Fri 09:00am to 11:55am | Meeting Pattern: 12 | Start Date
The ability to digitally fabricate parts and whole pieces directly from our computers or design files used to be an exotic and expensive option not really suitable for student or designer projects, but changes in this field in the past 5 years have brought these capabilities much closer to our means, especially as ITP students. ITP and NYU now offer us access to laser cutting, CNC routing, and 3D stereolithography. In this class, we will learn how to design for and operate these machines. Emphasis will be put on designing functional parts that can fit into a larger project or support other components as well as being successful on a conceptual and aesthetic level. In this class, we will discover methods to design projects on CAD applications for total control of the result, and we will develop algorithmic ways to create designs from software (Processing) to take advantage of the ability to make parts and projects that are unique, customizable, dependent on external data or random. The class will include 3 assignments to create projects using the three machines (laser, router, 3D) and the opportunity to work on a final project.
ITPG-GT.2890.1 (22580) | Instructor: Daniel Rozin | Thur 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
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 design, prototype, and build simple AR experiences - with a consideration of not just visual but also aural AR. We’ll focus on the design/UX of AR experiences as well as the technical foundations necessary to actually code these experiences. We’ll supplement design/coding exercises with an overview of the history of AR and discuss a broad range of use cases. Our tool of choice will be WebXR, but we will go over prototyping techniques outside of these platforms to speed up the design process.
ITPG-GT.2037.1 () | Instructor: Irene Alvarado | Tues 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
As game and interaction designers we create systems and choices that can either prey upon our psychological foibles or help us avoid decision pitfalls. It is our responsibility to understand how we decide, to consider the ethics of the systems we create and to practice designing systems in a purposeful manner. Game Design & The Psychology of Choice will provide interaction and game designers with an understanding of the factors that influence behavior and decision-making by looking at the intertwining of cognitive psychology and economics through the development of behavioral economics. These disciplines study behavior on the individual and group level, often revealing some of the why behind the rules of thumb and folk wisdom that game designers come to intuitively. But understanding the why—why we fall into decision traps; why certain tradeoffs tax our brain more than others; why we are overconfident about our abilities; why certain decisions make us uncomfortable—allows us to more purposefully apply our design craft, both in and out of games. Finally, as a class, we will take what we learn about how we think and create series of game experiences based around key cognitive science concepts. Assignments may include: •Mod a cognitive science experiment into a game or experience •Analyze and present a game through the lens of cognitive science and behavioral economics •Create game or experience based around a particular insight from cognitive science or behavioral economics
ITPG-GT.3028.1 (22584) | Instructor: Gregory Trefry / Jennifer Lim | Mon 12:10pm to 3:05pm | Meeting Pattern: 12 | Start Date
The 17th century philosopher Spinoza described \"wonder\" as a state of suspension in the mind, a paralysis resulting from a confrontation with something wholly new, disconnected from past experience such that judgements of whether it is good or bad are not possible. At this moment in time, we are caught in such a state of suspension with digital technologies. Creating computer applications instead of simply using them will provide you with a deeper understanding for the essential possibilities, limitations and unknowns of computation. The first half of Introduction to Computational Media focuses on the fundamentals of programming the computer (variables, conditionals, iteration, functions, and objects) and includes a basic introduction to HTML5/DOM. The JavaScript-based \'p5.js\' programming framework is the primary vehicle for the class. All sections assume no programming experience at all. The second half focuses on applying fundamental programming concepts to generate and manipulate various media including imagery, sound and text and data. This course assumes a working knowledge of JavaScript and the \'p5.js\' programming framework. Students who already have experience with programming in JavaScript and p5.js may join the course in the second half. Pre-requisite: ICM: Code or equivalent programming experience.
ITPG-GT.2233.1 (5674) | Instructor: John Henry Thompson | Wed 8:00pm to 10:30pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2233.2 (5772) | Instructor: Luisa Pereira | Thur 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2233.3 (5670) | Instructor: Mimi (Yue) Yin | Tues 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2233.4 (5673) | Instructor: Allison Parrish | Wed 12:10pm to 2:40pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2233.5 (5672) | Instructor: Mimi (Yue) Yin | Wed 12:10pm to 2:40pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2233.7 () | Instructor: Ellen Nickles | Mon 8:00pm to 10:30pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2233.6 () | Instructor: Lisa M Jamhoury | Fri 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
When technology advances, teaching styles regress. Every new wave of technology touted as a boon to education -- radio, TV, DVDs, the internet -- has tended to revive the idea that the ideal class structure is the lecture, where faculty broadcast information to disconnected student recipients. Yet we\'ve known for decades that lectures are poor ways to create learning experiences, and that actively involving students--with the class, the teacher, each other--is far more effective. The thesis of Imagination and Distributed Learning is that the range of possible experiences available online is larger, more varied, and more interesting than most of what is on offer from colleges and universities’ online courses. Students will read teaching and learning research, and do field work where they set out to learn something online and reflect on the experience, and then set out to teach something online, and reflect on that experience. The goal of the course will be for students to build up alternatives to existing (and often quite dull) online educational practices today. The final project will be a proposal, plus designs or partial implementation, for online tools or experiences that will create experiences users can learn from. These proposals will be presented to a panel of people managing existing online programs at NYU and elsewhere.
ITPG-GT.2075.1 () | Instructor: Clay Shirky | Syllabus | Thur 12:10pm to 3:05pm | Meeting Pattern: 12 | Start Date
All computing is physical. We work with computational systems by taking action with our bodies, on devices. The construction of computing devices, and their use, consumes raw materials and energy as well. In short, the virtual always has physical consequences. This course is about how to design digital devices for our bodies\' capabilities. To realize this goal, you’ll learn how a computer converts the changes in energy given off by our bodies (in the form of sound, light, motion, and other forms) into changing electronic signals that it can read and interpret. You’ll learn about the sensors that do this, and about simple computers called microcontrollers that read sensors and convert their output into data. Finally, you’ll learn how microcontrollers communicate with other computers. 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 working devices. Both individual work and group work is required.
ITPG-GT.2301.1 () | Instructor: Jeffrey Feddersen | Thur 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2301.2 (5849) | Instructor: Daniel Rozin | Wed 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2301.4 (5676) | Instructor: Yeseul Song | Thur 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2301.5 (5677) | Instructor: Tom Igoe | Wed 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2301.6 (5679) | Instructor: David Rios | Fri 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2301.7 (5678) | Instructor: Daniel Rozin | Thur 08:30am to 11:00am | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2301.8 () | Instructor: Tom Igoe | Wed 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
The web has become an amazing platform for live communication. Streaming media, audio and video conferencing, text chat and other real-time data transmission give us the ability to create a wide array of platforms that enable live cooperative and collaborative performance, real-time games, and novel real-time communications experiences. In this course, we focus on the types of content and interaction that can be supported through these technologies as well as explore new concepts around live participation. We utilize browser based technologies such as WebSockets and WebRTC in combination with JavaScript and Node to build client/server based applications. Experience with HTML and JavaScript are helpful but not required.
ITPG-GT.2734.1 (22691) | Instructor: Shawn Van Every | Wed 12:10pm to 2:40pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
Libraries like TensorFlow.js and ml5.js unlocked new opportunities for interactive machine learning projects in the browser. The goal of this class is to learn and understand common machine learning techniques and apply them to generate creative outputs in the browser. This class will start with running pre-trained models and re-training models in the browser using high-level APIs from ml5.js, as well as explore the Layer APIs from TensorFlow.js to create models from scratch using custom data. This class will also cover preparing the dataset for training models. At the completion of this course, students will have a better understanding of common and popular machine learning models, how do they work, how to train these models, and their use case to creative projects. The output of the class will be examples of interactive ML web applications. The topics that will be covered are Image/Sound/Doodle Classification, Face/Pose Recognition, Image Style Transfer, pix2pix Image Transformation, and Image Synthesis. The techniques and neural networks we will use and build include Transfer Learning, Convolutional Neural Network, Generative Adversarial Network, Reinforcement Learning, and more. Prospective students are expected to have taken an ICM (Introduction to Computational Media) course, or have equivalent programming experience with JavaScript, HTML, CSS. About Yining Shi: http://1023.io
ITPG-GT.2465.1 () | Instructor: Yining Shi | Tues 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
This course is about how to tell stories with your projects. Like a classic linear story, we’ll start at the beginning with the question of how good stories are told. We’ll learn about classical storytelling techniques and conventions from a variety of cultures, genres, and media. Next we\'ll explore what various tech and media can and can\'t do in the context of story. We’ll end the semester throwing linearity out the window to create cohesive, rigorous narrative experiences with clear audience/viewer entry and exit, that engage with the tropes and conventions of non-linear storytelling. The class will include some original writing, but students who don’t think of themselves as writers are highly encouraged to join as well as students who do. We’ll learn about narrative tools like plot, character, form, subtext, symbolism, POV and lots of other delights that will enable you to create stories and adaptations for your assignments. Students Do: During classtime, students will participate in discussion, small group work, reflective in-class writing, and presentations. We will also have guest speakers and project workshops with guest critics. Weekly homework assignments will consist of reading, watching, listening, and potentially attending events outside of classtime to support conversations and activities during class. Student projects will involve group work/play with projects riffing on assigned existing stories and narratives. For example, a specific canonical story, poem, myth, parable, or film plot may be used as a narrative jumping off point for these assignments. Some of these projects may involve some light narrative writing. Structure: This is a 14 week class. Unit 1: Narrative structures. In this unit we dig into what it means to tell a story. Some of our major themes include: • What are the most commonly used story structures in media such as the novel, graphic novel, film, TV, and theater—and what expectations do they set up for the audience? • What are the techniques, tropes, and conventions of both western and nonwestern storytelling traditions? • What are some approaches that are in dialogue with or rebel against these traditions? • How do we understand and manipulate the audience’s narrative expectations? • What makes a story ‘work’ / how do we define a good or successful story? Unit 2: Using tech to tell a story, or not In this unit we will do something that in other contexts is a terrible idea—we will start with the technology. We’ll explore briefly what counts as technology and why and how we make the choice to use it or not. • What might we do with sensors, motion, projection, AR/VR, paper, film, light, voice etc in the context of the storytelling knowledge we’ve gained in Unit 1? • What unique storytelling conventions might be available to us as makers? • What kinds of objects, interfaces, situations, and places can be experienced as narrative? Unit 3: Non-linear storytelling In this unit we will play with situations in which the creators deliver the narrative in a non-linear form. • How do we use the viewer’s relationship/familiarity with conventions of linear storytelling to engage them in a non-linear narrative? • What are the storytelling conventions we see used in media beyond the page, big screen, and stage, where non-linearity is a common feature, and what can we learn from them? For example, AR/VR, video games, social media, site specific and immersive performance, and museum design. • How could we make a story that works in more than one direction? • How do we play with the audience’s expectations? • How do we create seamless and innovative user journeys through narrative experiences Connection: Taught previously at ITP including this class (Fall 2020)
ITPG-GT.2076.1 () | Instructor: Mia Rovegno / Kio Stark | Syllabus | Thur 6:30pm to 9:25pm | Meeting Pattern: 12 | Start Date
Whether it’s through photo realistic scans found in current-gen video games or the cartoonish and low-fi aesthetic of Bitmoji there is no limit to ways in which the body and the self are represented in digital spaces. This class will look at how avatars have been historically used in the realm of art, commerce, and entertainment and utilize existing avatar creation tools to develop projects that examine identity, body politics, and contemporary performance. In class, we will cover the basics of Unreal Engine, photogrammetry, 3D scanning, and model rigging although students will be encouraged to use existing skill sets and creative thinking to complete some of the smaller week-by-week assignments. The class will culminate with a short performance, small installation or single/multi-channel video piece using one or more of the techniques covered in class. This can be a solo project or a group project. In this class students will: – Explore how avatars can be utilized in your creative practice – Gain an introductory understanding of Unreal Engine, photogrammetry, model rigging, and 3D scanning. – Learn how to recontextualize digital spaces for the purposes of art, installation, and performance. – Broaden your thinking of what performance can be, both in a physical setting and digital setting. – Think critically about how physical bodies inhabit digital spaces and how the hardware and software we use reinforces the acceptance and value of certain kinds of bodies.
ITPG-GT.2153.1 (22564) | Instructor: Matt Romein | Tues 12:10pm to 2:40pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
This course is a survey of programming strategies and techniques for the procedural analysis and generation of text-based data. Topics include analyzing text based on its statistical properties, automated text production using probabilistic methods, and text visualization. Students will learn server-side and client-side JavaScript programming and build single-page web applications as well as bots for social media networks. Additionally, this course will also include examples on how to interface with the latest open-source and commercial machine learning models for text and image generation. The writing of this course description may or may not have been assisted by one of these so-called "AI" models The course will include weekly homework coding exercises and an open-ended final project.
ITPG-GT.2536.1 (22592) | Instructor: Daniel Shiffman | Tues 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
In the words of Ernesto Oroza in Technological Disobedience - \"Más severa es la crisis, más poderosa es la creatividad de las personas” (The more severe the crisis, the more powerful is the creativity of the people). In this special format of Project Development Studio, students will look into techniques and frameworks to design and develop projects with limited resources during turbulent times. This is a production heavy four-credit course, where students will be required to propose a single project that will be researched and expanded during the semester utilizing creative practices that exist outside of the mainstream. Format: Lectures + Workshops + Pin-ups
ITPG-GT.2564.1 () | Instructor: Pedro Galvao Cesar de Oliveira | Mon 3:20pm to 6:15pm | Meeting Pattern: 12 | Start Date
The most difficult part of prototyping is not the building process, but the process of deciding how to build. If we choose proper technology for prototypes, we can improve their robustness and simplicity. This course will cover available and affordable technologies for ITP students to build prototypes. The course will start with soldering, wiring and LED basics. Then students will design an Arduino compatible board in Eagle, get it fabricated, assembled. And then using the debugger to dig deeper to understand how a microcontroller works. The class will also cover multitasking, signal processing, communication, document writing and advanced skills beyond the Intro to Physical Computing class. Each session will have lectures followed by in-class practices with guidance. The 14-week long assignment is called Do It Once – Do It Again. Bringing an idea or ongoing projects is highly encouraged. This course requires Physical Computing or equivalent experience. Prerequisite: Intro to Phys. Comp. (ITPG-GT 2301)
ITPG-GT.2845.1 (22599) | Instructor: Deqing Sun | Tues 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
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 language and computer-generated text. Among the topics we'll discuss are: the history and aesthetics of computer-generated writing in literature and the arts; computational linguistics; ethics and authorship in the context of computer-mediated language; poetic structure and sound symbolism; performance and publishing. Programming topics covered include: data structures (lists, sets, dictionaries); strategies for making code reusable (functions and modules); natural language processing; grammar-based text generation; predictive models of text (Markov chains and neural networks); and working with structured data and text corpora. Weekly programming exercises and readings culminate in a final project. Prerequisites: Introduction to Computational Media or equivalent programming experience. Prerequisite: ICM
ITPG-GT.2778.1 () | Instructor: Allison Parrish | Tues 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
Digital tools of all kinds are deeply embedded in how our society operates. Innovations in basic communication, data processing, image manipulation, and even financial systems have transformed our social worlds and our artistic practice. This became even clearer and more present during the global pandemic, where, during times of social isolation, digital and networked tools almost fully replaced in-person social life. This course will examine the ethical and esthetic implications of a digital and networked world through the lens of socially engaged art and explore how digital tools are and can be used in socially engaged art practice, where art and creative work intersect directly with people and civic life. This includes discussion of how digital and networked tools both increase and complicate physical, economic, and cultural accessibility, and the ethical and social implications of the newest technologies, including AI, Web3, and quantum computing. We will work on how digital tools have been used in socially engaged art and how they could be used further, guided by the understanding that working digitally with socially engaged concepts means both using digital tools within projects AND interrogating the inner workings of how digital practices operate socially and culturally. We will also have some meetings and activities in public spaces, field trips to organizations such as Eyebeam and Genspace, and guest lecturers. Please feel free to reach out to me directly if you have questions about taking the course, or the course content.
ITPG-GT.2156.1 (22600) | Instructor: Clarinda Mac Low | Tues 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
This course explores music through the lenses of computation and interactivity. The first part of the semester consists of a structured exploration of rhythm, melody, timbre, and harmony, from the perspectives of code, design, and music theory. For each musical element, we will hold listening sessions, represent and manipulate the element in code, and create an interactive study around it. During the second half of the semester we will cover algorithmic composition techniques such as Markov Chains, Neural Networks and L-systems. As students work toward their final projects, assignments will take a more self-directed approach. Professional practitioners will come in to share their work in the field and give students feedback on their projects. In-class coding and assignments will be done in P5.js + Tone.js, but students will be free to use other languages and frameworks for their final projects. ICM or equivalent programming experience is required. This class is a good fit for students who are interested in: - Creating interactive music pieces and digital instruments - Deepening their understanding of how music works - Continuing to develop coding skills acquired in ICM Prerequisites: Introduction to Computational Media (ICM) or equivalent programming experience is required. About Luisa Hors: https://www.luisapereira.net/
ITPG-GT.2653.1 (24602) | Instructor: Luisa Pereira | Fri 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
This course introduces machine learning for art and creativity. It is a broad survey of the tools, techniques, and theory needed to understand emerging AI technology and re-appropriate it for critical inquiry and creative exploration. The contents include an accessible introduction to how modern neural networks function and their real-time and non-real-time applications, as well as an overview of current state-of-the-art techniques in deep learning. We\'ll build interactive systems which incorporate real-time learning into creative code environments such as Processing, p5.js, openFrameworks, Max/MSP, and PureData, as well as control software instruments which produce music and visual art. We will also explore the frontiers of generative models such as GANs and autoencoders, showing how these methods can learn how to synthesize complex and information-rich images, sounds, and text. Course materials will be based on the tools and instructional guides being developed on ml4a.github.io, along with a suite of deep learning libraries that perform important and novel tasks. A high-level, non-comprehensive introduction to coding machine learning in Python using modern deep learning frameworks like PyTorch and Tensorflow will be included. An introduction and overview of RunwayML will also be part of the course. Students will be provided with all of the code and supporting materials. Although this course has no official prerequisites, students will find it useful to catch up on fundamental computer science skills, including using a terminal and coding basic Python. One or more optional sessions for students who wish to catch up on or refresh these skills will be offered within the first two weeks.
ITPG-GT.2994.1 (22604) | Instructor: Gene Kogan | Tues 3:20pm to 6:15pm | Meeting Pattern: 12 | Start Date
\"A computer is a clock with benefits” writes Paul Ford in Bloomberg’s issue dedicated to code. Time, at once fundamental and mysterious, is of course a basic part of any time-based media, but uniquely more so for programmed media that can evolve as it runs. In this course, we’ll reflect on the deep mysteries of time while also building hands-on skills that will improve our command of temporal media and technologies. Specific topics will range from the marvelous engineering of historical clocks and orreries through modern computer architecture. We\'ll draw inspiration from a technological tradition stretching back at least 2000 years to the Antikythera Mechanism that includes humanity\'s earliest efforts to understand temporal patterns in nature. Practically, we’ll build mechanical and software clocks; experiment with time-series data and time protocols; and survey techniques for digital signal processing and software state transitions. Students will improve their skills in: - Extracting meaning from data in time-series sets, like sequential sensor readings in a physical computing project or a public API; - Creating experiences with a beginning, middle and end; a narrative arc; - Getting to the \"metal\" in microcontrollers and CPUs; - Integrating real-time clock modules and network time protocols with projects; - Using programmatic timelines and variable \'tweening\' to add grace and sophistication to our creations Students will execute production assignments throughout the semester. Students should have taken or be taking physical computing, a programming course, or have equivalent experience. Prerequisite: ICM / ICM: Media (ITPG-GT 2233 / ITPG-GT 2048) & Intro to Phys. Comp. (ITPG-GT 2301)
ITPG-GT.2040.1 () | Instructor: Jeffrey Feddersen | Wed 12:10pm to 2:40pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
The smartphone is not only the primary site for digital communication and consumption, it also hosts emerging forms of media production. Let's investigate the potential of the mobile touchscreen as a creative instrument! This is a project based course, and we will explore by creating and testing a series of functioning web-based toys - including drawing apps, character creators, and writing tools. You can expect to sharpen your skills in javascript and design.
ITPG-GT.2068.1 () | Instructor: Max Bittker | Syllabus | Mon 12:10pm to 2:40pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
Interactive technologies seldom stand alone. They exist in networks, and they facilitate networked connections between people. Designing technologies for communications requires an understanding of networks. This course is a foundation in how networks work. Through weekly readings and class discussions and a series of short hands-on projects, students gain an understanding of network topologies, how the elements of a network are connected and addressed, what protocols hold them together, and what dynamics arise in networked environments. This class is intended to supplement the many network-centric classes at ITP. It is broad survey, both of contemporary thinking about networks, and of current technologies and methods used in creating them. Prerequisites: Students should have an understanding of basic programming. This class can be taken at the same time as, or after, Intro to Computational Media or an equivalent intro to programming. Some, though not all, production work in the class requires basic programming. There is a significant reading component to this class as well. Learning Objectives In this class, you will learn about how communications networks are structured, and you will learn how to examine those structures using software tools. By the end of this class, you should have a working knowledge of the following concepts: * The basics of network theory, some history of the internet and the organizations and stakeholders involved in its creation and maintenance * The Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) model and standard internet protocols such as Internet Protocol (IP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) , Universal Datagram Protocol (UDP), and Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP). * Network addressing, private and public IP addresses * What hosts, servers, and clients are and a few ways in which they communicate * What a command line interface (CLI) is and how to use the tools available in one * The basics of internet security * How telecommunications networks are similar to other infrastructural networks, like power and transportation, and how they are different.
ITPG-GT.2808.1 (22603) | Instructor: Tom Igoe | Tues 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
This class will discuss the key issues, challenges, and best practices in visual storytelling in Cinema and emerging media like real-time spatial computing. The class will teach how to architect and lead a virtual production by creating a dialogue between the Producer, Director, and Cinematographer in filmmaking with the Technical Producer and Director in creative technology. The class will cover an overview of all of the technical skills required to produce a remote virtual production through the lens of a project manager making administrative and creative decisions. This class will culminate in a real-time 3D project exploring motion capture and virtual production that will adapt a pre-existing cinematic work with the class themes in mind.
ITPG-GT.2079.1 () | Instructor: Todd Bryant | Tues 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date