"Blockchain is the new Internet" - something bigger is going on here, than just another form of digital payment like Bitcoin. The blockchain enthusiasts promise applications from smart contracts, to autonomous organizations, to anarchistic systems of government. This course introduces fundamental concepts and functionalities of the blockchain and its applications, and offers a way to playfully explore its multiple dimensions. The goal of the course is not only to improve skills in this utopian however very real technology, but also to creatively apply it, to come up with design fiction and push the concept to the edge. Students will learn the basics of blockchain technology, cryptography, and the functions specific to the blockchain like crypto-currencies, smart contracts, and autonomous organizations. Students will create their own designs and applications (real or fictional) of blockchain, and their speculative designs what the technology might become. The course includes reading and practical work as homework and in class work.
ITPG-GT.2115.1 () | Instructor: Joerg Blumtritt | Sat 12:00pm to 6:00pm / Sun 12:00pm to 3:00pm | Meeting Pattern: S-Special | Start Date
This class will focus on the skills and frameworks for putting the user at the center of the design process and ensuring the products and experiences we create meet user needs and expectations. The course will cover the full design process including strategies for conducting design research, methods for creating journey and experience maps, wire-framing, ideating, prototyping and user testing. Students will be active participants in the class and should come to every class with a computer and sketchbook. The class format will include lecture, in-class design exercises and a final design project.
ITPG-GT.2805.2 () | Instructor: Su Hyun Kim | Fri 3:20pm to 6:15pm / Fri 3:20pm to 6:15pm / Fri 3:20pm to 6:15pm | Meeting Pattern: S-Special | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2805.1 () | Instructor: Katherine Dillon | Fri 3:20pm to 6:15pm / Fri 3:20pm to 6:15pm / Fri 3:20pm to 6:15pm | Meeting Pattern: S-Special | Start Date
New Media Space Course Description Exhibitions speak to all our senses. Most creative professionals specialize in one or another particular field, be it space design, media production, interactive ideation or storytelling. But when we merge all these components into one congruent whole, magic happens – they mutually amplify each other and create a powerful experience that speaks to all our senses synchronously. This course will teach students how to create an exhibition by combining these elements that make up \"New Media Spaces\". What will students do? Students will systematically explore the opportunities and characteristics of “New Media Space.” They will first choose and research a utopian/dystopian theme. In teams, students will combine a broad variety of media (audio, video, projections, holograms, LCD screens, etc.) to design experiences that involve all our senses. At the completion of the course, each team will have collectively built a multimedia model of their exhibit and each team’s model will link to the next to form one complete exhibition about humanity’s role in the future. How will the course be structured? How Many Weeks? 2 point course. Ideally over 5 - 7 weeks (Other options are also workable) Who will teach it? Alexander Brandt, owner of the exhibition firm Xenario (see www.xenario.net, www.alexanderbrandt.com) Is this for Graduate (ITP) or Undergraduate (IMA) or both? Graduate (ITP) How Do You Know About ITP/IMA/Tisch/NYU? I have taught here in the Spring of 2019 Your Email Address * axanda@hotmail.com
ITPG-GT.2498.1 () | Instructor: Alexander Brandt | Sat 12:00pm to 3:00pm / Sun 12:00pm to 3:00pm / Sat 12:00pm to 3:00pm | Meeting Pattern: S-Special | Start Date
We live among the vast and relatively unknown Kingdom of Fungi. Mycelial networks have been likened to social and communications networks. What do we have in common with mushrooms? What can we learn from them? Fungi communicate, remediate, and decompose. They are used as food, medicine, spiritual guides, and material building blocks. Some are crucial to the soil food web; others will kill you. Fungi are closer to Animalia than to Plantae, and only 5% of the Fungi have been classified. Students will explore fungi through reading, research, writing and interacting with fungi, and making one case study and one project that explores the physical and conceptual material covered in class. Readings that span the biological, theoretical, social and creative will include Paul Stamets, Dale Pendell, Anna Tsing, and Gilles Deleuze. Students are asked to utilize \"technologies\" in the creation of projects, which might include digital media, cooking, mycotecture, or working with existent fungal communities. Fr 3:20pm - 6:15pm (03/29 - 04/12)
ITPG-GT.2607.1 () | Instructor: Justin Peake | Fri 3:20pm to 6:15pm / Fri 3:20pm to 6:15pm / Fri 3:20pm to 6:15pm | Meeting Pattern: S-Special | Start Date
100 Days of Making is a 2pt course that offers students the opportunity to pursue a creative passion or interest and develop or refine a skill over a 100-day period. Students choose a topic of interest and produce an expression of that topic every day for 100 days. For examples of past projects see here: https://itp.nyu.edu/classes/100days/. The course meets every other week over the course of the 14-week semester. Class time is spent discussing student progress and reflecting on students’ creative journey. Students are encouraged but not required to start their project on or near January 1. There will be a meeting for enrolled students to discuss project ideas prior to the winter break. About Christina Dacanay: www.cdacanay.com About JJ Esquizo: http://www.juanjose.xyz/ & Instagram: @juanjose_xyz
ITPG-GT.2793.1 () | Instructor: Karalyn C Lathrop | Syllabus | Wed 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 7-All Semester | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2793.2 () | Instructor: Paula Ceballos Delgado | Thur 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-All Semester | Start Date
Light Emitting Diodes or LEDs are used creatively all around us. They have the ability to emit light at different colors and intensities instantly and from very tiny points. How can we make creative visual works out of these amazing devices? What construction methods can we use to make those works reliable? Big LEDs will cover the process of designing large LED systems. We will cover LED array hardware and how to map pixels from computer generated media onto them. We will go through every major part of the hardware - different styles of LED arrays, drivers and gateways, cables, data protocols, and how to safely power all of them. We will learn to use the pixel mapping softwares Enttec ELM and Madmapper. We will also cover the paperwork needed to furnish a professional LED installation, including drafting riser diagrams, plan, section, and elevation views, creating a bill of materials, and writing instructions for users and installers. This year\'s final project will be a site-specific LED sculpture installed in a public space at 375 Jay St. The installations will be able to display student chosen media that can be viewed for one minute. Students will work either in groups or alone and can choose from one of four installation options to present on: - A prepared square section of 2.0mm pitch LED video tiles (approx 256px x 256px, 2’-6” x 2’-6”) - A prepared low-resolution sculpture with diffused linear elements (approx 500px, 2’-6” x 5’-0” overall) - A student conceptualized LED video tile project - A student conceptualized low-resolution project Because of this year\'s pandemic, unprecedented changes have come to the professional world of LED installations. As a result, we will be using remote tools such as networked-based cameras, remote desktop applications, and virtual private network connections to watch and operate the final projects. We will spend class time setting these tools up together. The two prepared options for the final project will be installed and maintained by the instructor.
ITPG-GT.2481.1 () | Instructor: Aaron Parsekian | Wed 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
This two-point workshop is centered on the examination and creation of collective storytelling environments. We will examine a wide-range of storytelling spaces including participatory and user-generated environments, site-specific works, community based arts practices, and transmedia storytelling. Weekly assignments, field trips, and student presentations. Tu 9:00am - 11:30am (01/29 - 03/12)
ITPG-GT.2706.1 () | Instructor: Marianne Petit | Tues 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
Open to anyone who wants to create comics regardless of drawing experience. Drawing experience UNNECESSARY! In this course students will learn the building blocks of comics – the myriad ways to pair words and images, panels, borders and color – by doing weekly assignments, in class drawing exercises and studying specific graphic novels, comics books and digital/interactive comics. The last two weeks of class will be devoted to a specific project that can be combined with work in another class. Comics are a powerful medium to tell personal stories, narrative medicine stories, as a tool for advocacy, and for producing a riveting tale of your choosing. We will discuss how comics can be used for entertainment as well as a tool for change. Mostly we will MAKE COMICS. Please bring: A notebook of your choosing to class. A uni ball black pen, fine tip.
ITPG-GT.2925.1 () | Instructor: Tracy White | Tues 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
The World Wide Web no longer stops at the edge of your screen. When it comes to products, if it powers up, it talks to another device. This class present an overview of methods for connecting the physical world to web-based applications. We\'ll consider what the emerging interaction patterns are, if any, and we\'ll develop some of our own as needed. This class can be seen as a narrower and more interaction design-based complement to Understanding Networks. The latter class provides a broader overview of the dynamics of data networks, while this class focuses specifically on the challenges of connecting embedded devices to web-based services. Neither class is a prerequisite for the other, however. The 2-point version of this class will introduce network connection techniques for devices using microcontrollers like the MKR1000 or ESP8266 and processors running an embedded operating system like the Raspberry Pi or BeagleBone. You will have 4 assignments in this class. Weeks 4 and 5 are the same assignment, on different platforms. You’ll be assigned a platform by coin toss or volunteer in week 4, so that we have an equal number of projects on each platform. Learning Objectives: Students will gain an understanding of the basics of client-server web-based programming for devices with limited computing power. They will learn about current protocols for communication between devices and web servers, and about the rudiments of security for that communication.
ITPG-GT.2565.1 () | Instructor: Tom Igoe | Tues 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
How do you process data from connected devices? This class examines how to build systems to collect, process, store, and visualize data from connected devices. The class will review and discuss real world Internet of Things (IoT) systems using case studies and actual projects. We will build systems using Arduino hardware and open source software. We will discuss how IoT systems are built on commercial cloud infrastructure. Students will learn about IoT devices and the data pipelines for processing data. They will build an Arduino based device to send and receive data over WiFi using standard protocols like MQTT. Students will write code to move data from MQTT into a database. Students will learn how to query the database and present data as tabular data and graphs. To gain an understanding of an entire IoT system from device to application, we will start at a high level and then drill into each of the pieces -- we will: - Discuss sensor hardware and wireless options (WiFi, Cellular, LoRaWAN, LTE-M, etc) for moving data to the server - Discuss transport options MQTT, CoAP, AMQP, HTTPS, etc. - Examine SQL, NoSQL, and Time Series Databases - Look at tools and techniques for querying and visualizing data. - Collect and store sensor data using Amazon Web Services (AWS) Prerequisite: - Introduction to Physical Computing - Introduction to Computational Media (suggested) The class will be a mix of lecture, discussion, and building IoT systems. Real world examples and case studies will be used to demonstrate how IoT can be built.
ITPG-GT.2473.1 () | Instructor: Don Coleman | Mon 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
What do WhatsApp and Nelson Mandela have in common? How about Mr. Robot and the UN Council for Human Rights? When most people think “digital security”, they rarely think of these connections; but the connections are there. Digital security is much more than an industry buzzword— it encompasses techno-social idealism, open source development, and symbiotic coordination between sectors in tech, the humanities, and civic society. Certainly, we’re going to talk about Signal, Tor, VPNs, and OTR. But let’s dig even deeper. In this course, students will learn the principles of digital security; from end-to-end encryption, to circumvention technology, resilient communications, and beyond. Part lab exploration, part oral history, and part prototyping workshop, students will come away with the tools they need to undertake development projects with end-user security in mind; and foster an appreciation for digital security’s integral, timely, and often life-saving role in human rights struggles across the globe.
ITPG-GT.2188.1 () | Instructor: Harlo Niani Holmes | Mon 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
Dynamic Web Development introduces the fundamentals of building "full stack" web applications. This course will focus on modern, client- and server- side web technologies and provide practical methods for approaching web development for creative and functional applications. The core technologies used in this course are HTML5, JavaScript, Node.js with the Express framework, and MongoDB database. Students will learn to design, develop, and deploy web applications and gain the necessary skills to extend and explore web development independently. Prerequisite: ICM About Ahmad Arshad: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahmadsarshad/
ITPG-GT.2577.1 () | Instructor: Andrew Badr | Mon 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
Over 7 weeks students in this course will explore different game mechanics, puzzle mechanics, group dynamics, and narrative structures and work in groups to design and build a room sized escape game. We will explore how to design immersive and participatory experiences through play and problem solving. Students will construct weekly puzzles and narratives and in the final week build and operate an “escape room” experience. Prerequisites: Physical Computing and ICM. Comfort with fabrication strongly encouraged.
ITPG-GT.2491.1 () | Instructor: David Rios | Fri 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2491.2 () | Instructor: David Rios | Fri 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
This class will focus on the creative storytelling possibilities of cinematic VR and other emerging immersive mediums. We will focus on how to create impactful experiences through experimentation with new spatial modalities, reviewing recent groundbreaking works, and exploring new possibilities of viewer engagement. Students will be asked to stretch their imaginations and embrace the distinct affordances of each assignment. Several exercises will be assigned to familiarize students with 360 storytelling. They will shoot scenes using Ricoh Theta S cameras and edit using new immersive tools in Adobe Premiere. A final, well-developed plan for a narrative short VR film, a potential Thesis Project, will be pitched during the last class. Otherwise, students can also brainstorm pitches for other immersive technologies, including room-scale VR and augmented reality, designing experiences as narrative writers and visual directors. Along with the assignments, a strong conceptual focus will challenge the students to think outside of current technological limitations, and explore the exciting future of experiential storytelling. The aim is for the class to create viable paths for students to engage with emerging immersive media with an expanded sense of possibility and inspiration, as well as prepare them to pitch experiences for festivals, labs, and clients. Th 9:30am - 12:00pm (01/31 - 03/14)
ITPG-GT.2499.1 () | Instructor: Matthew Niederhauser / Francesca Mirabella | Thur 09:30am to 12:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
Because the full potential of the emerging field of soft systems is unrealized, there are countless opportunities for curious innovators to discover or develop novel soft systems. Soft robotic skills and techniques also open up a world of possibilities for large scale or surprising artwork. This course teaches hands-on fabrication techniques for constructing simple pneumatic actuators from cast silicone and heat-sealed mylar, and challenges participants to design and build their own. Lectures and discussion center on concepts from soft innovation history, the current state-of-the-art, and sister disciplines of bio-inspired and hybrid (soft/hard) robotics. Consideration of both brand new soft materials, from a class visit to Material ConneXion library, and everyday overlooked soft mechanisms, found in average retail stores, will require participants to look at softness through a new lens. Final projects will be the development of an original soft/flexible/hybrid research or artistic concept presented with context, material swatches with justifications for choices, and physical or modeled proof-of-concept. About Kari Love: http://www.karimakes.com
ITPG-GT.2125.1 () | Instructor: Kari Love | Mon 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
This course is a survey of some of the more exploratory new directions AI is heading towards in the coming years and the creative applications these new developments may enable. More specifically, the class will explore the following three subtopics: 1) Realistic language models: Turing-test passing text generators like GPT-3 are writing whole paragraphs with human-level coherence. We will explore techniques for generating creative fiction and chatbots using both APIs and our own home-brewed NLP models. 2) Generative music: Since WaveNet in 2016, generative models of audio have gradually evolved to capture music and natural sound. How and for whom will top-10 hits in the future be made, and how will they be listened to? We will speculate about such questions and experiment with speech and audio synthesizers and new kinds of digital musical instruments. 3) Decentralized AI: What happens when we can do machine learning at scale without putting all the data in one computer? This seemingly trivial difference opens up all kinds of new possibilities, including AI co-ops and autonomous artificial artists. Each subtopic is accompanied by practical resources to use or implement these techniques for yourself, as well as an overview of the available and relevant tools associated with it, and will finish with a short project to apply them to a topic you\'re interested in.
ITPG-GT.2497.1 () | Instructor: Gene Kogan | Thur 12:10pm to 2:40pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
Web browsers were originally used only for displaying simple HTML pages, but over the years they have become supercharged all-powerful web execution machines. In this class, we’ll explore experimental new features and HTML5 APIs that allow browsers to communicate with the OS and their environment. APIs that will be covered may include: Battery Status, Geolocation, notifications, accelerometer usage, video access, speech recognition, and text-to-speech. We\'ll cover the mechanics of bookmarklets and Chrome extensions, with a sustained multi-week focus on building extensions and exploring Chrome\'s extensions APIs. Class workshops will include projects such as building an ad blocker, programmatically replacing text and images on a website, and making sites that respond to external events. Students will give weekly in-class presentations on web capabilities, complete small weekly assignments, and present a final project. This class leans heavily on web technologies, and experience with HTML, CSS and modern JavaScript (ICM with p5.js or Commlab Web/Networked Media) is required.
ITPG-GT.2811.1 () | Instructor: Cory Forsyth | Mon 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
Hardware is not hard, and new tools at ITP make it easier than ever to make custom circuit boards for your projects. Students will learn how to grow from a breadboard to their own surface mount PCB, all without leaving the floor. This class is about artists and designers taking control of their hardware, and exploring the potential of embedding their projects into the world around them. Students will learn Eagle CAD, micro-milling machines, drawing schematics, electronics theory, ordering parts, surface-mount components, solder paste, stenciling, reflow, pick-and-place, and more. Two projects will be assigned. The first is a class project, where each student will make their very first surface-mount PCB. The second project is the final, and we will be spending the rest of the semester focused on iterating through prototypes and final designs. Prerequisite: Physical Computing About Andy Sigler: andysigler.com
ITPG-GT.2767.1 () | Instructor: Andy Sigler | Tues 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | 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 models in the browser using high-level APIs from ml5.js, as well as explore the Layer APIs from TensorFlow.js to train models 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 a few machine learning models, how do they work, how to train these models, and their use case to creative projects. Students will also be able to create interactive ML web applications with pre-trained models or their own models. Prospective students are expected to have taken an ICM (Introduction to Computational Media) course, or have an equivalent programming experience with JavaScript, HTML, CSS. We 6:30pm - 9:00pm (03/27 - 05/08)
ITPG-GT.2465.1 () | Instructor: Yining Shi | Wed 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
Artists working with digital audiovisual mediums deal on a daily basis with compression, sampling, digitalization, scaling, modeling, and quantizing. They also tackle challenges such as modeling natural events, noise filtering, time stretching, and parameterizing. In this class students will learn math tools for boosting their digital practice and fixing common problems, and also understand the math behind our human perception of the physical world. Each class we will learn different concepts and techniques, including probabilities, Fourier transform, and quantizing, and then will explore their influence in our human perception and audiovisual applications, including synthesis, manipulation, conversion, and rendering. This class does not need any programming or mathematical prerequisites, besides arithmetics. We will program audiovisual applications using free libre open-source software, including Python, p5.js, Pure Data, and Audacity. Th 6:30pm - 9:00pm (03/28 - 05/09)
ITPG-GT.2492.1 () | Instructor: Robby Kraft | Thur 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
Computers and Networks can more directly convey our experience of being in the world than traditional media. Class discussion will center around a psychological examination of that experience. Students will work on creating media to better depict our experience and networks to communicate it. The techniques in the class include three.js for creating environments, machine learning for generating imagery, webrtc for transmitting sound and video and cloud database services for storing it. This class picks up where Introduction to Computational Media leaves off.
ITPG-GT.2865.1 () | Instructor: Dan O\'Sullivan | Wed 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
The class will focus on the many overlooked aspects of paper and how it can be used as a three-dimensional material. We will review the disciplines of pop-ops, origami, paper craft, as well as visual design. Using these methods as a starting point, students will then build prototypes exploring new ways to tell stories, inform, interact, play with, engage, and challenge a younger audience. Most classes are hands–on; the rest are dedicated to critique (including from children), analysis, and refinement, both technical and conceptual. We will discuss how projects can be mass produced and distributed. Students will build three prototypes during the semester. From these, each student will select a favorite to fully develop as the final.
ITPG-GT.2187.1 () | Instructor: Sam Ida | Thur 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-Second Half | Start Date
In this course, students will learn the process of developing products that address user needs. Students will go through the process of identifying a user need, developing a product prototype, evaluating the product with the target user, and outlining the next development steps. Topics will include such elements as need finding, archetype development, user journey maps, ideation, prototyping, user evaluation and validation.
ITPG-GT.2479.1 () | Instructor: Inna Lobel | Thur 09:00am to 11:55am | Meeting Pattern: 6-First Half | Start Date
What is the relationship between new media art and the art that preceded it? Has the revolutionary impact of digital media produced entirely independent spaces of art making and creativity? Thinking around such questions tends toward historical dialectic, or the idea that the present is always in dialogue with the past. There is a long history of ties between the making of art and technological advancement. Taking this history as its foundation, this course will explore how digital technologies have produced new arenas for artistic expression and interpretation, while focusing on how 20th-century artists working before the digital boom utilized other media, techniques and approaches to effect comparable formal, conceptual and experiential dynamics. The course has been designed to enhance perception and understanding of art through a variety of channels - from sustained, close looking to exploratory conversations to more rigorous thinking and discussions informed by readings, projects (including making projects) and written assignments.
ITPG-GT.2586.1 () | Instructor: Georgia Krantz | Mon 12:10pm to 3:05pm | Meeting Pattern: 6-First Half | Start Date
Course Description Reengineering current technologies to solve new or different problems is a design process that humans have adapted for centuries. This course explores socially-driven alternative uses of existing technologies, and carves out the space for engaging discussions about the future of responsible engineering and critical design. “We cannot solve the problems we have today by thinking in the same way that we did when we created them.” -Albert Einstein What will Students do? Students of all creative backgrounds and skill sets, both technical and non-technical, are invited to apply to this course. Students will learn how to use their creativity to design a second life for existing products and systems, one that questions the motives behind technologies, transforming them into socially and environmentally impactful designs that promote positive change. Final projects for this course could include the following: Reengineering traditionally hostile military technologies as anti-war products that diffuse, rather than facilitate conflict; redesigning tools that distribute chemical pesticides as tools that enrich or purify crops; reimagining chastity belts that impose external restrictions on women’s bodies as self-operated devices designed to keep women safe. What other tools, technologies and methods can be re-designed with positive alternative solutions in mind? Final products will be accessible to all, existing in the public sphere as social artifacts designed to prompt reactions and encourage discussion rather than sit behind closed doors in galleries. Structure Over the course of 7 weeks, students will meet once per week to explore how existing designs can be repurposed into socially and environmentally responsible products. Students will be introduced to the work of artists, designers and engineers who have reengineered products in innovative ways. The class will also feature guests who will speak about their relevant projects and provide critiques, advising students on their research direction. The second part of this course will allow students to apply their research as they redesign tools and systems for alternative uses. Through an iterative process, students will prototype, test and eventually produce their own unique designs. The overall structure will be organized in the following manner: Week 1-2 // Research and Learning Students will be asked to conduct first hand ethnographic research with people that are relevant to their chosen topic. Week 3-4 // Prototyping Students will designs iterative prototypes based on the findings from their research. Week 5-6 // Field Testing and Revision Students will test their prototypes in the ‘real’ world with ‘real’ people, modifying their designs accordingly. Week 7 // Presentations Students will present their projects by explaining their process, demonstrating their prototypes as well as describing how they see their projects evolving. Learning Outcome By the end of this course, students will have learned how to think differently about products, and to see them as opportunities to redesign technologies in order to create better solutions and promote positive social and environmental changes. Fr 3:20pm - 5:50pm (09/07 - 10/19)
ITPG-GT.2027.1 () | Instructor: Vanessa Harden | Fri 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
This class will apply a product and service design lens to the rapidly evolving role of technology in politics, government services, and human rights, with a dual focus on the use of technology to advance the public good, and the threats that technology can pose to various aspects of civil society. On the one hand, there has been an explosion of technology tools that aim to promote healthy and peaceful democracies, provide more efficient government services, and promote human rights. This course will survey those efforts and the product design methodologies that guide them. On the other hand, 2018 has been a reckoning year for technology all over the world. The post-mortem of the 2016 US Presidential election shined a light on technology’s role in a promulgating a deeply polarized electorate, enabling election-meddling from foreign actors, and profiligating fake news, while also raising deep concerns about data privacy and security for everyday citizens. Meanwhile, new technologies like AI and Blockchain are poised to have deeply transformative effects on multiple aspects of society - from policing to education to financial services. This course will also explore the risks various technologies can pose to privacy, safety, liberty, and well-being. The course will feature guest speakers from leading practitioners in the space. Potentially including the ACLU, Higher Ground Labs, Elucd (YC17), NYU Better Policing Initiative, Microsoft, and more.
ITPG-GT.2483.1 () | Instructor: Lyel Resner | Wed 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
We build computers based on an illusory view of ourselves and miss out on connecting with good parts. This class looks at how we can reach the rest of you, the unconscious, the implicit, the context beyond the text. The readings and discussions in this class draw on modern research such as neuroscience, behavioral economics, social psychology, embodied cognition, and evolutionary psychology. The production assignments look for opportunities in biosensing, data analysis and experiential media to interact with a fuller spectrum of your experience. ICM and PComp are prerequisites.
ITPG-GT.2975.1 () | Instructor: Dan O\'Sullivan | Mon 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
Stereo (2-speaker) sound is the default way we produce and distribute most audio. This class challenges the stereophonic-centricity of digital sound and instead focuses on the context of listening, interfacing and interacting with audio beyond 2 speakers. Students will learn how to work with multichannel speaker systems to create room-scale interactive music and sonic environments. We will explore conventional and unconventional loudspeaker arrangements starting first with mono (one channel) and working our way up to 40 speakers. Together, we will examine the affordances and limitations of spatial and multichannel sound using Javascript (Tone.js) and Max/MSP. Students will perform/install their final on the 40-channel speaker array at Dave & Gabe’s studio in Bushwick. Topics include 3D sound, acoustics, perceptions, space and listening. Prerequisites: willingness to listen critically, some programming experience. No formal music training required.
ITPG-GT.2485.1 () | Instructor: Yotam Mann | Thur 6:30pm to 9:25pm | Meeting Pattern: 6-All Semester | Start Date
Throughout history, as new storytelling mediums have emerged, content has adapted to fit the developing form. From oral narratives to theater, cinema, and television, storytelling will always evolve to fit the possibilities enabled by the platform. Given its interactive nature, digital storytelling is gradually adapting to the medium. So - how is non-linear video shaping the future of digital storytelling? This workshop will combine filmmaking and classic storytelling with narrative gaming structures. The class will introduce the depths of non-linear video and allow students to create their own interactive experience. The focus is on what makes a good story in an interactive narrative environment. Students will have access to the Eko platform - the industry leader in interactive video. In addition, they will be given \"backdoor\" access to further customize the software for their own projects. During the course of the semester, they will work in teams of 2-3 students to produce a short interactive video experience. Weekly lessons will mimic their project creation process - providing tools and knowledge for creative ideation, scriptwriting, film production, and product integration. Mo 6:30pm - 9:00pm (01/28 - 05/06)
ITPG-GT.2815.1 () | Instructor: Alon Benari | Mon 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-All Semester | Start Date
This 2 credit class will focus on producing precision 2.5D parts, perfect for mechanisms and assemblies. We will cover 3 axis CNCs, 2D CAD, CAM, and machine setups. The class will be hands on and fabrication heavy, paying close attention to accuracy and craftsmanship. There will be weekly fabrication exercises, assignments, and a final project. This class will not cover the lathes, the 4 axis CNC, or 3D CAD, that is only covered in Subtraction: Turning. Th 9:00am - 11:55am (01/31 - 03/07)
ITPG-GT.2493.1 () | Instructor: Ben Light | Thur 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
This 2 credit class will focus on creating 3 dimensional sculptural parts from raw materials. We will cover the wood lathe, the metal lathe, 3D CAD, and the 4 axis CNC. The class will be hands on and fabrication heavy, paying close attention craftsmanship. There will be weekly fabrication exercises, assignments, and a final project. This class will not cover 3 axis CNCs, 2D CAD, or CAM, that is only covered in Subtraction: Cutting. Th 3:20pm - 5:50pm (01/31 - 03/14)
ITPG-GT.2494.1 () | Instructor: Ben Light | Thur 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
Tangible interfaces are interfaces that you touch. You control them with your hands, feet, and other body parts. Their shape, feel, and arrangement provide feedback. In this seven-week class, you\'ll build devices with tangible controls in order to better understand how we learn about and manipulate the world through our sense of touch. We\'ll discuss physical interaction concepts such as expressive interfaces and utilitarian ones, real-time control vs. delayed control, and implicit vs. explicit interactions. We\'ll discuss programming and electronic techniques to sense state change, thresholds, peaks, and other signs of user action. The primary tools will be the microcontroller and common tangible controls: pushbuttons, switches, rotary encoders, rotary and slide potentiometers, force sensors, touch sensors and others. The class will also cover on-device feedback through LEDs, speakers, and force-feedback actuators. Weekly projects will be designed (and parts specified) in pairs in in-class design sessions, and executed as homework. Projects will be mostly microcontroller-driven, and will build on the programming and sensor-interfacing skills learned in Intro to Physical Computing. Prerequisites: Intro to Physical Computing and Intro to Computational Media, or a working knowledge of microcontroller programming in Arduino; Intro to Fabrication or basic knowledge of laser cutter. We 9:00am - 11:30am (01/30 - 03/13)
ITPG-GT.2126.1 () | Instructor: Tom Igoe | Wed 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 7-First Half | Start Date
Do you want to teach or run workshops? This class explores pedagogy, syllabus and curriculum design for artists and creative technologists. A good teacher is also a great student themselves. They transform their curiosity into knowledge and share their learning process with others. One can learn to become a better teacher by staying fearless about ‘not knowing\' and unlearning to embrace radically open ideas and connecting various expertise and knowledge. Teaching can be a form of artistic and creative practice in collaboration with a diverse community. Teachers can invent new forms of learning spaces, new kinds of collaboration and new sense of community. In this class, students will learn about creative and logistical aspects of teaching. Students will read about the history of artists in and out of academic institutions, Black Mountain College as well as more recent experiments. Students are expected to engage in a critical discussion about the topic. Class will include a few field trips and meetings with museum educators, teaching artists and community organizers. Students will create their own workshops based on a class guideline. Sa 12:00pm - 4:25pm (02/02 - 03/09)
ITPG-GT.2141.1 () | Instructor: Taeyoon Choi | Sat 12:00pm to 4:25pm | Meeting Pattern: 6-First Half | Start Date
Across New York City’s universities, the Technology, Media and Democracy program will bring together journalism, design, and technical disciplines to understand the various threats to democracy, and attempt to address these challenges using technical and computational methods and techniques. Students have the opportunity to work with peers in other programs in journalism, engineering, media studies, design & technology at Columbia, Cornell Tech, CUNY and The New School to build ideas that advance an information ecosystem that nurtures democratic societies. The free press, journalism and the media are some of the most critical elements of our democracy, but have been increasingly under attack by political and market forces, and a social media landscape that has altered the way people interact and share information. These challenges include: dwindling resources and support for deep investigative journalism; legal, technical and even physical assaults of media organizations and journalists; challenges to credibility and reliability of information; and shifting business models and economics that threaten both local and national news organizations and coverage. This course will include various elements that will help frame the problem and build/prototype solutions that address a variety of issues. https://techpolicy.press Reading List: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xoq92YRHNIVJV-74gwilZKVy-6yDTgAkfBDAll-oDO8/edit
ITPG-GT.2184.1 () | Instructor: Justin Hendrix | Fri 1:00pm to 2:55pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
The Library of Congress holds more than 160 million physical items, alongside countless more digital resources. The collection spans vast swaths of subject areas, geographical places, historical periods, and political eras. In this course we’ll learn about the unique properties of these holdings, about the ways that these objects are encoded in data, and how we can access the archive both remotely and in person. Most importantly, we’ll dream up ways that artists might interact with and interrogate the collections, to produce work in a variety of media from software to sculpture to performance. We 12:10pm - 03:05pm (01/30 - 04/24)
ITPG-GT.2487.1 () | Instructor: Jer Thorp | Wed 12:10pm to 3:05pm | Meeting Pattern: 12 | Start Date
Modern farming is built for monocultures with its large scale machines dispersing synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides and the collateral destruction of biodiversity and seasonal harvesting. How can we design systems and hardware + software that address the individual needs of diverse ecosystems? How can we combine the ancient and analog practices of using biologicals (soil microbes, fungi, bio-pesticides) with sensor, light and robotic technologies to maximize our food yields without sacrificing taste and health benefits and not destroy our planet in the process? In this class we will look at speculative and ecosystem design, biotechnologies related to agriculture, top down and bottom up design and the scalability of these systems and practices. We will also have the change to experiment with the bio-remediation of soil using a custom microbial design studio to explore bio-fabrication. Students will work on small design-build projects that incorporate elements of contemporary technologies, current science and applicable methods of observation and analysis into centuries old practices of biodiversity and permaculture. This class is part of the BioDesign Challenge. Tu 12:10pm - 2:40pm (01/29 - 05/07)
ITPG-GT.2131.1 () | Instructor: Stefani Bardin | Tues 12:10pm to 2:40pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
This course re-conceives interactive media as a form of choreographic intervention. Instead of asking how moving bodies can control media, we will ask how interactive systems can influence movement. How do you make someone feel soft inside? How do you shake an entire room? How do you orchestrate duets between strangers? To accomplish this, the class facilitates a semester-long collaboration between ITP students and dancers from the Barnard/Columbia Dance Department. Choreographers will learn to apply computational thinking to choreography and creative coders will learn to apply choreographic thinking to computation. To whatever extent possible, we will attempt to embody code. Using computer vision and visual media, we will look at directing both how people move (quality of movement) as well as where they move (pathways and spatial relationships). We will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the various sensing technologies available to us today. How wide is the gulf between what we can see and feel (strength, hardness, contortion) and what a computer can see and interpret (locations, contours, velocity, acceleration)? Class time will be split between movement exercises, playing with examples and deconstructing code. The class will culminate in a final showing of student work. PLEASE NOTE: This class requires travel to The Movement Lab in The Milstein Center at Barnard College: 3009, Broadway, New York, NY 10027 (~1hour by subway each way). Final schedule of whether we will be meeting at Barnard every week or on alternating weeks depends on the construction schedule for the 2nd Floor Media Commons at 370 Jay. *** Please be advised that this is a 10-seat class. ***
ITPG-GT.2175.1 () | Instructor: Mimi (Yue) Yin | Fri 3:20pm to 6:15pm | Meeting Pattern: 12 | Start Date
Rules of play shape competitive games from checkers to football. But how do rules of interaction, both stated and unstated, shape everyday life? What happens when there are no established conventions and the rules are being made up as we go along? And last but not least, can we invent and facilitate new social norms through unconventional uses of technology? In this course, we will design, code and test strategies for playful, serious, and bizarre group interactions drawing inspiration from daily life. We will interrogate both what it means to play and how individual identities and group behaviors emerge. What motivates participation? What hinders it? When does participation become oppressive? What's the difference between self-consciousness and self-awareness? Who has power? Who doesn't? Are leaders necessary? What’s the difference between taking turns and engaging in conversation? What happens when the slowest person sets the pace? What happens when there are no explicit rules? And how do we set the stage for breaking social conventions? Class time will be a mix of technical material, play-testing, improvisation and movement work adapted from acting and dance training. All projects will be done in groups of 2-4. We will work with both mobile sensors and traditional keyboard/mouse interaction with p5.js, socket.io and node.js to enable real-time interaction. Our challenge is to design technology-enabled interactions that encourage participants to be even more present in the physical world with each other.
ITPG-GT.2176.1 () | Instructor: Mimi (Yue) Yin | Mon 12:10pm to 3:05pm | Meeting Pattern: 12 | Start Date
Art, design and experimental electronics can be great tools for inciting discussions of complex issues such as privacy, sexism, racism, economic inequality and climate change. This course aims to provoke thoughtful discussions of pressing issues through the combination of Art, Industrial Design and Embedded Electronics (sensors, actuators, Wi-Fi enabled microcontrollers - ESP32, raspberry pis). Topics will include technological disobedience, adversarial design and critical engineering. In this 14-week class, students will combine technology, design, and critical theory to build Art Objects / Interactive Sculptures that are aesthetically intriguing while socially relevant. This is a production heavy four-credit course, where students will learn about new-media critical theory, design and electronics. Prerequisites include an open mind, the drive to make, and physical computing.
ITPG-GT.2496.1 () | Instructor: Pedro Galvao Cesar de Oliveira | Mon 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
According to anthropologists Filip de Boeck and René Devisch, divination \"constitutes a space in which cognitive structures are transformed and new relations are generated in and between the human body, the social body and the cosmos.\" In this class, students will learn the history of divination, engage in the practice of divination, and speculate on what forms divination might take in a world where the human body, the social body, and even the cosmos(!) are digitally mediated. Starting with an understanding of ritual and folk culture, we will track the history of fortune-telling from the casting of lots to computer-generated randomness to the contemporary revival of Tarot; from reading entrails to astrology to data science; from glossolalia to surrealist writing practices to the \"ghost in the machine\" of artificial intelligence. Weekly readings and assignments culminate in a final project.
ITPG-GT.2120.1 () | Instructor: Allison Parrish | Wed 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
From the most ephemeral thought to the rise and fall of civilizations, every aspect of your life, and indeed the universe, involves energy. Energy has been called the “universal currency” by prolific science author Vaclav Smil, but also “a very subtle concept… very, very difficult to get right” by Noble physicist Richard Feynman. It is precisely this combination of importance and subtlety that motivates the Energy class. Maybe you fear the existential threat of anthropogenic climate change, or maybe you just want your physical computing projects to work better. Either way, the class will help you understand energy quantitatively and intuitively, and incorporate that knowledge in your projects (and perhaps your life). How? Building on skills introduced in Creative Computing, we will generate and measure electricity in order to see and feel energy in its various forms. We will turn kinetic and solar energy into electrical energy, store that in batteries and capacitors, and use it to power projects. We will develop knowledge useful in a variety of areas, from citizen-science to art installations, and address topics such as climate change and infrastructure access through the lens of energy. Students will build a final project using skills learned in the class. Prerequisites: Creative Computing Instructor Jeffrey Feddersen Website: https://www.fddrsn.net/
ITPG-GT.2466.1 () | Instructor: Jeffrey Feddersen | Thur 12:10pm to 2:40pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
Why do we care so much about our pop culture obsessions? Why do Doctor Who, Anime, and PBR beer inspire such fanatical devotion? Over the last two decades, the internet has transformed geekiness from an embarrassing mark of stigma into an important focus for creators, marketers, everyday nerds, and a million internet celebs. Fandom is the study of the communities that form around pieces of popular culture, whether based on a shared love of Star Wars, the New York Yankees, Harry Potter, or a niche Java library. Good fans are adoring, evangelical, and useful. Bad fans can be toxic, or even dangerous. From Pokemon to Air Jordans, this class explores the influences and motivations that have lead to the current renaissance in fandom. We chart the evolution of fan culture as a social and economic force, from early 15th century religious manias to its present rebirth in the age of digital connectivity. And we discuss issues of tech-assisted fan creation, management, commercialization and the neurological implications of lolcats. This is a class for everyone who wants to inspire millions of fanatical followers to do their bidding... or simply wonders why they still hum the theme to Super Mario Brothers in the shower. We 6:30pm - 9:00pm (01/30 - 05/08)
ITPG-GT.2965.1 () | Instructor: Zoe Fraade-Blanar | Wed 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
Much of our daily life is quietly being reshaped by AI while an entire generation of children is growing up with this technology in their homes. The best way to understand the algorithms that drive AI applications is to make your own -- to write and train them through playful and interactive activities. The Hacking Smart Toys for AI Learning course consists of a series of hands-on activities focused on designing and testing several smart toys, construction kits and play experiences that can support youth to better learn and play with AI. Both beginners and more advanced students are welcome. In this track participants will design with and hack existing smart toys and AI devices to support youth, families and educators to customize and appropriate these technologies in playful ways. The goal of the course is to imagine the future of smart toys and AI devices for youth and to explore the social and ethical conditions of children growing up with AI. The course will introduce students to different aspects of machine learning through play while engaging the local community of toy designers, artists, AI pioneers. The things we will do include writing applications for current smart toys and AI devices like Cozmo and Vector robots, Amazon\'s Alexa, Lego Wedo bricks. Students will also design their own AI toys or construction kits which they will test in local communities (schools, libraries, museum, community centers). Final projects will be displayed in a play exhibition where all communities involved throughout the course will be invited to participate. Fr 3:20pm - 5:50pm (02/01 - 05/10)
ITPG-GT.2495.1 () | Instructor: Stefania Druga | Fri 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
With emerging research and development with soft circuit technologies and its integration into textile and clothing design, the garment as a reactive interface opens up new possibilities in engendering self-expressions, sensory experiences and more. This 14-week class is to introduce students to this realm by creating connections between hardware engineering and textile crafting. The class is for students with basic physical computing knowledge to explore the possibility of wearables, and arouse discussion about the potential in re-imagining our relationship with personal devices, textiles and garment design as an interactive media.
ITPG-GT.2189.1 () | Instructor: Jingwen Zhu | Mon 6:30pm to 9:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
We use light in all aspects of our lives, yet we seldom notice it. That is by design: lighting in everyday life, well-designed, doesn’t call attention to itself. Instead it places focus on the subjects and activities which it supports. Solid state lighting technologies and digital control technologies have made major changes in the lighting industry. They support a wide range of color rendering and control than earlier lighting technologies, an ability to change light over a wider range of time, and they can communicate with all kinds of digital systems and devices. On the design side, this class takes a "post-pixelist" approach: rather than making images with light, we'll use it to illuminate people and the spaces and activities in which they engage. We won't focus on pixels or projections, but rather on casting light on the subject at hand. We'll consider the intersection of lighting design and interaction design. We'll analyze lighting and describe its effects, in order to design and use it more effectively. On the technical side, you'll learn the basics of the physics of light, its transmission and perception. We'll talk about how the materials which we cast light on or through affect how we perceive it. We’ll talk about sources of light, both current and historical. We’ll work with computerized control systems for lighting, and we’ll design a few lighting fixtures for different purposes. You’ll get practice planning and building electronic and microcontroller-driven circuits for lighting, and you'll learn digital communications protocols used in the lighting industry. Assignments will cover lighting observation and description; sensing and measurement of light; design of new lighting fixtures; and control of existing fixtures and lighting systems. This class will be production-intensive throughout the course of the spring semester. Second-year students should consider that the assignments in this class must be done in addition to their thesis work, regardless of the topic of their thesis.
ITPG-GT.2133.1 () | Instructor: Tom Igoe | Wed 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
This course teaches the ins and outs of using imagery in real-time within a performance context. The class will use Max/MSP/Jitter to study various ways of manipulating visual media (video, still imagery, live camera feeds) in integration with various interactive elements (sound, physical interfaces, sensors) in order to create dynamic and replicable performance systems. We will look at ways in which images are represented by a computer in order to increase our understanding of these systems and expand our visual/digital palette. We will then apply that understanding to variety of different performance formats and contexts while discussing strategies and techniques for creating compelling performances. Students will be assigned a short solo performance based on the ideas of video collage, remix, and expanded cinema as well as a group project based on concepts of object theater & experimental animation. Students will propose and perform a longer form performance as part of a final presentation in the form of a group show that will be arranged by the instructor. In depth in class workshops centered around Max + performance practice and critique. Th 12:10pm - 2:40pm (01/31 - 05/09)
ITPG-GT.2422.1 (5624) | Instructor: Matt Romein | Thur 12:10pm to 2:40pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
One of the most transformative consumer products in history, the iPhone remains the standard bearer for great design and user experience. With the latest versions of iOS and iPhone, Apple puts depth sensing and augmented reality in our pockets. How do we take advantage of this incredible platform to produce our own compelling experiences? This course will be a hands-on workshop where we explore the world beyond generic apps and push the boundaries of what’s possible on iOS hardware. Each week, you’ll be asked to complete a programming exercise meant to foster your understanding of iOS application development. While the exercises will vary in difficulty from week to week, we will always challenge you to explore some novel aspect of experience / interaction / interface design in your solution. Students should expect to spend additional time outside of class learning Swift and other related programming concepts. Full-time access to an iOS device and a Mac laptop running the latest operating systems are required. As part of the design process, we’ll host workshops and guest critiques with designers from top studios around New York City. At the end of the class, students will have a strong basis for future mobile design and application work.
ITPG-GT.2180.1 () | Instructor: Nien Lam / Sebastian Buys | Thur 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
This class is a project development studio for interactive music projects —that is, pieces of music that are not linear, but rather offer multiple dimensions for listeners to explore. Applications include generative music installations, novel instruments, participative performances, museum exhibitions, games, and tools for producing and teaching music. Students will take a project from concept to execution over several iterations, applying interaction design, creative coding, and music production tools and techniques. The project development process will include gathering aural and visual references, composing graphic/tactile notations, and creating focused studies to explore interaction with specific musical elements. This work will inform the design and implementation of a functional prototype which students will test, evaluate and refine to produce their final project. The first half of the semester, the class format will be a combination of lectures, design and coding exercises, and reading discussions. To support different kinds of projects, in-class examples will include desktop (Max/MSP, Ableton Live, Max for Live), web (Tone.js + p5.js), and physical computing frameworks (Arduino compatible micro-controllers). During the second half of the semester we will shift to a more self-directed approach, as students work on their final projects. Professional practitioners will come in to share their work in the field and give students feedback on their projects. Coming in with a specific project to develop is welcome; conceiving a project during the class is encouraged, too. Some experience in making or producing music will be useful, but is not required. ICM and Physical Computing or equivalent experience are required.
ITPG-GT.2475.1 () | Instructor: Luisa Pereira | Wed 12:10pm to 2:40pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
Exhibition design is the art of marrying experience and information. The best does so seamlessly; the very best surprise and delight you along the way. In this class, you will explore the craft of interactive exhibition design through practice. Working in small groups, you will select an NYU researcher whose work is of interest to you and create an interactive experience that presents this research to a broader, public audience. In the process, you will learn to interrogate content and form, audience and environment, medium and message to create a meaningful and playful exhibit experience.
ITPG-GT.2974.1 () | Instructor: Brett Peterson | Thur 6:30pm to 9:25pm | Meeting Pattern: 12 | Start Date
Forget the screen. People want to be part of the action. They don’t want to watch detectives and control superhero avatars. They want to solve the mystery and be the hero. They want to experience it. We see this craving for playful experience in everything from immersive theater to escape rooms to the Tough Mudder to gamified vacation packages. Designing live experiences for large audiences that demand agency offers a distinct set of challenges, from how much choice you give each participant to how many people you can through the experience. We’ll look at examples from pervasive games to amusement parks to immersive theater, examining both the design choices and technology that make the experiences possible. Along the way we’ll create large, playful experiences that put the participant at the center of the action. About Greg Trefry: https://www.giganticmechanic.com/our-team/#trefry
ITPG-GT.2467.1 () | Instructor: Gregory Trefry | Mon 12:10pm to 2:40pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
This is an environment for students to work on their existing project ideas that may fall outside the topic areas of existing classes. It is basically like an independent study with more structure and the opportunity for peer learning. This particular studio is appropriate for projects in the area of interactive art, programing, physical computing and digital fabrication. There are required weekly meetings to share project development and exchange critique. Students must devise and then complete their own weekly assignments updating the class wiki regularly. They also must present to the class every few weeks. When topics of general interest emerge, a member of the class or the instructor takes class time to cover them in depth. The rest of the meeting time is spent in breakout sessions with students working individually or in groups of students working on related projects.
ITPG-GT.2564.1 () | Instructor: Daniel Rozin | Wed 09:00am to 11:30am | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
There are more “free” applications and services than ever before that help us to quantify and track what we do, when, how, and with whom. The quantified self holds the promise of improving our lives, but there is an ambivalence to how these technologies are affecting our lives. This course will examine, question, and critique the perspectives of personal data and “the quantified self” from multiple perspectives. We will explore these perspectives by working with the tools and methodologies for collecting personal data and generate visuals and other tangible output from these data. We will introduce students to guest speakers, review and critique readings, projects, and software around the quantified self, and experiment through lab-based exercises that encourage a fluency with digital and analog visualization and data tracking tools. In this 12 week course, students will explore the topic of “the quantified self”. Together we will learn how to create narratives from our own personal data by collecting, retrieving, and analyzing patterns in our data, sketching and designing visualizations (e.g. charts, maps, etc), and developing programmatic methods to generate output from these data. Mo 6:30pm - 9:25pm (01/28 - 04/29)
ITPG-GT.2185.1 () | Instructor: Joey Lee | Mon 6:30pm to 9:25pm | Meeting Pattern: 12 | 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 | Thur 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
For better or worse humanity is heading down the virtual rabbit hole. We’re trading an increasingly hostile natural environment for a socially networked and commercially driven artificial one. Whether it's the bedrooms of YouTube streaming stars, the augmented Pokestops of Pokemon Go, the breakout rooms of a Zoom meeting, or even the "airspace" of Airbnb; we are witnessing a dramatic transformation of what occupying space means. The socially distanced measures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic have only accelerated this societal embrace of the virtual. So where are these dramatic spatial paradigm shifts occurring? Who owns and occupies these spaces? Who are the architects and what historical and ethical foundations are they working from? What world do they want to build for humanity and where does the creative individual fit into it? Will it be a walled garden, a role-playing adventure or a tool for creating more worlds? The course will ask students to embrace the role of virtual architect, not in the traditional brick-and-mortar sense of constructing shelter, but in terms of the engagement with the raw concept of space. However this virtual space must be considered and evaluated as a “site,” that is activated and occupied by real people and all the limitations of physical space that they bring with them from the real world. This is the foundation of synthetic architecture; simulated space met with biological perception. This conceptual architecture is free from the confines of physics but host to a whole new set of questions: How do we embrace the human factors of a dimensionless environment? How do we make or encourage meaningful interactions within the limits of current technology? New models of interaction must inform and shape the architecture of virtual space - what does that look like? How can architecture and aesthetics inform the creation of virtual environments and immersive narratives? How do we acutely consider the psychological and social impacts of the worlds we design and what is the metaphorical ground plane to make sense of this virtual world, unbound by physics? About Jonathan Turner: http://www.jonathanwilliamturner.com/about/
ITPG-GT.2177.1 () | Instructor: Jonathan Turner | Thur 12:10pm to 3:05pm | Meeting Pattern: 12 | Start Date
\"Memories are motionless, and the more securely they are fixed in space, the sounder they are.\" (Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space). This course is about exploring the unique affordances of virtual space in order to create VR experiences that transcend the (still awkward) headset. In class we will: Read and discuss relevant interdisciplinary writings from architecture, philosophy, neuroscience, art history, and poetry; Have in-class demos for core concepts of Unity3d for VR; Group critique of each other\'s work; Analyze the successes and failures of available VR apps; Have visits from guest VR creators. Students will walk away with: An introduction to 3d concepts and Unity for VR (for multiple headsets) A deep dive into what makes a meaningful VR experience A light introduction to other methods of developing Virtual Reality experiences (360 video, Oculus Medium, AFrame) Command of current practices in VR design Several weekly explorations (both low-tech and virtual) A final interactive Virtual Reality project (which can be executed in Unity or on another platform) Th 3:20pm - 6:15pm (01/31 - 04/25)
ITPG-GT.2166.1 () | Instructor: Sarah Rothberg | Thur 3:20pm to 6:15pm | Meeting Pattern: 12 | Start Date
This class focuses on the art of computer graphics and image processing. We explore the concepts of pixilation, image representation and granularity and the tension between reality and image. Students are introduced to the tools and techniques of creating dynamic and interactive computer images from scratch, manipulating and processing existing images and videos, compositing and transitioning multiple images, tracking and masking live video, compositing and manipulating live video as well as manipulating depth information from Kinect. The class uses Processing.
ITPG-GT.2273.1 () | Instructor: Daniel Rozin | Thur 3:20pm to 5:50pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
This course is designed to help students define and execute their final thesis project in a setting that is both collegial and critical. It is structured as a series of critique and presentation sessions in which various aspects of individual projects are discussed: the project concept, the elaboration, the presentation, the process and time-table, the resources needed to accomplish it, and the documentation. Critique sessions are e a combination of internal sessions (i.e., the class only) and reviews by external guest critics. Students are expected to complete a fully articulated thesis project description and related documentation. Final project prototypes are displayed both on the web and in a public showcase either in May or the following semester.
ITPG-GT.2102.1 () | Instructor: Stefani Bardin | Tues 6:30pm to 8:30pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2102.2 () | Instructor: Nancy Hechinger | Tues 6:30pm to 8:30pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2102.3 () | Instructor: Gabe Barcia-Colombo | Tues 3:00pm to 5:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2102.4 () | Instructor: Adaora Udoji | Tues 3:00pm to 5:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2102.5 () | Instructor: Kathleen Wilson | Tues 3:00pm to 5:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2102.6 () | Instructor: Kat Sullivan | Tues 3:00pm to 5:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
ITPG-GT.2102.7 () | Instructor: Greg Shakar | Tues 6:30pm to 8:30pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
The course title, “Veillance” is a reference to the root of “surveillance” and “sousveillance”, watching from above and watching from below respectively. As digital media becomes a greater part of our everyday lives, it is important to understand the new forms of surveillance that it enables as well as to harness these capabilities and perhaps to create systems of sousveillance. Through the course, we’ll critically examine technologies that have become integral part of our lives; the technologies that drive the internet, the capabilities of web browsers, mobile phones, and the emerging class of networked devices such as IP cameras and Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home. Through the course of this examination, we’ll look at how this technology works, the policies that govern their use, what their benefits are, and finally look at what we are giving up by embracing them. This will be a hands-on endeavor; we’ll develop software to illustrate their use and misuse as well as looking for ways that we can harness their “veillance” capabilities for creative, educational, and possibly subversive purposes. Of course, in this process, we’ll pay particular attention to ethical and moral concerns. The course will have weekly reading and technical assignments, encompasses group work, and will culminate final projects.
ITPG-GT.2469.1 () | Instructor: Shawn Van Every | Wed 12:10pm to 2:40pm | Meeting Pattern: 14 | Start Date
Sculpture is defined as a three-dimensional form of artistic expression concerned with space: occupying it, relating to it, and influencing the perception of it. In this class, we will look at new ways of implementing video mapping, interactive time-based media and augmented reality as a medium for creating engaging interactive physical and virtual sculptures. How do we create video sculptures that move, emote and react to our presence? The course will focus on taking video off the screen and into three-dimensional space in the form of site-specific and or physical installation. Through a series of weekly experiments and assignments, students will work with projection, video mapping, mixed reality and physical sensors to hack video into meaningful works of art. Class will be divided between lectures, guest speakers and critical discussion/presentation of work.
ITPG-GT.2193.1 () | Instructor: Gabe Barcia-Colombo | Wed 6:30pm to 9:25pm | Meeting Pattern: 12 | Start Date