DM 7032

TBD

MOBILE TECHNOLOGY WKSHP

This course introduces students to the practical and technical aspects of realizing mobile and locative applications using cellular, wifi, GPS and other wireless networks. It is intended to support the development of projects that have already been articulated as concept designs/proposals or projects that require custom programmed applications. The course is geared toward students who already have a basic knowledge of electronics and programming for serial communications using microcontrollers, sensors, etc. or those who have taken a prior course in project concept development using off-the-shelf applications in mobile and locative media (e.g. Network Landscapes). Specific technological skills addressed will vary according to student interest and faculty expertise, as well as in response to trends in mobile and locative computing. NOTE: Students must submit project / concept proposals to the instructor during the pre-registration period in order to obtain permissions to enroll. Restricted to graduate level students

Semester:Spring [2009-2010]

DM 7034

TBD

ADVANCED PROGRAMMING FOR DIGITAL

This workshop will explore advanced tools and techniques for the creation of innovative and expressive works of digital art. Lectures will address the application of best practices from the software design community to the context of digital media. In the first section of the course, students will exercise their skills with new techniques (integrated development tools, agile and object-oriented programming, rapid debugging and prototyping, etc.) on a range of 'mini-projects', specifically the analysis, generation and digital presentation of computationally-augmented literary texts. Assignments will include web-data parsing, speech synthesis, context-free grammars, and statistical generation techniques. During the second half of the course, students will focus on a larger work of their own design, participating in regular critical reviews throughout the development cycle. Although assignments will focus on digital literature, a wide range of media will be explored including sound, image, video, 3D, and installation. Although there are no formal prerequisites, familiarity with at least one modern programming language is highly recommended. Restricted to Graduate Level students

Semester:Spring [2009-2010]

DM 7101

Paul Allen Badger

BODY ELECTRIC

The human body is a site for electronic measurement and surveillance for many purposes. Medicine, security, and law enforcement are the major players but many other fileds including sports, bio-feedback therapies, and a nascent field called affective computing also benefit from the use of electronic biometric tools. tThe human body is also a site for electrical stimulation, again mostly by the medical profession but also for purposes of psychotherapy and meditation, torture - and its strangely related twin - erotic pursuits. Artists invesigating their own bodies as sites for artwork have a rich and long tradition dating from the 1960's with ritualistic, conceptual, and feminist experiments by Schwartzkogler, Burden, Acconci, Chicago, Schneeman, and Finley, to name only a few. More recently, the concept of cyborg influences the body art in the work of such artists as Orlan, Stelarc, Steve Mann, and Arthyr Elsenaar. We take a look at some of this tradition and also explore the new tools (and data sources) to see what they have to offer artists. This includes relatively cheap and available sensors for such human parameters as heartbeat, muscle tone, skin resistance, and breath. We examine technologies such as muscle stimulation and possibly, turning images into electrical potentials, to be sensed by through the skin )and recognized as images!), which already has been done by both scientists and artists. If funds permit, eye tracking and/or brainwave sensors, which tend to be more expensive and sophisticated, could be investigated. Readings include selections from Michele Foucault's Discipline and Punish, Rosalind Picard's Affective Computing, and Uncle Abdul's Juice: Electricity for Pleasure and Pain.

Semester:Spring [2009-2010]