Multimedia can mean many things, but in this class, we'll think of it as a convergence of media, communications technologies, art, design, and culture-as an "intermedia." Many believe that multimedia is a "new media;" but this is far from the truth. Many of the elements of multimedia--interactivity, artificial reality, performance, storage, etc - have existed for some time and have their own compelling histories. This course will explore technology, communications media, and culture, utilizing the history and context of interactive art and design as a framework.
Artists are at the forefront of technological revolutions. Whether designing computer games, producing web sites, writing software, or working on intelligent systems, artists work on a daily basis consuming and producing electronic cultural artifacts. Cybertechnologies have created new contexts for understanding culture. .Each week students will read articles and/or listen to visitors; one-page written summaries of the week's reading will be required from each student online, to be discussed in our discussion forums.
The readings for the course are located online. In addition, there will be a midterm exam, and a short final paper. Participation and exploration are highly valued in the course!