Penn State University – School of Visual Arts

Fall 2017

A&A 110 Interdisciplinary Digital Media Studio I

Professor: Eduardo Navas (ean13@psu.edu)

Tuesday and Thursday 3:35 PM– 5:30 PM

Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday , 10 AM – 11 AM, 206 Arts Cottage

 

 

Course Description (as defined by Penn State School of Visual Arts)

Provides arts and design students an interdisciplinary studio-based exploration of critical, theoretical, and historical understandings of digital media.

 

 

Emphasis of Class:

This class focuses on developing projects that function across multiple media forms. Students will develop an intimate understanding of how image, sound and text are redefined by emerging media and deployed in material and virtual space to communicate ideas. Participants will produce a set of projects that will explore the complex relation of image, sound and text among print, time-based video, compositing, user experience design, user interface design, and online web development.

 

 

Class Structure

Class sections for the most part will be divided as follows: on Mondays, class will consist of discussion and lectures on material being researched for weekly and major projects. On Wednesdays, class will be a day of work and research. These activities may swap from week to week depending on holidays and other events that may come up. But for the most part, there should be ample lab time throughout the course. Check the syllabus for details as well as the weekly webpage resource which will be available online at the beginning of class. Students will be enhancing their technical skills according to the focus they choose for each of the four projects, but will be expected to gain basic skills in all the software and development tools discussed throuhgout the course. Students will meet with the instructor individually as needed. The students will turn in a total of four major projects.

 

 

Learning Outcomes:

  1. To understand how content and form is different from medium to medium, and making the most of this difference to enhance the possibilities of communication of ideas.
  2. To understand the basic history and theory relevant to an interdisciplinary practice in art and design that crossover to other fields of specialization.
  3. To acquire an advanced understanding of conceptual models that are essential for interdisciplinary production.
  4. To gain practical knowledge of diverse tools used to develop interdisciplinary and transmedia work.
  5. To produce projects that communicate messages effectively, and are critically invested.

 

 

A Note on Plagiarism

Plagiarism will not be tolerated. A student who commits plagiarism will be reported to the office of the visual arts. The studentÕs behavior will be taken very seriously and dealt with according to the guidelines provided by Penn State University – School of Visual Arts. To avoid plagiarism, please cite your sources when appropriate.

 

Academic Integrity Statement

University Policies and Rules Guidelines states that academic integrity is the pursuit of scholarly activity in an open, honest and responsible manner. Academic integrity is a basic guiding principle for all academic activity at The Pennsylvania State University, and all members of the University community are expected to act in accordance with this principle. Consistent with this expectation, the University's Code of Conduct states that all students should act with personal integrity, respect other students' dignity, rights and property, and help create and maintain an environment in which all can succeed through the fruits of their efforts. Academic integrity includes a commitment not to engage in or tolerate acts of falsification, misrepresentation or deception. Such acts of dishonesty violate the fundamental ethical principles of the University community and compromise the worth of work completed by others.

 

Academic dishonesty includes but is not limited to acts such as cheating on exams or assignments; plagiarizing the words or ideas of another; fabricating information or citations; facilitating acts of academic dishonesty by others; claiming authorship of work done by another person; submitting work completed in previous classes; and/or submitting the same work to multiple classes in which a student is enrolled simultaneously.

 

Accessibility Statement

Penn State welcomes students with disabilities into the University's educational programs. Every Penn State campus has an office for students with disabilities. The Office for Disability Services (ODS) Web site provides contact information for every Penn State campus: http://equity.psu.edu/ods/dcl. For further information, please visit the Office for Disability Services Web site: http://equity.psu.edu/ods.

 

In order to receive consideration for reasonable accommodations, you must contact the appropriate disability services office at the campus where you are officially enrolled, participate in an intake interview, and provide documentation: http://equity.psu.edu/ods/guidelines. If the documentation supports your request for reasonable accommodations, your campusÕs disability services office will provide you with an accommodation letter. Please share this letter with your instructors and discuss the accommodations with them as early in your courses as possible. You must follow this process for every semester that you request accommodations.

 

Safety Information

Students in the School of Visual Arts may find themselves working in the shop or in their studios or classrooms using a variety of power and hand held equipment, which may cause injury. Students should use the shop only after having received an orientation in the use of such equipment and when supervised by faculty or shop personnel. Should any injuries occur, in the shop, studios, or classrooms in the School of Visual Arts please report them to Matt Olson, Shop Supervisor, Room 108-A Visual Arts Building, Phone: 814-865-3962, email: mjo5165@psu.edu.

 

Required Reading

Available at the bookstore:

Crow, David. Visible Signs: An Introduction to Semiotics in the Visual Arts. New York: Bloomsburry, 2016.

 

Suggested Reading

Not available at the bookstore:

Lupton, Ellen. Thinking with Type. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2010.

 

Requirements

Please note that final grades are dependent upon consistent performance in all course requirements.

 

Grading

 

Grade Scale

 

Attendance

 

Semester Schedule

Note that the class includes a series of short exercises, which are considered part of class participation. These exercises are designed to complement the successful completion of weekly and major projects. Lectures on history and theory will shift according to the studentsÕ needs to gain practical knowledge from week to week.

 

 

Week 1:

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

 

Thursday, August 24, 2017

 

 

Week 2:

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

 

Thursday, August 31, 2017

 

 

Week 3:

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

 

Thursday, September 7, 2017

 

 

Week 4:

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

 

Thursday, September 14, 2017

DUE: First class project | In-class critique

 

 

Week 5:

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

 

Thursday, September 21, 2017

 

 

Week 6:

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

 

Thursday, September 28, 2017

 

 

Week 7:

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

 

Thursday, October 5, 2017

 

 

Week 8:

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

 

Thursday, October 12, 2017

 

 

Week 9:

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

 

Thursday, October 19, 2017

 

 

Week 10:

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

á       Weekly Assignment critiqued

 

Thursday, October 26, 2017

 

 

Week 11:

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

 

Thursday, November 2, 2017

 

 

Week 12:

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

 

Thursday, November 9, 2017

 

 

 

 

 

Week 13:

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

 

Thursday, November 16, 2017

 

 

Week 14:

Tuesday, November 21 2017

 

Thursday, November 23, 2017

 

 

Week 15:

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

 

Thursday, November 30, 2017
Review of work before final project is due

 

 

Week 16:

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

 

Thursday, December 7, 2017

 

 

Week 17:

December 12, 2017