Network Media – Syllabus
Network Media (DESMA 161)
UCLA Department of Design Media Arts
Monday & Wednesday, 9:00 AM - 11:50 AM
Broad Art Center, 4220
This course introduces students to the World Wide Web as a medium. Originating from efforts to create a standardized, world-wide storage and retrieval system for information, once established, the WWW evolved into a broadcast media, a shopping mall, a communication platform, and an environment for personal expression. While a wide range of workshops dealing with web technologies is offered, the class also focuses on conceptual and aesthetic aspects of working with the web. Creative projects and exercises will be developed throughout the course by applying the various skills acquired in class in the service of perception and communication.
The course aims at developing the vocabulary necessary to speak to developers, to present and discuss Web projects, and to pursue individual research. During the quarter, students will complete a series of exercises, will analyze and discuss Web projects, and present a research report.
- Use a text/code editor (ideally with syntax highlighting) to complete all exercises and projects, not a WYSIWYG editor such as Dreamweaver. See the Resources for suggested editors.
- The structure of the HTML code will be a part of the evaluation.
- All assignments must work as designed in modern browsers such as recent versions of Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer 9 or higher.
- The use of modern, simpler HTML5 is encouraged. Your markup does not need to validate as XHMTL, which is not in fashion any more.
- Remember, these are both design and technical exercises and projects will be evaluated based on their originality, as well as aesthetic and conceptual qualities.
All exercises must be completed in order to pass the course. Late assignments will reduce the assignment’s grade by one unit (A -> A-) each day. Exercises are only considered as complete when they are accessible from the course website.
More than two absences without the instructor’s permission, before the class meetings, will decrease your overall grade by one letter grade for each additional missed class. Three times running late will be considered as one unexcused absence.
50% – Projects
20% – Writing
10% – Presentation
20% – Participation and Attendance
Required Reading / Viewing
- Codecademyʼs Web Fundamentals (Interactive Online Tutorials)
- Mark Boulton: Designing for the Web – A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web, Five Simple Steps, 2009. (Free online reading)
- H.G. Wells: World Brain: The Idea of a Permanent World Encyclopaedia. Encyclopédie Française, 1937.
- Vannevar Bush: As We May Think. The Atlantic Monthly, 1945.
- Bill Weinman: HTML Essential Training, Lynda.com Tutorials, 2012. (Accessible after logging into learnit.ucla.edu)
- Oliver Reichenstein: Web Design is 95% Typography, 2006. (Further reading: Reactions to 95% Typography)
- Khoi Vinh: Grids are Good. Subtraction.com, 2007.
- John Boardley: A Brief History of Type – Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5, 2007.
- Elisabeth Freeman, Eric Freeman: Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML. O’Reilly Media, 2005.
- David Sawyer McFarland: CSS: The Missing Manual. O’Reilly Media, 2009.
- Sergio Cicconi: Hypertextuality. Mediapolis, 1999.