PUIC 2460 B | CRN 3290 | Fall 2018
Instructor: Shari Diamond
Meeting Time: Tuesdays 3:50-6:30pm
Location: 6 East 16 Street, room 602
Meeting Time: Thursdays 3:50-6:30pm
Location: 6 East 16 Street, room 701
Office Hours: by appointment
Class Blog: https://portfolio.newschool.edu/f18media/
This course primarily focuses on digital media. Students will work with various digital applications including, but not limited to, digital imaging, video and audio and various presentation platforms to represent concepts and processes. The course is a hands-on introduction to various software applications. The different class exercises comprise print and web and aim to integrate theory and practice.
During the course of the semester, we will engage in readings, writings, and discussions centered on media as it relates to communication, self, community and culture. Exercises and projects provide students the opportunity to explore topics and the conveying of ideas while considering both form and content. Emphasis will be placed on experimentation, discovery and the individual voice.
By the successful completion of this course, students will be able, at an introductory level, to:
- DEMONSTRATE AN ABILITY to situate oneself through art and design interventions to study, assess, and respond to the specific context and then propose possible alternatives for such contexts with the potential to amplify, enhance or alter its current state.
- DEMONSTRATE A CAPACITY to constructively create and deploy physical, social and temporal prototypes into situational contexts via a range of demonstrated design skills and principles that are commensurate (proportional) to the desired impact and context.
- DEMONSTRATE AN ABILITY to develop deployable design concepts in an iterative fashion where each build on findings from the outcome of the preceding deployment.
- DEMONSTRATE AND AWARENESS of social justice in situational contexts, specifically, in diverse or dynamic demographic scenarios.
- DEMONSTRATE AN ABILITY to use spontaneous design and creation practices as well as premeditated and planned design strategies.
- DEMONSTRATE AN ADVANCED ABILITY to record, capture, and edit a video.
- DEMONSTRATE creative vision, strong communication and sense of narrative.
- DEMONSTRATE AN ABILITY to work constructively with others in collaborative contexts, to understand the relationship of self to team, and to utilize tools for self and team assessment.
Narrative Self: Weeks 1-3
This project will explore methods of observation as related to the self and the role of media in one’s life. We will begin by defining “media” and utilize observation followed by evaluation and a presentation to better understand and visualize how media functions in each of our lives. Students will produce a media project by mining data from their personal phone including videos, photos, GPS positions, cookies, music lists, podcasts, and other mediated points of information and create a print-based project with InDesign utilizing typography, infographics and imagery based on their media usage and findings.
Public Private: Weeks 4-8
For this project, students will produce a podcast or audio-scape piece that examines questions of “public” and “private” in today’s media landscape. Students will explore software including Audition and utilize the on-campus sound booth to produce projects that examine the contexts of the global media community, privacy, surveillance and public spaces. For the project, students work with both sound and imagery investigating the nuances of public and private space personally, politically or globally.
For this project students will examine the impact of authoring an online presence in the global community. Themes of personal identity and community will be explored and realized through a variety of web-based formats. Working in groups if desired, students will create a networked experience, which can be map-based, hyperlinked interactive story, a game, virtual reality, or an innovative social media initiative or works produced with new multimedia publishing platforms that we will cover in class. This session will introduce the depths of non-linear storytelling and allow students to create their own interactive experience relying on the theme of networks for the final project. A guest faculty workshop will explore VR coding using the software Unity. Students will visit the VR arcade to experience current trends in VR experiences.
- Students are required to participate (via reading, writing and commenting) on the class blog site, which will serve as the repository for critical insight and reflection on the themes in the course, the projects produced, and the readings assigned.
- Students are required to post process work and projects on the class blog site.
- Students’ learning will be assessed through exercises and projects.
- Students are required to attend at least one of the extracurricular events suggested by their faculty throughout the semester and to reflect upon it in a critical manner via blog.
- It is highly recommended that students arrange a 20 min. individual meeting with the instructor during the course of the semester. Individual meetings are part of mid- semester evaluations, but those meetings are not necessarily that long.
- Active participation in class
- Participation by reading, writing, and commenting on course blog; posting of all process work and projects on the class blog site
- Attendance to at least one extracurricular event suggested by faculty, with reflection via a blog post
- 4 exercises and 4 projects exploring and created with different software applications
- Demonstrate advanced knowledge of various software as evidenced in your projects
- Demonstrate advanced awareness of society’s media landscape as evidenced in class projects through integration of theory and practice
Reading and Resources
See class blog site for all required and recommended readings and resources.
Materials and Supplies
Bring an external hard drive or flash drive to every class.
Any additional materials and supplies will be posted on class blog site.
The Parsons Learning Portfolio
The Parsons Learning Portfolio is an ongoing, cumulative repository for each student’s experience across courses, and across years. It archives individual student’s processes of reflection, productive failure, skills learned, and interdisciplinary connections made, as well as final “finished” work.
The Parsons Learning Portfolio will serve as a bridging mechanism to facilitate conversation and access to projects and writings across the seminar and studio courses. It is within the integrated nature of the courses at Parsons in particular that the Learning Portfolio will foster an active part of critically reflective learning, thinking, writing and making.
Students are encouraged to maintain a learning portfolio across all of their course work during the course of their studies at Parsons.
Divisional, Program and Class Policies
- Come to class on time – at the start of class as well as after breaks
- Be prepared with all your required materials for every class
- Complete all assignments on time, including readings, exercises and projects
- Participate in all class discussions and critiques
- Contribute to the class blog site as required
- Confront difficulties in your work in the spirit of learning, creative exploration and personal growth
- Treat class time as an opportunity
- Ask for help from your instructor when needed
- Do not communicate on personal devices in class unless it is part of an assignment
- Respect your fellow students at all times
- Clean up after yourself at the end of each class
Students are responsible for all assignments, even if they are absent. Late assignments, failure to complete the assignments for class discussion and/or critique, and lack of preparedness for in-class discussions, presentations and/or critiques will jeopardize your successful completion of this course.
Class participation is an essential part of class and includes: keeping up with reading, assignments, projects, contributing meaningfully to class discussions, active participation in group work, and coming to class regularly and on time.
Faculty members may fail any student who is absent for a significant portion of class time. A significant portion of class time is defined as three absences for classes that meet once per week and four absences for classes that meet two or more times per week. During intensive summer sessions a significant portion of class time is defined as two absences. Lateness or early departure from class may also translate into one full absence.
Class begins at 3:50 sharp. Being 5 minutes late is considered tardy and over 20 minutes late is considered an absence. The following may also be counted as tardy:
• Coming to class without the required materials
• Sleeping in class
• Leaving class early or being asked to leave
• Doing other course work during class
Students who do not complete and submit assignments and projects on time and to a satisfactory standard will fail this class. It is a student’s responsibility to obtain missed assignments from the class blog site and/or other classmates and make-up the work before the next class.
Use of Canvas may be an important resource for this class. Students should check it for announcements before coming to class each week.
In rare instances, I may be delayed arriving to class. If I have not arrived by the time class is scheduled to start, you must wait a minimum of thirty minutes for my arrival. In the event that I will miss class entirely, a sign will be posted at the classroom indicating your assignment for the next class meeting.
This is the university’s Statement on Academic Integrity: “Plagiarism and cheating of any kind in the course of academic work will not be tolerated. Academic honesty includes accurate use of quotations, as well as appropriate and explicit citation of sources in instances of paraphrasing and describing ideas, or reporting on research findings or any aspect of the work of others (including that of instructors and other students). These standards of academic honesty and citation of sources apply to all forms of academic work (examinations, essays, theses, computer work, art and design work, oral presentations, and other projects).”
It is the responsibility of students to learn the procedures specific to their discipline for correctly and appropriately differentiating their own work from that of others. Compromising your academic integrity may lead to serious consequences, including (but not limited to) one or more of the following: failure of the assignment, failure of the course, academic warning, disciplinary probation, suspension from the university, or dismissal from the university.
Every student at Parsons signs an Academic Integrity Statement as a part of the registration process. Thus, you are held responsible for being familiar with, understanding, adhering to and upholding the spirit and standards of academic integrity as set forth by the Parsons Student Handbook.
Guidelines for Written Assignments
Plagiarism is the use of another person’s words or ideas in any academic work using books, journals, Internet postings, or other student papers without proper acknowledgment. For further information on proper acknowledgment and plagiarism, including expectations for paraphrasing source material and proper forms of citation in research and writing, students should consult the Chicago Manual of Style (cf. Turabian, 6th edition). The University Learning Center also provides useful on-line resources to help students understand and avoid plagiarism. See http://www.newschool.edu/admin/writingcenter/.
Students must receive prior permission from instructors to submit the same or substantially overlapping material for two different assignments. Submission of the same work for two assignments without the prior permission of instructors is plagiarism.
Guidelines for Studio Assignments
Work from other visual sources may be imitated or incorporated into studio work if the fact of imitation or incorporation and the identity of the original source are properly acknowledged. There must be no intent to deceive; the work must make clear that it emulates or comments on the source as a source. Referencing a style or concept in otherwise original work does not constitute plagiarism. The originality of studio work that presents itself as “in the manner of” or as playing with “variations on” a particular source should be evaluated by the individual faculty member in the context of a critique.
Incorporating ready-made materials into studio work as in a collage, synthesized photograph or paste-up is not plagiarism in the educational context. In the commercial world, however, such appropriation is prohibited by copyright laws and may result in legal consequences.
Student Disability Services
In keeping with the University’s policy of providing equal access for students with disabilities, any student with a disability who needs academic accommodations is welcome to meet with me privately. All conversations will be kept confidential. Students requesting any accommodations will also need to meet with Jason Luchs in the office of Student Disability Services, who will conduct an intake, and if appropriate, provide an academic accommodation notification letter to you to bring to me. At that point I will review the letter with you and discuss these accommodations in relation to this course. Mr. Luchs’ office is located in 80 Fifth Avenue, Room 323 (3rd floor). His direct line is (212) 229-5626 x3135. You may also access more information through the University’s web site at http://www.newschool.edu/studentservices/disability/.
Use of electronic devices (phones, tablets, laptops) is permitted when the device is being used in relation to the course’s work. All other uses are prohibited in the classroom and devices should be turned off before class starts.
Grading and Evaluation
In order to receive a grade for this course, students must complete all exercises and projects, and actively participate in classroom discussions, critiques, Canvas and the class blog site.
Weekly readings require student response. Any student that does not present work during any of the formal presentations will be graded down one grade. Expectations for the presentations are clearly defined when they are assigned.
Exercises and projects will be evaluated on the following basis:
- Does the project fulfill the requirements and objectives assigned?
- Does the work demonstrate initiative and inventiveness in the exploration?
- Has the student met or exceeded their full potential?
- Is the project carefully considered and consistently iterated and developed?
Assignments and projects must be completed on time in order to be included in class discussions & critiques. Late assignments will be penalized. Consideration will be given to how much a student’s work has developed and how well that development demonstrates an understanding of the concepts of the course in conjunction with the arguments presented within your project. Students will also have an opportunity to re-do the major projects before the end of the semester for reassessment. When working with technology, what can go wrong often does go wrong! Students are expected to keep a backup of all work and start their assignments with enough advance time so that if there are major problems, they can contact their instructor for help and still meet the deadlines.
Final Grade Calculation
Your grade is determined by your performance in the following:
20% Active Participation / Attendance
20% Readings / Assignments
20% Narrative Self
Extracurricular activities can result in extra credit.
(From Parsons’ Grading Standards)
A [4.0; 96–100%]
Work of exceptional quality, which often goes beyond the stated goals of the course
A- [3.7; 91 –95%]
Work of very high quality
B+ [3.3; 86–90%]
Work of high quality that indicates substantially higher than average abilities
B [3.0; 81–85%]
Very good work that satisfies the goals of the course
B- [2.7; 76–80%]
C+ [2.3; 71–75%]
C [2.0; 66–70%]
Average work that indicates an understanding of the course material; passable
Satisfactory completion of a course is considered to be a grade of C or higher.
C- [1.7; 61–65%]
Passing work but below good academic standing
D [1.0; 46–60%]
Below-average work that indicates a student does not fully understand the assignments; Probation level though passing for credit
F [0.0; 0–45%]
Failure, no credit
Grade of W
The grade of W may be issued by the Office of the Registrar to a student who officially withdraws from a course within the applicable deadline. There is no academic penalty, but the grade will appear on the student transcript. A grade of W may also be issued by an instructor to a graduate student (except at Parsons and Mannes) who has not completed course requirements nor arranged for an Incomplete.
Grade of WF
The grade of WF is issued by an instructor to a student (all undergraduates and all graduate students) who has not attended or not completed all required work in a course but did not officially withdraw before the withdrawal deadline. It differs from an “F,” which would indicate that the student technically completed requirements but that the level of work did not qualify for a passing grade. The WF is equivalent to an F in calculating the grade point average (zero grade points), and no credit is awarded.
Grades of Incomplete
The grade of I, or temporary incomplete, may be granted to a student under unusual and extenuating circumstances, such as when the student’s academic life is interrupted by a medical or personal emergency. This mark is not given automatically but only upon the student’s request and at the discretion of the instructor. A Request for Incomplete form must be completed and signed by student and instructor. The time allowed for completion of the work and removal of the “I” mark will be set by the instructor with the following limitations: [You should include one the following standards, depending on the level of your course].
Undergraduate students: Work must be completed no later than the seventh week of the following fall semester for spring or summer term incompletes and no later than the seventh week of the following spring semester for fall term incompletes. Grades of “I” not revised in the prescribed time will be recorded as a final grade of “WF” by the Office of the Registrar.