NOTE: this outline is a work-in-progress. Material will be continuously added during the semester. Also, expect changes!


week


+ description

1

Jan.31, Feb.2

Tuesday

Introduction, objectives, resources, expectations, requirements, net art blog as chronicle of experience (for our purposes, experiences relevent to Internet-based digital media art).

Respond to this easy survey. Email your responses to the instructor.

Check this week's links + citations for an important checklist of preparations for this course.

Thursday

Begin general conversation about art, communications systems, technology as "cultural imaginary"; a sampling of cultural artifacts, and a preliminary encounter of some artists whose work addresses social and cultural dimensions of globalization, simulation, and being "immersed in data".

Workshop

2

Feb. 7, 9

REMINDER: Check Week 2's LINKS + CITATIONS page for additional references and cool stuff.

Tuesday

Prepare for Tuesday's class by reading the following pages from chapter one of textbook Internet Art by Rachel Greene: pages 31 to 52, and 62 to 64.

Supplementary reading with an excellent historical overview of the development of computer technology: the introductory chapter (pages 2-34) of The Computer in the Visual Arts, by Anne Morgan Spalter. This book is on reserve in the Hillyer Art Library.

Orientation to Center for Media Production: The final 30minutes of class we will go, as a group, to Center for Media Production, located lowest level [C] of the Alumnae Gymnasium. The main entrance is located under the bridge connecting to Neilson Library). An orientation to the Center is a strict requirement for access to production equipment used during the semester.

Thursday

Discuss html exercise assignment due next week.

Workshop

  • Continue with HTML coding with plain text editor
  • Intro to CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)

3

Feb. 14, 16

First html exercise due Tuesday: Formal Elements / Shape + Line

The Prelinger Archives as source material for re-framing everyday experience. Select and download for next week (to be discussed in class).

  • Image montage: construction of webpages in order to stage a visual dialogue or interplay between original images and pre-existing image content.
  • Construction of meaning (semiotics). Denotative versus connotative levels of meaning.
  • Our traditional idea of a picture (photographic or non-photographic) as a meaningful representation of something in the world differs from a digital image that is, first of all, an arbitrary representation of the computer's symbolic code. It is this artificial relationship of images and code that gives digital images their mutability. Digital images are never complete. We can keep changing them forever.
  • Considerations of cultural archives and transactions of values involved in their recontextualization.

By next Tuesday, have ready your collection of 10-12 screen-grabs from your selected and downloaded film from the Prelinger Archives. Click here for more details.

Hands-On Workshop for WEEK 3:

  • Organization and uploading of files to your website using free FTP ("file transfer protocol") programs: FUGU (on the Mac) or either SecureFTP or WS_FTP (on PC Windows).

4

Feb. 21, 23

Tuesday

For today you should have your collection of images from your selected film from the Prelinger Archives.

Hands-On Workshop for WEEK 4:

  • Virtual image versus physical display screen: crossing the Analog-Digital divide..
  • Image gathering using digital still camera (pdf manual). Note: pages 18 and 19 of this PDF file are most helpful.
  • bitmap image structure
  • basic image editing and "global touch" operations using Photoshop

Thursday - (instructor will be out-of-town for conference)

 

5

Feb. 28, Mar.2

Tuesday - Part 2 of assignment due: Archival Video as a Source for Hypertext

Thursday - work on Part 3 of project due next week (Note new due date of Thurs.Mar.9).

Hands-On Workshop for WEEK 5:

  • Review digital image gathering, bitmap image processing.
  • Continue with image-editing using Photoshop.
  • Continue web-editing using Dreamweaver.

6

Mar. 7, 9

Tuesday - continue work on assignment due next class.

Thursday - In-class critique of Part 3 final web version of Archival Video as a Source for Hypertext

7

Mar. 14, 16

Tuesday

  • finish critique of previous assignment (Archival Video as Source of Hypertext)
  • intro to next project: Virtual You / Virtual Other
  • As preparation for the next project, identify a person from an online webspace (Friendster, MySpace, Facebook, or other such social space) or from a blog (or diary). The person should be someone whose views and values (social, political, cultural) you find yourself in strong disagreement with, or discomfort with. The other's views can be uncomfortable because of cultural differences (not necessarily because of disagreement). The text material will form the basis of a retrospective "interview" or interrogation.

Thursday - continue work/discussion on next project (due Tues., April 4)

Hands-On Workshop for WEEK 6:

  • Use of Scanner
  • Photoshop Layers, Masks, Image slices
  • Dreamweaver image "behaviors" using DHTML (javascript)

8

Mar. 21, 23

Spring Recess - no classes

9

Mar. 28, 30

Tuesday

continue work on Virtual You / Virtual Other project (due Tues., April 4)

Thursday - Instructor will be out-of-town for conference

Work on your Blog! and work on projects due next week.

10

Apr. 4, 6

Tuesday - Project due: Virtual You / Virtual Other

Thursday - NET ART Report presentation assignment due TODAY.

11

Apr. 11, 13

Tuesday -

Down-sampled Bitmap graphics and Structured graphics. Also review of basic color theory.

Here is a summary page (pdf file) of the difference between BITMAP versus STRUCTURED ("VECTOR" OR "OBJECT-ORIENTED ) graphics

Check the this week's citations page for more references

Thursday - VIRTUAL VISIT AND iCHAT WITH KANARINKA (a.k.a., Catherine d'Ignazio)

from Turbulence.org description:

kanarinka's research interests include public space, performing cities, experimental urbanism, social cartography and infinitely small things. She is working on new definitions for "psychogeography" and "microperformance".... kanarinka is the co-founder of the non-profit collective iKatun, Director of the Institute for Infinitely Small Things, and the Director of Exhibitions & Programs at Art Interactive in Cambridge, MA. kanarinka also collaborates with groups like glowlab, spurse and Sifting the Inner Belt.

PREPARE FOR THIS ARTIST'S VISIT BY REVIEWING THIS SUMMARY WEBPAGE OF KANARINKA'S WORK, AT TURBULENCE.ORG

Here is a pdf file with a more comprehensive review of her media work.

Also, work on 2 structured graphics exercises due next week.

Hands-On Workshop for WEEK 6:

Customizing color palettes, vectorizing bitmap graphics, using Illustrator to explore color perception, working with structured graphics in Illustrator,

12

Apr. 18, 20

Tuesday Structured graphics exercises due

Introduction to Animation for the Web, using Flash software.

Thursday - Continue introduction to Flash

Invitation: instructor screening/presentation at 5:30pm today, Graham Hall, Hillyer Building.

13

Apr. 25, 27

Tuesday

  • Brief review of Flash timeline and button interactivity in Flash. (Note that the citations page for this week lists Flash resources on the web. A Google search would reveal many, many more.
     
  • Simple demonstration of how to store your portfolio of semester projects on a recordable CDROM.
     
    •  
  • Work on final project.

Thursday:

Open studio and individual meetings. Work on final Flash animation project, your website, and CD-ROM portfolio

 

THE INSTRUCTOR WILL BE AT THE DDS LAB
AT THE FOLLOWING ADDITIONAL DATES / TIMES:

Sunday, Apr.30: 2:00-5:00pm

Monday, May 1: 6:00-8:00pm

Tuesday, May 2: 4:00-5:30pm

14

May 2

Tuesday - Open studio and individual meetings. Work on final Flash animation project, your website, and CD-ROM portfolio

May 4 - Final class meeting.

Thursday

Final projects and semester portfolio due on Thursday May 4.