IFDM 105 : Introduction to InterMedia Studies
Fall 2008, MW 9:00-10:20, ASM 1017
Professor Flor

Catalog Description

The history of methods and practices of Art, Science, & Technology in the development of New Media, with surveys from a historical perspective. Studies the practices, careers, and disciplines involved with Film and Digital Media.

Objectives — What You Will Learn

The general goals of this introductory course are three-fold; namely, to give you the ability to:
  1. represent your ideas on paper & electronic media;
  2. analyze existing media works with the goal of pulling out useful ideas for your own works; and
  3. setup a website that will serve as an online portfolio for your works.
Specifically, after successfully completing this course you will be able to:
  • Analyze the underlying structure of existing movies, games, advertisements, and other intermedia works
  • Extract useful motifs from existing movies, games, advertisements, and other intermedia works for incorporation into your own intermedia works.
  • Sketch figures, faces, and facades (buildings) in arbitrary viewpoints based on 3D-solid primitives.
  • Take an imaginary social interaction and represent it as sequential art, c.f., comic strip.
  • Transfer your sketches into a 2D (Flash) and 3D (Daz3D) software package.
  • Register a domain name and set up a web site to display your works.
The emphasis is on using theory, imitation, and practice to create works that have an enlightening effect on society.

Method — How You Will Learn

I call my teaching method "Drilling the Fundamentals", viz., learning by constantly doing. Unlike traditional university courses, where the professor teaches and you take notes, each of my classes will mix lecture with in-class design & analysis activities. Weekly homework assignments will help you refine the in-class material.

Course Materials

Books:

There's no required book for the class because there's no single book that covers the topics I plan to teach you.

Software:

Helpful online web references:
Web Hosting Provider:

You must register a domain name for your Web site and sign up with an internet service provider (ISP). I have arranged a deal with Infobahn in Pittsburgh (412-653-8050) to provide inexpensive Web site hosting. If you choose to go with them, you can register online securely using the following URL: Infobahn Secure Online Registration, You can also register via phone (note: long distance charge); mention "Hosting Special #1" when you call the number listed above.

Note: if you go with another ISP and you plan on transforming your website into a social space, you should make sure they support:

  • Active Server Pages .NET
  • Microsoft Access or Sql Server Databases
  • CDONTS mailing
  • Web Services

Class Rules

It states quite clearly that all offers shall become null and void if...and you can read it for yourself in this photostatic copy:

  • You must attend every class. Your grade goes down by 2% points for every class missed without a valid excuse. Medical excuses must be accompanied by a note from your physician. Having a job interview is not a valid excuse for missing class.
  • You must bring your laptop to every class so that you can do the in-class programming drills, which we will have every class.
  • No skipping class early. It's the same thing as not attending class (see penalty above).
  • You must download the readings and homeworks prior to the start of the week's class. Due to the dynamic nature of the topics, readings and homeworks are not fixed. On the first Monday of each week I will post the new readings, lectures notes, and homework assignments.
  • Homeworks are due before class. The due dates are printed on the assignments. The penalty for late homeworks is -2^(t+1)%, where t is the ceiling of the number of days late. For instance, if you're late by one day, the penalty is -4%. If you're 4 days late, the penalty is -32%. The penalty is in addition to any other points lost on your homework.
  • If you are a qualified person with disabilities who might need appropriate academic adjustments, please communicate with me as soon as possible so that we may make appropriate arrangements to meet your needs in a timely manner. Frequently, we will need to coordinate accommodating activities with other offices on campus. Course materials can be made available in alternative formats.
  • It is expected you will respect others by not using communication devices during the class period.
  • Any violation of the Student Code of Conduct will be taken very seriously and appropriate sanctions will be applied. Violations include: plagiarism, exam misconduct, etc. Please refer to the UNM Pathfinder for additional information
  • You have exactly 1 week after you receive your graded assignment or graded exam to address grading issues. You must submit to me both a detailed writeup (hardcopy, not electronic) of the grading issue, along with the original assignment or exam. I will not even consider regrading assignment or exams after this time period has elapsed.
  • IMPORTANT: I reserve the right to drop any student that misses 2 classes in the first week of the course.
  • IMPORTANT: All exams are closed book / closed notes. Retrieving any information created prior to the exam is considered cheating and a violation of the Student Code of Conduct.
  • IMPORTANT: All class-related networking traffic is subject to analysis for violations of the Student Code of Conduct.
I, the undersigned, shall forfeit all rights, priviledges, and licenses, herein and herein contained, etc. etc. fax mentis incendium gloria culpum, etc. etc. memo bis, punitor delicatum!

It's all there, black and white, clear as crystal!'

Grading

  • 65% -- homeworks (~13 assignments)
  • 25% -- project
  • 10% -- quiz

Syllabus Fall 2008

Week # Topic / Workshop Assignment Due?
1 Topic: Introduction to New Media
Workshop: Website & Web Pages		 HW1  
1.5
Labor Day
Guest Lecture: Steve Cook--New Media Entrepreneur
Workshop: Linking Your Web Page to your Website 		HW1.5 HW1
2 Topic: Mind as Hardware
Workshop: Representing Figures		 HW2 HW1.5
3 Topic: Signs as Software
Workshop: Representing Facades (Buildings)		 HW3 HW2
4 Topic: Thoughts & Feelings as Goals
Workshop: Representing Faces/Emotions		 HW4 HW3
5 Topic: Mind, Signs, Action
Workshop: Flash Advertisements - Representing Action		 HW5 HW4
6 Topic: Sign-Eye-Hand Interactions
Workshop: Flash Animation and Action Scripting 		HW6 HW5
7 Topic: Fundamentals of Animation
Workshop: Flash Figure Animation 		HW7 HW6
7.5
(Oct. 20)		 Guest Speaker: GridJam
Workshop: Blues Jamming		    
8 Topic: Narrativity
Workshop: Aristotle's 3-Acts		 HW7
9 Topic: Integration
Workshop: Maya Basics & Buildings		 HW8
10 Topic: Interfaces
Workshop: Maya Materials / Film-Scripting		 HW9 HW8
11 Topic: Interactivity
Workshop: Film-Shooting		 HW9
12 Topic: Hyper/Text/Media
Workshop: Film-Editing		 HW10
13 Topic: Virtual Lives & Spaces
Workshop: Film-Distribution / Programming		 HW10 or
HW10A
14 Topic: Immersion
Workshop: Programming 2		 FINAL
PORTFOLIO		  
15 Topic: Music
Workshop: Film-Presentations		   HW10 / HW10A /
Final
Portfolio
*=Subject to change at any time at Professor Flor's discretion, and Professor Flor reserves the right to add homework assignments or exams as needed to help you learn or test your knowledge of a topic.
**=Optional homework assignment

Readings

Week 1

READINGS: MEDIA:

Week 2

READINGS = Mind as Media (Hardware): MEDIA:

Week 3

READINGS: MEDIA:

Week 4

READINGS: MEDIA:

Week 5

READINGS:
  • Cialdini, R. (2001). The Science of Persuasion. Scientific American, 284, 76-81.
  • Flor, N. (2000). Memetic Marketing. InformIT, December 11, 2000.
  • Flor, N. (2004). The Seven P's of Direct-Response Advertising. Handout.
MEDIA:
  • Charles Atlas Comic Ad
  • Various Viral Ads
  • Memetic Ads

Week 6

READINGS: MEDIA:

Week 7

READINGS:
  • Flor N (1996). Hearing with the Eyes. Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  • Flor - A Primer on Blues, Rock, and Pop Improvisation (Handout)
MEDIA:
  • Various Blues Songs
  • Various Rock Songs
  • Various Pop Songs

Week 8 - Narrativity

READINGS, Part 1:
  • Michael Rush Video Art "Video and the New Narrative"
  • Jonathan Knight Crary "Perceptual Modulations: Reinventing the Spectator"
MEDIA, Part 1:
  • Todd Haynes' Poison, Jem Cohen's Lost Book Found
  • Rodney Graham, Pipilotti Rist, Shirin Nashat
READINGS, Part 2:
  • Donna Haraway, "Crittercam: Compounding Eyes in Nature Culture"
  • Exceprts from Don Ihde's Bodies in Technology
  • Eva Hayward "And Say the Water Responded?"
MEDIA, Part 2:
  • Crittercam
  • David Gatten What the Water Said (1997-1998)

Week 9 - Integration

READINGS:
  • Brenda Laurel, "Computers as Theatre"
  • Jurgen Cluas, "Expansion of Media Art", 1984
  • Bill Kluver, "Northeastern Power Failure", 1966
MEDIA:

Week 10 - Interfaces

READINGS, Part 1:
MEDIA, Part 1:
READINGS, Part 2:
  • Lev Manovich, "The Screen's Genealogy"
  • J.D. Bolter, "Essays of Operation", 1989
  • Kathy Rae Huffman, "Video Architecture: Beyond the Screen"
MEDIA, Part 2:
  • Bill Viola, Gary Hill, Jennifer Steinkamp, Tatsuo Miyajima

Week 11 - Interactivity

READINGS, Part 1:
MEDIA, Part 1: READINGS, Part 2:

Week 12 - Hyper/Text/Media

READINGS, Part 1: MEDIA, Part 1: READINGS, Part 2:
  • Jorge Luis Borges, "The Garden of Forking Paths"
  • James Brooks, "Reading and Riding with Borges"
  • Alan Kay and Adele Goldberg, "Personal Dynamic Media"
MEDIA, Part 2:

Week 13 - Virtuality

READINGS, Part 1:
  • Thomas Lamarre, "From Animation to Anime"
  • Rebecca-Anne do Rozario, "Reanimating the Animated"
MEDIA, Part 1:
  • Work from Brothers Quay
  • Work from Jan Svankmajer
  • Work from Pixar
  • Anime
READINGS, Part 2:
  • Ian A. Boal, "A Flow of Monsters: Luddism and Virtual Technologies"
  • Brenda Laurel, "Post-Virtual Reality: After the Hype is Over"
  • Sherry Turkle, "Constructions and Reconstructions of the Self in Virtual Reality", 1994
MEDIA, Part 2:
  • BladeRunner
  • Matrix

Week 14 - Immersion

READINGS, Part 1:
  • Eva Hayward, "Of Metaplasms and Mesoglea"
  • Notes on immersion
  • Tom Gunning, "Illusions Past and Future"

Week 15 - Future

READINGS, Part 1:
  • Hans Moravec, "The Senses Have No Future"
  • Bill Viola, "Will There Be Condominiums in Data Space", 1982
  • Lev Manovich, "The New Temporality: THe Loop as a Narrative Engine"
MEDIA, Part 1:
  • Chris Marker's La Jetee, 1962
  • Clip from: Run Lola Run
  • Documentary BBC Horizon: Time Travel
READINGS, Part 2: MEDIA, Part 2:
  • Abyss (Cameron, 1989)
  • Terminator 2 (Cameron, 1991)
  • Spectres of the Spectrum (Baldwin, 1999)
  • Women in Art
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