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Brooke Singer's Courses New Media Program SUNY Purchase Information Aesthetics This is an advanced New Media course at Purchase College in which students will learn to better understand, find, challenge, express, manipulate and aestheticize data. The course will look at how data flows (or, some would say, overwhelms) in the information age and how new media impact the production and reception of this information. Students will sharpen their design skills through making a series of visualizations in which they will learn to wrangle the power of data. Audience will be considered as well as the politics of information and the persuasion of the visual. Info Aesthetics Course Blog (Fall 07) The Emerging Web: Collaborations in Web Design using XML Team-taught Course with Peter Ohring, Associate Professor of Mathematics/Computer Science One of the more exciting developments online is the role of data exchange and vizualization that is taking place both on an individual level and within large communities. One tool that is currently popular for creating data-driven work is XML, a customizable, markup language that allows for easy sharing and manipulation of information across the web. XML dialects such as RSS--the technology underlying numerous blogs and news feeders--and SVG, a markup language for graphics that is becoming the standard on cell phones and PDAs, are two such examples. In this course students will work collaboratively to develop applications that put XML to work and explore what is possible with some of these newer web technologies. In addition, we will take a step back to think more abstractly about data structures and interaction within the physcial, built environment to inform our web design choices. Discussions will focus around weekly readings that will enable students to think critically about work of this genre and serve to generate ideas for class projects. Course Blog (Fall 05) Internet as Public Art: A growing dialogue surrounding internet art echoes the spirit of past public and community-oriented art practices. This dialogue covers, but is not limited to, the following issues: making accessible the means of production, opening new channels for distribution, and challenging "official" venues (museums, galleries and commercial broadcasters) as the privileged sites for viewing. Net art revives the political and grassroots ideals of early video art, and comparisons can be made between it and a longer history of art in the public sphere. This class reviews current internet art practice and theory in light of these histories. Rather than thinking of net art as a non-place or purely screen-based phenomena, this course will begin with situated thinking. Students will think beyond the virtual and shape projects from or for a physical location. We will discuss how networks can serve a physical situation or community, the policies that are shaping functionality of the Internet and new possibilities that arise as ubiquitous computing integrates with public space. Course Blog (Spring 08) Experimental Web Practice: This class examines how the Internet can be a tool for artistic expression and action. Students consider what is unique about the Internet and exploit its potential as a means for communication, distribution, simulation and interaction. The class studies a wide-range of Internet art projects to stimulate ideas and give students an understanding of what is happening in the net art world. Students experiment with web production and are expected to challenge standard notions of how the web functions. This is an upper level web course (Pre-req: Creating Web Docs). Advanced Flash techniques are demonstrated, such as interactive video strategies and incorporating XML, PHP and MySql. Students, however, can use the programming languages and software platforms of their choice. Digital Media Studio: This is the foundation production course for New Media majors and anyone interested in using the computer as a creative tool. Students learn basic digital imaging and design terminology and are introduced to the field of digital art and its historical contexts. Production assignments include creating bitmap and vector images, sound and animation. General topics like printing, scanning, and image capturing are also covered. Course blog (Spring 08) New Media Writing: The class discusses weekly readings that consider the interplay between art production and emerging technologies at various points throughout history, from the printing press to the internet. Students learn to formulate critical responses to the readings in written assignments and are asked to draw from personal experiences as well. New Media Senior Seminar: Senior Seminar is a year-long course that supports the production of New Media senior projects. New Media seniors must both create a project and write a 20-page thesis. Early in the first semester, students are expected to develop a working bibliography that will serve as a foundation for the written thesis and help inform the work. Students present work in progress throughout the year and plan an end-of-the-year exhibition. New Media Senior Show 2004 |
New Media Lecture Series @ Purchase: Amy Franceschini Torsten Burns Jillian McDonald Mariam Ghani Free103point9 Marek Walczak Yael Kanarek Char Davies Rafael Lozano-Hemmer Carrie Dashow LoVid Eddo Stern Mary Flanagan Paul Garrin Alex Rivera Patty Zimmerman Douglas Repetto Golan Levin Stephen Vitiello Scott Patterson and Adam Chapman Yury Gitman Steve Symons Jonah Brucker-Cohen and Katherine Moriwaki Motomichi Purchase Jukebox: Before They Were Famous |
Some Useful Links: Open Source / Open Ideas Blogs |