NEW MEDIA DESIGN COURSE SCHEDULE -- Spring 2008

DMS 528
Social Web Media
Scholz
TR 11am - 12:50pm
CFA 112
Reg #018691
Grad and Undergrad

Is it feasible to live ethical, meaningful lives in the context of the Social Web today? This course formulates a critique of the Social Web. Based on the rapid growth of participation in social life online and in mobile space-- from social news, referral, social search, media sharing, social bookmarking, tagging, virtual worlds and social networked games, social mapping, IM, social networking, blogging and dating, this class formulates a critical analysis of the international Social Web with regard to privacy, intellectual property, and the utilization of social creation of value through the lens of a small number of case studies in the areas of education, political activism, and art. The course starts with a history of computer-facilitated networked sociality. We’ll discuss the preconditions, motivations, and typologies of participation in order to then start to debunk the Web 2.0 ideology. The course concludes with an examination of the future of the Internet (mobile social space, net neutrality, and the changed nature of the digital divide) in order to then locate fields of possibility for social change.

Key theoretical texts that we’ll study include Yochai Benkler’s Wealth of Networks, Henry Jenkins’ Convergence Culture, Trebor Scholz’ What the MySpace generation should know about working for free, Jurgen Habermas on the Internet and the public sphere, Fred Turner’s Where the Counterculture Met the New Economy, Jeff Jarvis’ “Who owns the wisdom of the crowd? The crowd.,” Nicholas Carr’s “Sharecropping the long tail,” Michael Hardt’s “Affective labor,” Olga Goriunova’s “From Art on Networks to Art on Platforms“ and Adam Arvidsson’s “The Crisis of Value and the Ethical Economy.” This is a theory-based course that also teaches you to participate, discuss and analyze practices on the Social Web (e.g., the use of Facebook, Twitter, IM, blogs, SecondLife). http://collectivate.net/the-
social-web/

DMS 538
New Media 2
Knipe
Tuesdays Lecture 5pm - 6:50pm
Thursdays Lab 5pm - 6:60pm, 7pm - 8:50pm
Lab A Reg# 178456
Lab B Reg# 357862

This course provides an introduction to design and the production of interactive
multimedia. The content of the class will focus on the theoretical and practical aspects of creating and integrating digital media with authoring/presentation tools.
This class will lay the foundation for creating interactive projects for the web and CD-ROMS, and will integrate art, journalism, and music through hands-on developmental projects in our Mac lab. Students will learn the process and skills
necessary to create a web site and an interactive CD-ROM which integrates animation, graphic design, sound, and text, working in Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia Dreamweaver, and Flash animation. Lab fee $100. * Register for lab.

DMS 546
Interface Design
Larsen
MW 7pm - 8:50pm
CFA 244
Reg# 228195
Grad only

Why do computer-based products succeed or fail? Many factors play into this equation, but one critical factor is interface of interaction design. Human-computer interaction (HCI) is the study of how humans use computers. Knowledge in this area is essential to producing successful computer programs. This class will explore current topics in HCI and interface design while developing computer-based products in a group environment with a focus on developing a user-friendly
interface. Students in this course should have Basic Digital Arts or the equivalent and be familiar with either Web production or Macromedia Director. $100 lab fee.

If you have any questions, or if you would like more information on how to register for classes, please contact: Kate Anderson by e-mail (andersoc@buffalo.edu) or phone (716) 645-6902 extension 1494.