The network is a fundamental medium for interactivity. It makes possible our interaction with machines, data, and, most importantly, other people. Though the base interaction it supports is simple, a client sends a request to a server, which replies; an incredible variety of systems can be and have been built on top of it. An equally impressive body of media theory has also arisen around its use.
This hybrid theory and technology course will be 50% project driven technical work and 50% theory and discussion. The technical work will utilize JavaScript as both a client and server side programming language to build creative systems on the web. Technical topics will include server and client web frameworks, such as Express, HTML, CSS, templating, and databases. The theory portion of the course will include reading and discussion of past and current media theory texts that relate to the networks of today.
In short, this course will be about developing full-stack web applications (such as anything from the beginnings of Google, YouTube, and Twitter to class registration systems and other purpose built systems) as well as thinking, reading, and discussing the implications with a culture and media theory perspective.

This course introduces experimental coding for design through hands-on technical exercises and projects. During the semester, p5.js (JavaScript library) will show the fundamentals of computational design. We will learn techniques to build generative design and digital interaction. This course is designed for students with no prior coding experience.

This course provides an introduction to experimental coding for design through a series of hands-on technical exercises and projects. During the semester HTML, CSS and p5.js (JavaScript library) will be used to illustrate the fundamentals of computational design. We will learn techniques to build for responsive web design, generative design and digital interaction. This course is designed for students with no prior coding experience

The Capstone Studio course asks students to produce an interactive project (with documentation), a research paper, and a personal portfolio. The interactive project will illustrate students’ unique interests as well as evidence of competency within the field of interactive media production. Students are encouraged to develop their project around a theme previously explored in their work. Projects will be presented and critiqued repeatedly throughout the capstone process to peers, faculty, and industry professionals. A final presentation of the interactive project will be delivered late in the semester.

Creative Machine Learning is an elective 3-hr/week combination studio and technical class to offer students a basic understanding of machine learning through creative applications. The class will cover topics such as data collection/processing and machine learning algorithms, with a focus on critical engagement with enterprise, consumer, and experimental AI tools. The class will also introduce a range of current artists leveraging machine learning. By the end of the course, students will have gained an understanding of the possibilities and limitations of machine learning as a tool for creative expression, and will be equipped with the technical and creative skills needed to continue exploring this exciting and rapidly-evolving field.

An introductory programming class for graduate students studying computation and applying it to creative endeavors focusing on JavaScript and p5.js

This course will explore the history and meaning of the ubiquitous concept of “cursed” media, and provide students with a survey of digital art tools for the creation of their own cursed animation, video, photography, music, and web art.
Many people were first introduced to the concept of cursed media when it exploded into mainstream internet discourse in 2016 with the @cursedimages Twitter account, which posted found photos bound by their unsettling effect on the viewer. Cursed media predates this account, however, stretching back to medieval notions of cursed objects. We will demonstrate how throughout time, cursed media has functioned like a slip of the tongue that provides a window into the cultural unconscious, where we encounter uncensored thoughts and feelings about race, gender, class, and what it means to be human. In this way, cursed media disrupts the order of what culture consciously claims to be, while becoming a wildly popular aesthetic that no one likes.
From Amazon Muzak generators to Artbreeder’s GAN tools for image creation, from machine learning text generators to robots who work at Walmart, cursed media and tools for its creation bring into view the ways that that culture reacts to tension between the increasingly precarious position of human beings in the capitalist 21st century and the threat of human erasure by the powerful forces of nature.
Students will be introduced to digital art tools for creating music, manipulating photography and video, working with 3d animation, and building web art. Students will attempt to create their own cursed media, and in the process will gain a deeper understanding of the unconscious biases and ethical implications of contemporary digital creation tools.