Communications Lab is a production-based course that surveys various technologies including web development, 2D design, digital imaging, audio, video, and animation. The forms and uses of these communications technologies are explored in a laboratory context of experimentation, collaboration, and discussion. Much of class time will be spent introducing and surveying equipment and software essential to media production and contemporary storytelling. Each technology is examined as a tool that can be employed and utilized in a variety of situations and experiences. The World Wide Web will serve as the primary environment for content delivery and user-interaction. Principles of interpersonal communications and media theory are also introduced with an emphasis on storytelling fundamentals, user-centered design, and interactivity.

Alternate realities, whether all-encompassing (Virtual Reality – VR) or additive (Augmented Reality -AR) are becoming more and more ubiquitous. This can be attributed to two emerging dynamics. The first is the wide availability on the consumer market of a range of newly developed hardware, from cheap DIY kits such as the Google Cardboard to full motion-capture systems like the HTC Vive. The second, in parallel, is the stream-lined development process that has emerge as a result of relatively free software and easily accessible professional code libraries. The combination of both phenomenons has made it easier than ever to prototype, experiment with, and release alternate forms of reality. With these new technologies at our disposal, how can we harness them to push our conceptual understanding of storytelling, personal expression, and human experiences into unchartered territories?

Communications Lab is a production-based course that surveys various technologies including web development, 2D design, digital imaging, audio, video, and animation. The forms and uses of these communications technologies are explored in a laboratory context of experimentation, collaboration, and discussion. Much of class time will be spent introducing and surveying equipment and software essential to media production and contemporary storytelling. Each technology is examined as a tool that can be employed and utilized in a variety of situations and experiences. The World Wide Web will serve as the primary environment for content delivery and user-interaction. Principles of interpersonal communications and media theory are also introduced with an emphasis on storytelling fundamentals, user-centered design, and interactivity.

Games and play are deeply embedded in human culture. Play suggests a broad range of human experiences with universal qualities not easily contained by a common form. Games use their playable form to reflect contemporary culture and speak to the cultural spaces in which they reside. There is freedom in play. There is structure in games. How do they work together? This course explores how games structure play to serve their purpose, and how play inspires games to push against expectations of popular culture of what games are, or are not. Informed by perspectives in game studies and theories of play, students will study a variety of analog and digital games to consider the technological, spatial, artistic and social structures that shape a play experience. The practical component of the class utilizes web-based technologies and the Unity game engine to put students in the role of both game designer and developer. Hands-on projects allow students to experiment with building a game experience capable of conveying meaning and message, and expressing aspects of humanity beyond contest and conflict. Programming experience is preferred but not required. 

Communications Lab is a production-based course that surveys various technologies including web development, 2D design, digital imaging, audio, video, and animation. The forms and uses of these communications technologies are explored in a laboratory context of experimentation, collaboration, and discussion. Much of class time will be spent introducing and surveying equipment and software essential to media production and contemporary storytelling. Each technology is examined as a tool that can be employed and utilized in a variety of situations and experiences. The World Wide Web will serve as the primary environment for content delivery and user-interaction. Principles of interpersonal communications and media theory are also introduced with an emphasis on storytelling fundamentals, user-centered design, and interactivity.

Alternate realities, whether all-encompassing (Virtual Reality – VR) or additive (Augmented Reality -AR) are becoming more and more ubiquitous. This can be attributed to two emerging dynamics. The first is the wide availability on the consumer market of a range of newly developed hardware, from cheap DIY kits such as the Google Cardboard to full motion-capture systems like the HTC Vive. The second, in parallel, is the stream-lined development process that has emerge as a result of relatively free software and easily accessible professional code libraries. The combination of both phenomenons has made it easier than ever to prototype, experiment with, and release alternate forms of reality. With these new technologies at our disposal, how can we harness them to push our conceptual understanding of storytelling, personal expression, and human experiences into unchartered territories?

Communications Lab is a production-based course that surveys various technologies including web development, 2D design, digital imaging, audio, video, and animation. The forms and uses of these communications technologies are explored in a laboratory context of experimentation, collaboration, and discussion. Much of class time will be spent introducing and surveying equipment and software essential to media production and contemporary storytelling. Each technology is examined as a tool that can be employed and utilized in a variety of situations and experiences. The World Wide Web will serve as the primary environment for content delivery and user-interaction. Principles of interpersonal communications and media theory are also introduced with an emphasis on storytelling fundamentals, user-centered design, and interactivity.

Games and play are deeply embedded in human culture. Play suggests a broad range of human experiences with universal qualities not easily contained by a common form. Games use their playable form to reflect contemporary culture and speak to the cultural spaces in which they reside. There is freedom in play. There is structure in games. How do they work together? This course explores how games structure play to serve their purpose, and how play inspires games to push against expectations of popular culture of what games are, or are not. Informed by perspectives in game studies and theories of play, students will study a variety of analog and digital games to consider the technological, spatial, artistic and social structures that shape a play experience. The practical component of the class utilizes web-based technologies and the Unity game engine to put students in the role of both game designer and developer. Hands-on projects allow students to experiment with building a game experience capable of conveying meaning and message, and expressing aspects of humanity beyond contest and conflict. Programming experience is preferred but not required. 

Communications Lab is a production-based course that surveys various technologies including web development, 2D design, digital imaging, audio, video, and animation. The forms and uses of these communications technologies are explored in a laboratory context of experimentation, collaboration, and discussion. Much of class time will be spent introducing and surveying equipment and software essential to media production and contemporary storytelling. Each technology is examined as a tool that can be employed and utilized in a variety of situations and experiences. The World Wide Web will serve as the primary environment for content delivery and user-interaction. Principles of interpersonal communications and media theory are also introduced with an emphasis on storytelling fundamentals, user-centered design, and interactivity.

In this foundation course, designed to provide students with a framework to effectively communicate through digital means, students will explore the possibilities of digital media by successively producing projects that make use of digital images, audio, video, and the Web. Students learn in a laboratory context of hands-on experimentation, and principles of interpersonal communications, media theory, and human factors will be introduced in readings and investigated through discussion. Adobe Creative Cloud and other relevant software applications will be examined, and the basics of fundamental web languages HTML, CSS and JavaScript will be studied, to establish a diverse digital toolkit. Both traditional and experimental outputs, including online and interactive media platforms, will be explored. Weekly assignments, group, and independent projects, as well as project reports will be assigned in each of the core areas of study.

Comparable to the debate inspired by the question “what is art?”, this course poses the question “can games be art?” and if so, “what is an art game?”. Is it a form of experimental game or does it possess aesthetic qualities that distinguish it from other contemporary forms of art that involve expressive play? This course explores the intersection of game making and artistic practice. With a project-oriented approach, students will learn the formal elements of game design through the construction of playcentric artistic works. Lectures and readings will cover critical theories relevant to the question at hand, and students will be asked to analyze and critique existing works that straddle the worlds of art and game.

In this foundation course, designed to provide students with a framework to effectively communicate through digital means, students will explore the possibilities of digital media by successively producing projects that make use of digital images, audio, video, and the Web. Students learn in a laboratory context of hands-on experimentation, and principles of interpersonal communications, media theory, and human factors will be introduced in readings and investigated through discussion. Adobe Creative Cloud and other relevant software applications will be examined, and the basics of fundamental web languages HTML, CSS and JavaScript will be studied, to establish a diverse digital toolkit. Both traditional and experimental outputs, including online and interactive media platforms, will be explored. Weekly assignments, group, and independent projects, as well as project reports will be assigned in each of the core areas of study.

Interactive storytelling has roots in traditional media forms such as novels, comics, animation and cinema. Historically, it has borrowed from conventional practices where an author, designer or director weaves together words and imagery, creating a fixed sequence that communicates the narrative to their audience. Yet in an interactive environment, there is a fundamental shift in how a story unfolds. It is no longer a sequence that the author carefully plans—it is a lively storyworld that the audience can enter and play in as a participant. This course is about the challenges to designing a playable storyworld. It introduces the landscape of interactive storytelling, from interactive fiction, to interactive drama, to cinematic games. Through hands-on experience with a variety of basic design methods the course examines how traditional narrative practices and gameplay contribute to media creation. Readings and written reviews of selected playable works encourage students to address the key questions that this form of digital storytelling poses: In what way is the traditional story structure changed? How does the interactive environment affect the way text and imagery communicate? What role does the audience play? Where is the author’s opportunity to be expressive? The class will consist of lectures, lab-work, discussions, and in-class presentations of works in progress.