Web Documentary
IMA 742
Wednesdays 5:30PM -8:30PM
Film and Media Department Hunter College, New York
Spring 2007
Instructor: Andrea Polli, apolli@hunter.cuny.edu 212.772.5589

COURSE DESCRIPTION:  This course is a production course in which students explore issues of sequence, storytelling, linear and non-linear narrative in converging media. Students will look at ways interactive narratives are constructed in hypertext, multimedia and gaming among other interactive formats in order to begin to develop their own language and style of interactive storytelling. In particular, we will look at Gonzalo Frasca's 'Videogames of the Oppressed', tactical media, and other projects aimed at social activism in networked spaces. Students will develop web based work in flash and html with embedded digital video and sound.

PREREQUISITE: Graduate standing, IMA 760 Tools and Techniques of Integrated Media. Students new to multimedia design should have a working knowledge of Mac operating systems as well as Adobe's Photoshop (or other comparable programs).  The use and mastery of software based tools is encouraged in this course, but the choice of tools will be dependent on the nature of your project. 

OBJECTIVES
Students will:

• Design flow charts and storyboards for substantial web documentary projects
• Be able to work independently and/or collaboratively on web documentary projects
• Create and incorporate external resources to their projects including: graphics, sound, video, other resources
• Develop proposals for substantial web documentary projects
• Complete or prototype one or more substantial web documentary project
• Map the flow of information in an web documentary project
• Identify significant critical texts related to web documentary and to articulate critical positions with regard to this work
• Use the internet to gather information and web documentary creation to present ideas

REQUIRED TEXTS AND MATERIALS:

• Future Active: Media Activism and the Internet Graham Meikle, Routledge, 2002
• Macromedia Flash MX Actionscript for Fun and Games Gary Rosenzweig, Que Publishing, 2003
• At least one USB flash drive, ipod, or other storage device
• CDRs and DVDs as needed for projects
• A notebook to take notes in and reference 
• Additional readings and books: As provided by instructor
• Time outside of class to work! 

GRADING POLICIES:
A professional attitude and approach toward all aspects of this course is expected. Specifically; class starts on time, and class attendance and participation are mandatory.  Un-excused absences and un-excused lateness will adversely effect your grade. Excused  and un-excused absences are at the discretion of the instructor. Please contact the instructor prior to class if you will be late or absent. The fourth absence- for any reason- constitutes a failing grade.  (Two late arrivals = 1 absence)  Assignments are expected on time ( late assignments will be graded down 1 grade per week late). Make-ups: If a student finds they will not be able to hand in a midterm or final on the scheduled day, it is the student's responsibility to notify me prior to that day. Under no circumstances will I accept the work if I have not been notified and arrangements made prior to that day.   Grades are based on a system of personal growth within the following criteria; time and effort, interpretation of the assignment, aesthetics and technical expertise,  critique participation and  professional presentations.

GRADING SCALE
100 - 90 = A
90 - 80 = B
80 - 70 = C
70 - 60 = D
60 and below = F

PARTICIPATION: Lecture must be interactive. To this end, I encourage an open atmosphere where back-and-forth communication is the norm. Students are free to speak up when they need clarification or wish to make observations. Always let me know if you are having difficulties mastering a technique presented in class and I will help you. Plus, you will be expected to work several hours outside of class time each week. You will not be able to finish your assignments during class! 

SPECIAL NOTE: Some of the course reading will be on-line and you wil be expected to use the internet as a research tool.  In addition, you MUST have an email account by the second week of class!  Some class correspondence may happen via email, there are several free services available, ask me if you need assistance getting email. 

This syllabus is subject to change

COURSE BIBLIOGRAPHY AND RESOURCE MATERIALS:

Web Resources: find this page:http://www.andreapolli.com follow the 'teaching ' links on the left

Print Resources:

• Pause & Effect: The Art of Interactive Narrative Mark Stephen Meadows 2003
• As We May Think Vannevar Bush 
• A Rape in Cyberspace Julian Dibbell electronic distribution only 1993
• Cybernetics or, Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine. Wiener, Norbert.  Cambridge: MIT Press,1948
• The Design of Everyday Things Donald Norman
• The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction Walter Benjamin
• The Invisible Computer Donald Norman
• Life on the Screen Sherry Turkle Touchstone Books, 1997 
• Being Digital Nicholas Negreponte New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1995.
• Collective Intelligence Pierre Levy 1995
• The Nature of Order Christopher Alexander
• Envisioning Cyberspace Peter Anders, McGraw-Hill, 1999 
• Computers as Theater Brenda Laurel, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1993 
• Affective Computing. Rosalind W.  Picard Cambridge: MIT Press, 1997 
• Hyper/Text/Theory. Landow, George P (ed.)  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994
• The Age of Intelligent Machines. Kurzweil, Raymond (ed.)  Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992
• The Age of Spiritual Machines : When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence. Kurzweil, Raymond.  New York: Viking, 1999
• The Society of Mind. Minsky, Marvin  New York: Simon & Shuster,1986
• The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Kuhn, Thomas.  Chicago: U of Chicago Press, 1970
• Early online version: The Cyborg Manifesto Donna Haraway
• The Cyborg Handbook Chris Hables Gray (ed.) London: Routledge, 1996.
• Modest_Witness@Second_Millennium_FemaleMan_Meets_OncoMouse, Feminism and Technoscience. Haraway Donna J.,  Routledge London, 1997.
• Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. Haraway, Donna J.  London: Free Association Books, 1991
• Digital Delirium. Kroker, Arthur and Kroker, Marilouise, (eds.).  New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997
• The War of Desire and Technology at the Close of the Mechanical Age. Stone, Allucquere Rosanne.  Cambridge: MIT Press, 1996
• Will the Real Body Please Stand Up?   First published in the anthology Cyberspace: First Steps Stone, Allucquere Rosanne.  Cambridge: MIT Press, 1991
• Zeroes + Ones: Digital Women + The New Technoculture Sadie Plant New York: Doubleday, 1997
• Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution. Levy, Steven.  New York: Anchor Press/ Doubleday, 1984
• The Network Nation: Human Communication Via Computer. Hiltz, Starr Roxanne and Murray Turoff.  Cambridge: MIT Press, 1993
• The Archeology of a Computer Screen Lev Manovich. published in Kunstforum International, Germany 1995
• Envisioning Information Edward Tufte Graphics Press 1990
• Neuromancer William Gibson
• The Robot in the Garden: Telerobotics and Telepistemology on on the Internet Ken Goldberg Cambridge, MIT Press, 2000
• Snow Crash. Neal Stephenson. Bantam Books 1992
• Understanding Media. McLuhan,Marshall .  Cambridge:The MIT Press, 1994
• Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology Stephen Wilson MIT Press, 2001
• The New World Border : Prophecies, Poems & Loqueras for the End of the Century Guillermo Gomez-Pena
• The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction Walter Benjamin 
• The Society of the Spectacle Guy-Ernest Debord
• Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software Steven Johnson
• Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age Duncan Watts
• Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution Howard Rheingold
• Linked: The New Science of Networks Albert-L¸szlÖ Barab¸si
• Small Pieces Loosely Joined David Weinberger
• The Hacker Ethic and the Spirit of the Information Age (Random House, 2001) by Pekka Himanen with Linus Torvalds and Manuel Castells

COURSE OUTLINE
These are suggested topics and are subject to change

Jan 31
Introduction to the Interactive Design, Narrative, and Documentary Process

• Defining Web Documentary, uses and genres
• Flowcharts and interactive maps (smartdraw and conceptdraw)
• HTML/Dreamweaver/ftp/web production review

• IN CLASS WORK: In teams of two, create a site map/interactive map for 360 Degrees http://360degrees.org/ or http://symphonyofacity.org/
  

  Sample site maps:
  http://acweb.colum.edu/projects/mrK/archive/finalsitemap.jpg
  http://acweb.colum.edu/projects/pause/archive/sitemap.jpg

  Flowcharting resources:
  http://acweb.colum.edu/classes/255501/week2.html
  http://deming.eng.clemson.edu/pub/tutorials/qctools/flowm.htm
  http://www.nos.org/htm/basic2.htm
  http://www.hci.com.au/hcisite2/toolkit/flowchar.htm
  http://www.smartdraw.com/
  http://www.conceptdraw.com/en/resources/suppdownl.shtml

Interesting links to different diagramming styles - lots of food for thought.

Lombardi Diagrams
http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00013J&topic_id=1

evolutionary diagrams
http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/~rdmp1c/teaching/Msc_IT/projects2005.htm
http://research.yale.edu/ysm/article.jsp?articleID=358
http://courses.cm.utexas.edu/jrobertus/ch339k/overheads-1/ch5-evol-tree.JPG

Sociograms
http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Sociogram
http://www.agilemodeling.com/artifacts/classDiagram.htm
http://www.pbs.org/saf/1108/teaching/teaching3.htm

Linear and nonLinear TimeLines:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/graphicorganizers/timeline/
http://www.threetwoone.org/diagrams/
http://school.nelson.com/secondary/socialstudies/arnold/skimm/main/items/timelinebuilding.html
http://tes.asu.edu/EDUCATION/activities/95_96guide/images/m98_timeline.gif

Artist's and Misc. diagrams:
http://www.contemporaryartproject.com/cap/images/big_art_mehretu.jpg
http://www.genomicart.org/rule.htm
http://www.theyrule.net/2004/tr2.php
http://www.origami-artist.com/images/flappingbird.gif
http://www.sria.org/diagrams.htm

• SCHEDULING PRESENTATIONS : Each week 2 students will give a short presentation on one of the web doc projects or issues in the course resources/links or in Future Active including a 2-3 page paper (printed and posted on your blog)

FOR NEXT WEEK

• READING: Future Active: Introduction and Chapter 1 pages 1-27

Feb 7

• HTML REVIEW EXERCISE
• Using your Hunter blog, adding links and images
• Flash introduction/review
• FIRST GROUP PRESENTATIONS
• Reading discussion

FOR NEXT WEEK

• READING: Future Active: Chapter 2 pages 28-58
• READING: Chapter 1, Flash Elements Used to Make Games and Toys ROSENZWEIG

Feb 14

• In class Flash exercises/review chapter 1
• Actionscript introduction/review
• GROUP PRESENTATIONS
• Reading discussion

FOR NEXT WEEK

• READING: Future Active: Chapter 3 pages 59-87
• READING: Chapter 2, An Introduction to Actionscript ROSENZWEIG

ATTEND THE COLLEGE ART ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE THIS WEEK AT THE HILTON (http://www.collegeart.org)
- Mentorship session Feb 15th 12:30PM
- 'Lines of Flight' exhibition opening in the Big Black Box Feb 17th 4-7PM and curator's talk Feb 18th 1-4PM
- Jobs and mentoring programs all week

Feb 21 - NO CLASS MEETING, WEDNESDAY CLASSES FOLLOW MONDAY SCHEDULE

Feb 28

• In class Flash exercises/Review chapter 2
• GROUP PRESENTATIONS
• Reading discussion

FOR NEXT WEEK

• READING: Future Active: Chapter 4 pages 88-112
• READING: Chapter 3, Actionscript Elements Used to Make Games and Toys ROSENZWEIG
• Sha sha Feng's Wordpress tutorial
  http://ima.hunter.cuny.edu/~fengs/docs/WPtutorial.html
• Help files under docs on http://www.wordpress.org
  • http://codex.wordpress.org/Main_Page (getting started, working with wordpress, and design and layout)

March 7

• Michael Mandiberg guest artist presentation and workshop in browser plug-ins
• Reading discussion

FOR NEXT WEEK

• READING: Future Active: Chapter 5 pages 113-139
• READING: REVIEW Chapters 1, 2 and 3 ROSENZWEIG

March 14

• Guest presentation: Rachel Sandweiss and Christa Blatchford from NYFA 6PM
• Wordpress/CSS introduction/review
• GROUP PRESENTATIONS
• Reading discussion
• MIDTERM PROJECT DUE IN TWO WEEKS MARCH 28 : Develop a final project idea and present a 3-5 page printed project proposal (and as a pdf link on your blog), printed interactive map, site map or flow chart (and as an image or pdf link in your blog), and visual samples as image or pdf links in your blog (no need to print these). You may use your wordpress or Hunter standard blog.

FOR NEXT WEEK

• READING: Gonzalo Frasca handout
• READING: Chapter 4, The Game-Creation Process and Appendix B The History of Games ROSENZWEIG
• READING: Future Active: Chapter 6 and epilogue pages 140-180

March 21

• Josh Levy guest presentation and workshop in wordpress plug-ins and other advanced topics
• In class Flash exercises/Review chapter 3
• GROUP PRESENTATIONS as needed
• Reading discussion

• COMPLETE MIDTERM ASSIGNMENT (see March 14)

March 28

• MIDTERM PROJECT: FINAL PROJECT IDEA PRESENTATIONS AND DISCUSSION

FINAL PROJECT - Completed functional Final Project, REVISED 3 - 5 page project description, and final interactive map, site map or flow chart ONE WORK IN PROGRESS PRESENTATION SHOWING SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS REQUIRED in addition to final presentation. DUE MAY 16.

April 4 - NO CLASS MEETING SPRING BREAK

April 11

• WORK INDEPENDENTLY (INSTRUCTOR OUT OF TOWN)

FOR NEXT WEEK (as needed):

• READING: Chapters 5-10 as needed for projects ROSENZWEIG

April 18

• WORK INDEPENDENTLY (INSTRUCTOR OUT OF TOWN)

FOR NEXT WEEK (as needed):

• READING: Chapters 5-10 as needed for projects ROSENZWEIG

April 25

• GoogleMap Hacks exercise
• User testing and Revision
• Work in Progress Presentations

FOR NEXT WEEK (as needed):

• READING: Chapters 5-10 as needed for projects ROSENZWEIG

May 2

• User testing and Revision
• Work in Progress Presentations

FOR NEXT WEEK (as needed):

• READING: Chapters 5-10 as needed for projects ROSENZWEIG

• User testing and Revision
• Work in Progress Presentations

FOR NEXT WEEK (as needed):

• READING: Chapters 5-10 as needed for projects ROSENZWEIG

May 16
FINAL PROJECT CRITIQUES

May 18-25
NO CLASS MEETING - GRADUATE CRITIQUE WEEK! Attend critiques! Attend the thesis show!