Syllabus

0127245: Digital Media & Images

See the syllabus below, or download it as a PDF.

Important Notes

My office hours are on Wednesdays from 2:30pm – 4:30pm in Room 136b.

Please ensure any email communications contain the course code, 0127245, in the subject line.

The class login for the computers in Room 126 is as follows:  username: 0902 password: 0902

Assignments will be deducted 10% per day and will not be accepted later than 3 days past the due date.

Details are critical.

Course Description

This course introduces students to the tools used to create art in virtual space, the history and investigation of the social, cultural and aesthetic issues pertinent to digital art making.

Course Text

Various articles will be made available online through the course website.

Assessment

Project 1: 15%

Project 2: 15%

Project 3: 15%

Project 4: 15%

Blog Contributions: 20%

Class Participation: 20%

Assignments

Project 1: Input/Output (see pg 2 for details)

Project 2: Steal this Video (see pg 2 for details)

Project 3: Infographics (see pg 2 for details)

Project 4: Web Interventions (see pg 2 for details)

Blog Contributions: Comments, written reflections on readings, posts on other artists (see pg 2 for details)

Evaluation

Student work will be evaluated on technical proficiency as well as concept, creativity, and discussion contributions. The expected performance of the student is within the “C” range. “B” range is good, “A” is exceptional. NR will continue to be used for those whose name appears on the class list but who never attended class or submitted work for the course.

As per senate bylaws:  “At any level and in any size undergraduate class, normally there should be fewer grades in the “A” range (“Exceptional”) than in the “B” range (“Good”).” Instructors in large enrolment lower level classes should grade so that the “average” grade, or the expected performance of the average student, is within the “C” range.  As a guideline, in 100 and 200 level classes with initial enrolments of at least 50 students no more than 50% of the final grades should be “As” and “Bs” (taken together).

Letter Grade Range

A+ 93-100 A   86-92.9 A-  80-85.9 B+ 77-79.9 B   73-76.9 B-  70-72.9 C+ 67-69.9

C   63-66.9 C-  60-62.9 D+ 57-59.9 D   53-56.9 D-  50-52.9 F   35-49.9 F-  0-34.9

Assignments in Detail

Project deadlines are final. Projects should be submitted with your first and last name as the file name preceded by the project number (eg. Project1JustinLanglois.xxx). Your projects must be submitted to the instructor’s computer in the appropriate folder to be considered complete. Each project is worth 15% of your final grade.

Project 1:  Input/Output – Using Photoshop and/or Illustrator, you will create 3 digital files for print, manipulated from source photographs that you take. Your images should articulate your thoughts on public and private space. Your files must be prepared at 300dpi and you will print your files at the Document Imaging Services on main campus (Chrysler Hall Tower, Lower Level Rooms 1 & 5).  You will also have the option to project these images in a public space. Due: September 21

Project 2:  Steal this Video – Using only YouTube, find a video with 1 minute of interesting material. This video can be of anything—a trailer for a movie, an old TV show, a teenager singing a pop song, etc. This project will enable you to examine visual appropriation and the realities and implications of an open-source culture on our everyday media consumption. You will then re-enact / redub 1 minute of that video and record and edit your re-enactment / redub. Due: October 19

Project 3: Infographics – Using any digital tool of your choice, create a series of 3 infographics articulating your concerns (real or invented) about the University, the environment, and the economy. Your infographics can be presented as projected images, prints, or videos. Please consider the implications of where and how you present your work (eg. Why might you want to project an infographic about the University on the side of Lambton Tower?) Due: November 16

Project 4: Web Interventions – This project will require you to propose and execute an intervention into a digital space such as FaceBook, Twitter, Blogger, Flickr, Delicious, Firefox extensions, etc. The project can be a performance, ongoing intervention, or documentation of your project in action. Due: November 30

Blog Contributions:

The class blog is available at www.justinlanglois.com/courses/0127245

You will be expected to read the class blog on a regular basis. Contributions will be in the form of project proposals, reflections on your readings, posts on a variety of artists engaging in digital media, and comments on other’s proposals, reflections, and artist posts. You will be required to create a login for the website, and you must use your uwindsor email address for this.

Due: Weekly

Class Participation (critiques):

There will be a series of critiques after each project. You will be expected to participate in thoughtful, articulate, and engaged discussion surrounding your work and that of your fellow classmates. Critiques will be loosely scheduled to ensure adequate time is provided for discussion for everyone’s projects.

Details & Etiquette

Please be on time for class.

If you are going to be late for a significant reason, please email me in advance.

If you have to hand in your assignment late, please provide a doctor’s note to avoid deductions.

Please email me from your UWindsor account only.

Attendance in class is essential.

Notes on the Blog

An important part of developing your art practice is to research and write about other contemporary artists. There is a plethora of blogs across the web that write about artists working in digital media (and net.art, and interactive art, and new media, and interventions, and software art, and digital images, etc.) You should familiarize yourself with a number of these blogs and I recommend subscribing to their RSS feeds in your browser or using an RSS reader such as Google Reader.

You will be expected to write a 3 – 4 paragraph reflection on any artist or project of your choice each week. As well, you will be expected to contribute to the discussion on reflections written by other students through commenting on their blog posts each week. Comments should be well written and productively contribute to the discussion—comments need not be lengthy, but should be significant in content.

Learning Outcomes

Apply technical and critical skills learned in the course to produce digital media.

Experiment with a variety of techniques and software comfortably and effectively.

Identify and assess contemporary practitioners of digital media.

Use and contribute to a class website, based in the blog format.

Examine and critique the process of producing digital media as well as digital media itself.

Locate contemporary practices in digital media and understand their relevance.

Teaching Evaluation

Student Evaluation of Teaching forms will be administered on December 2, in accordance with Senate policy.

2.4.22 Senate Policy on Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined as: “The act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts of passages of his or her writing, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the products of one’s own mind.” (Black’s Law Dictionary)

It is expected that all students will be evaluated and graded on their individual merit and all work submitted for evaluation should clearly indicate that it is the student’s own contribution.

Students often have to use the ideas of others as expressed in written or published work in preparing essays, papers, reports, theses and publications. It is imperative that both the data and ideas obtained from any and all published or unpublished material be properly acknowledged and their sources disclosed. Failure to follow this practice constitutes plagiarism and is considered to be a serious offence. Thus, anyone who knowingly or recklessly uses the work of another person and creates an impression that it is his or her own, is guilty of plagiarism.

Plagiarism also includes submitting one’s own essay, paper, or thesis on more than one occasion. Accordingly, it is expected that a thesis, essay, paper or a report has not been and is not concurrently being submitted for credit for any other course. In exceptional circumstances and with the prior agreement of the instructor, a student may use research completed for one course as part of his or her written work for a second course.

A confirmed incident of plagiarism will result in a sanction ranging from a verbal warning, to a loss of credit in the course, to expulsion.

For more information, please see: http://bit.ly/9FF3b

The above url-shortened link resolves to the following:

http://web4.uwindsor.ca/units/senate/main.nsf/982f0e5f06b5c9a285256d6e006cff78/4039933e825a64fe852574270061df6d!OpenDocument

FASS Policy on Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a serious academic offense because it dishonestly and fraudulently uses someone else’s work as one’s own.  Students are to be evaluated on the basis of their own original work.  In the preparation of essays, papers, reports, and any other types of assignments, students must necessarily rely on the work of others.  However, it is imperative that the source of any ideas, wording, or data obtained from others be disclosed and properly acknowledged by citations, quotation marks, and bibliographic references in the proper format.  Using the work of others without acknowledgement is plagiarism.  Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to:

1.Using a passage or passages of any length from published or unpublished work of others without placing the passage(s) in quotation marks (or using indentation for long quotation(s)) and acknowledging their source;

2. Submitting work as original when that work also has been or is currently being submitted for another course, unless prior permission has been given in writing;

3. Copying material, for example, from the Internet, or purchasing material and submitting it as one’s own;

4. Submitting work completely or largely identical to that of other students, unless group work and joint submissions are explicitly permitted by the instructor.

In cases of plagiarism, the instructor assigns a grade of 0 (F-) to the work in question.  This will be decided in consultation with the AAU head or designate.  If an instructor determines that plagiarism has occurred, the student shall be informed and the case reported to the Executive Dean of the College.  Disciplinary proceedings may be initiated pursuant to Senate Bylaw 31, which could result in suspension or expulsion from the University in cases of repeated plagiarism.  Students will not be allowed to re-write or re-submit work to compensate for grades assigned as a result of plagiarism.  Students can appeal a plagiarism grade to the AAU head or designate and/or to the Administrative Dean of Student and Academic Services, and ultimately to a judicial review panel at the University.