Interactive Environments. DESMA 256
Winter 2007
UCLA Design | Media Arts

Associate professor C.E.B. Reas (office hours TBD)

When and Where
Monday & Wednesday, MW 14:00 - 16:50
BROAD 3224C, UCLA


Concepts

This class focuses on understanding interactivity and connectivity within physical and networked environments. We will explore these areas from both a conceptual and material perspective. The understanding of interaction is a tacit knowledge and we will therefore learn the most through building and testing artifacts and spaces.


Skills

An intimate knowledge of interactivity and networking requires understanding underlying software and hardware technologies. In this class you will develop new skills for building interactive experiences and for creating networks. You will have the opportunity to construct physical analog and digital devices and to build the software that binds them. Additionally, project documentation and promotion skills will be practiced.

Projects

There are three projects for the class: an eight-week project, a two-week project, and an in-class artist presentation. The eight-week project is is a group project, but each invidual is responsible to complete one component of the larger project. A goal for this project is to develop skills and methodologies for realizing future works. You should take this opportunity and improve your ability to realize diverse ideas. The two-week project focuses on electronics and developing direct human-computer interactions. The artist presentation is a 15 minute in-class presentation that focuses on the work of an artist working within the domain of interactive environments.


Evaluation

Feedback will be primarily qualitative but numeric scores will also be given for all work. The numeric breakdown for your grade follows:

70 % Project 1
15 % Project 2
10% Participation (contribution & concentration during class)
5% Artists presentation

More than two absences without the Professor's prior permission will lower the participants final grade by one unit (i.e. an A will become an B). With each additional unexcused absence, the grade will drop an additional unit. All projects must be completed to pass the course.



Reading

Barrgan, Hernando and Casey Reas. "Electronics" in Processing: a Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists. MIT Press, 2007.

Bourriaud, Nicolas. Relational Aesthetics. Translated by Les presses du réel, 1998 (2002 for English translation).

Eco, Umberto. The Open Work. Translated by Anna Cancogni. Harvard University Press, 1989.

Galloway, Alexander R. "Network" in Processing: a Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists. MIT Press, 2007.

Gere, Charlie (TBD)

McCullough, Malcolm. Digital Ground: Architecture, Pervasive Computing, and Environmental Knowing. MIT Press, 2004.