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DEFINITION:
In the context of this Initiative, "New Media" does
not refer to any individual medium or collection of media, but to a
coordinated cognitive, practical, and philosophical approach
to media. In that sense, the Initiative is a metaprogram, meant
to produce students and faculty who can analyze, understand, and work
with any current or future media. Its focus is on innovative
thinking and making rather than on trade skills which quickly become
obsolete.
VISION:
Create a vital, vibrant New Media presence which is flexible, open to
change, extending its horizons through rich interactions between
students and faculty and the greater New Media community at
institutions worldwide.
Focus international attention on the effort.
Produce star graduates with portfolios of top quality work and the
confidence to become leaders in the field, who will use their skills
to innovate, build wealth, and enhance the university's reputation as
a center of innovation.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: Research is the
point of highest visibility to the commercial and VC sector and the
most obvious transition point for students working toward careers at
the forefront of New Media as entrepreneurs or employees of startups.
The Initiative will encourage and support research at the extreme edge
of innovation. Our challenge is to provide encouragement and shelter
for the exceptional students (and faculty) whose work may not be
intelligible to an individual department in traditional terms and
whose competences, while centered in New Media, may not be appropriate
within a single existing departmental structure; and to specifically
provide a translation system and institutional framework to assist the
academic and business community to understand and benefit from these
exceptional students' work. While this aspect of the Initiative will
likely be a small part of the overall effort, it is the most crucial
in terms of the Initiative's visibility outside the university and its
influence in wider forums. It is the way we attract future academic
stars, just as a highly visible and successful sports program attracts
athletic stars.
COURSE TOPOLOGY: A "core" of courses intended for advanced students
will be taught by permanent faculty. Core courses are designed to
encourage innovative thinking and self-reliance. A prototype set of
core courses is already in place. A cluster which
functions entirely within the RTF department and fulfills the
requirements for a Bachelor's degree consists of the following
courses: RTF 305 ("media studies boot camp"); RTF 318/319
(introduction to production); 2 lower division courses (309, 314, 316,
or 317), 3 upper division courses chosen ad lib from any department,
and three New Media Core courses chosen from the eight currently in
rotation, of which four are taught each year. It is simple to modify
this cluster to include courses developed by like-minded faculty in
other departments and which will provide greater breadth. Similar
clusters have been generated for the other degree levels.
SPACE AND TECHNOLOGY: With the goal of encouraging emergence, i.e.,
work which is better than we could predict, our prime objective is to
foster interaction among students, faculty and visitors in every
possible way. The studio is the centerpiece of this effort and the
New Media philosophy is built into the semiotics of the studio itself.
Workstations face each other, not the wall; classes are held around a
circular table (ideally; in practice, a square); all other work,
lounge, meeting, office, and eating areas open into the studio, which
includes a comfortable seating area or "conversation pit," small
library, refrigerator and microwave, to encourage people to linger and
engage each other. To encourage a generous intermingling of ideas and
possibilities, the studio is equipped with as wide a variety of
media as possible, including a stage, projector and large screen,
theatrical lighting system and dimmer board, surround sound system
with mixing capabilities, and space for painting and sculpture.
Faculty will be trained in the overarching principle of fostering
interaction, which includes, for example, allowing students not in a
class to work in the studio during class, thereby encouraging
cross-fertilization of ideas and practices. Throughout the year
students in various classes will display their work in the studio and
on the walls outside. The best work is rarely in the form of a flat
piece of paper, so because bulletin boards discourage creative display
formats they are not used.
While technology and in particular the catchword "digital" is an
important skill, this Initiative focuses on individual creativity,
risk-taking, and self-reliance. Experience shows that technology
tends to draw attention to itself at the expense of creativity (the
so-called PowerPoint effect). Further, particularly at UT, computers
tend to accrete extremely expensive support systems. In
contradistinction to this, for ten years we have run an
experimental server cluster based on principles of lightness,
flexibility, and student involvement. The practical details are
beyond the scope of this document but are in publication elsewhere.
The experimental cluster saves an estimated $130,000 per year in
maintenance and support overhead. It is not applicable to general
computer use department-wide, but is perfectly suited to the needs and
purposes of the Initiative and eliminates a large proportion of fixed
costs normally associated with efforts of this type.
CONCLUSION and OUTCOMES:
Building an initiative that surpasses current trends in
"interdisciplinary" studies will attract the most creative
participants as students and faculty. To accomplish this we must
abandon older models of program building and strike out in new
directions, remaining open to modifying our approaches as we go and
being ready to incorporate unexpected ideas we may find on the way. We
intend to create a vital, vibrant space of innovation which is
flexible, open to change, and extends its horizons through rich
interactions between our students and faculty and the greater New
Media culture at institutions worldwide. Our goal is to produce star
graduates with portfolios of radically new work and with the
confidence to become leaders in this ever-changing field, who will use
their skills to innovate, build wealth, and bring honor to the
university.
