Topics in Convergent Media: Space (Krukowski and Sharir [Dept. of Theatre and Dance])

Interactive Performance

TOPICS IN CONVERGENT MEDIA: SPACE Dr. Samantha Krukowski RTF 331Q (Unique #07325) o: CMB Studio 4B Control / 471.4222 RTF 393Q (Unique #07670) c: 657-8383 office hours: TBA + samantha@rasa.net

COMPUTER ANIMATION & 3D MODELING Yacov Sharir TD 352T (Unique #23610) o: Dance Area WIN 2.132B / 232.5333 office hours: TBA sharir@utxsvs.cc.utexas.edu TAs: Ana Boa-Ventura (RTF) boaventu@hotmail.com TBA (Theatre and Dance) Fall Semester, 2000 Tuesdays / Thursdays 12:30-2:00 PM Additional class times TBA Rooms: FAML Fine Arts Library 3.218 and CMB Studio 4B

€€Information on these sheets may be subject to change.

Initial Requirements

€ Consent of the instructors is required. In order to remain registered in this course, or to be considered for registration, you must submit a brief description of yourself, your work, your technical and practical knowledge, and what you expect to gain from the course. Make sure to articulate how and in what way you can contribute to the class from your own past experience and perspective. This submission is due electronically Friday, September 1 by 5pm. Send it to samantha@rasa.net. If you do not complete this submission, you can not be registered for this course. You will be notified as to your status by Sunday, September 3.

€ This course has been re-defined as a two-semester course. If you are not prepared to take the course in the Spring, 2001 semester as well as in this one, you should drop it and find another. Students who fail to complete the Spring semester course will not receive credit for their Fall semester work.

Course Location

•Approximately the first month of the semester will be spent working at FAML Fine Arts Library 3.218. This Lab will be utilized until CMB Studio 4B successfully undergoes its first renovation and accepts its first equipment delivery. We expect CMB Studio 4B to be up and running and fully functional by October 1, if not sooner. Some class days may be spent in CMB Studio 4B prior to October 1 should we find it conducive to our purposes.

Course Format

€ This is a studio course. Be prepared to produce work! During the Fall semester, you will be introduced to many new technologies and asked to create group or individual projects that speak to issues raised during the course and to the very nature of the tools you are using to express them. During the Spring semester, you will utilize these experiences and tools to participate in the creation of an interactive work of considerable magnitude. Various departments will contribute to this work, it will be performed/exhibited a number of times at the end of the spring semester, and it will be open to the public.

€ Individual classes during the year are structured as labs during which you have the opportunity to ask questions, acquire skills and discuss ideas. Some class sessions will consist entirely of discussions of the readings or of other material brought to the class by us or by you. Additional class times will be scheduled throughout the semester in order to accommodate the growth and interests of the class.

€ All students in this course should plan to attend all lectures and presentations of the First Annual Convergent Media Lecture Series, to be held at 5pm on various Thursdays in CMB Studio 4B throughout the year. Information about this series will be distributed to students once the schedule is finalized.

Course Notes

€ You must be self-motivated to succeed in this course. Classwork is cumulative, and those of you who are unable to set your own goals and pace may have trouble participating and producing work. We are not here to spoon feed you. We are here to help you as you develop ideas, interests and questions. This is a creative studio class. Creating a work between the physical world and the machinic world requires a lot of time in the labs outside of class. You should expect to spend at least ten hours of lab time each week working with computers. Lab facilities are limited. This necessitates cooperative scheduling. You may need to use resources in several locations, and finding the right equipment at the right time will require considerable initiative on your part. Do not take this course if you are unwilling to work hard, collaborate with others, or if you simply need three units to graduate. You are likely to fail.

€ Your ability to collaborate will play an important part in how we evaluate your contribution to the class. Genuine collaboration is difficult and can succeed only when all members of a group participate fully and resolve problems as they arise. You will be given ample opportunity to test and develop effective methods of collaboration while exploring issues of interactivity, sensory modalities, aesthetics, telepresence, immersion, navigation, space/place/topography, virtual reality, cyberspace, etc.

€ You must have electronic mail. All class communication takes place electronically. If you don't already have one, you should obtain an Individual Funded (IF) account from the Computation Center. Log on at least once a day to check for class news and messages. It isn't necessary to come to the lab to log on; you can do it from any UT terminal or from home with a modem. You are responsible for all information posted to the class web site. "I didn't read that" is not an acceptable excuse for missing something. Throughout the semester, feel free to send us ideas, site addresses, information, notices, or anything else that relates to the class so that we may distribute what you've found to the class as a whole. When you send your consent submission, use the e-mail address at which you wish to receive course notices. If you are accepted into the course, we will include this address in the class listserve.

€ Make up classes are not possible. Repeated absences or tardiness will have a negative effect on your learning and will greatly affect your final grade. € Your technical ability will increase in proportion to your effort. Hack and be resourceful. There are many, many online tutorials and resources for various programs. Learn as much as you can about everything that comes your way, but focus on those technologies that interest you, and seek their subtleties on your own time.

€ If you have special needs in this class (linguistic, medical or otherwise), please let us know during the first two weeks of the semester.

Readings

€ There are no required texts. Instead, there will be readings assigned on a weekly basis that reflect the ways in which the course develops during the semester. Two copies of these readings will be placed in a folder at Longhorn Copies marked Krukowski/Sharir. They will be available to you a week before they are to be discussed in class. You should be prepared to discuss these readings on Tuesdays; readings for the week to follow will be available to you on Wednesday mornings. It is your responsibility to xerox these readings and return the original copies to the folder. DO NOT keep the originals‹this inconveniences your fellow students and diminishes the energy of the course. You will be individually responsible for each set of readings. We strongly advise you to spend time struggling with them, even if they seem beyond your reach. If you are having problems with a particular week's readings, contact a classmate or three and meet to discuss the material. We grade your understanding of the readings (and your sensitivity to the issues raised by them) during class discussion, so it is to your advantage to read carefully and participate. Additional classes may be scheduled to discuss particular articles or ideas.

Grading

Grading is based on your participation in the course and the quality of your final project.

€ Active class participation 30%

€ Final project proposal, presentation and web-ready version 70%

We do not take attendance for two reasons. One, we don¹t care to be your babysitters. Two, it¹s obvious who is participating and who is not. In order to receive a grade for this course, there are four requirements beyond the above.

First, you must attend class (you will be dropped after 3 absences).

Second, you must complete your project by the end of the semester. No incompletes will be given.

Third, you must present your final project in a public setting (we will discuss options) and document it in a web-ready version that you hand in to us.

Fourth, and last, you must submit via e-mail (to samantha@rasa.net) a self-critique and an indication of the grade you think you should receive on the last class day.

Note that as in any creative class, grading criteria are necessarily subjective. You may not agree with our personal evaluations, but decisions are final and no post-grading negotiation will be permitted.

Final Project

€ Some theme, idea or question is bound to strike you and/or your working group between the eyes at some point during our travels. Your Final Project is to be a description of your research into this theme, idea or question utilizing the tools to which you have been introduced. Your project must represent a rigorous investigation and should include three parts : 1) Research. 2) Practice (the process by which you think about how you make something of your research--sketches, preliminary writing, media investigations, stylistic forays.) 3) Product. These three parts should all be well represented when you hand in your Final Project at the end of the term.

€ Team projects are preferred, though we may accept a very few independent projects. Such projects must have prior approval from one of the instructors.

€ Project proposals are due electronically on October 1 (to samantha@rasa.net) for both group and individual projects, and should include the following: A summary of your intentions. The nature of your research and a list of 20 sources. Necessary practice and preliminary work. The physical/virtual scope of the final project. The problems and successes you expect to experience along the way. What you expect to get out of the project. What you expect your audience to get out of the project. What the project would be like if you had another year to work on it and it were released in a public or commercial setting.

€ Presentation is a large part of your participation in the course. From time to time you will discuss your project's progress with the class. We will be reviewing your individual progress over the course of the semester by observing your skills and creative choices as you work. Each group will also be asked to prepare a presentation of their project for peer and faculty review at the end of the semester. Scheduling will be worked out in class and via e-mail. The nature of the public exhibition of your projects will be determined during the semester, but you are required to attend the end of semester events that take place, be they reviews, installations, performances, demonstrations, or the like. The place of these presentations will be determined later in the semester.

€ A web-ready version of your project is due at the end of the semester. We will not be able to give you a grade without this version in hand.

A Suggestion

€ Buy a large unlined sketchbook of at least 100 pages at the beginning of the course. Use it to record your journey in the class for the duration of the semester. This kind of book is a valuable physical record of your interaction with the more ineffable virtual domain, and a good place to develop ideas for your final project.

UNIVERSITY SPEAK

Regarding Scholastic Dishonesty: The University defines academic dishonesty as cheating, plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, falsifying academic records, and any act designed to avoid participating honestly in the learning process. Scholastic dishonesty also includes, but is not limited to, providing false or misleading information to receive a postponement or an extension on a test, quiz, or other assignment, and submission of essentially the same written assignment for two courses without the prior permission of the instructor. By accepting this syllabus, you have agreed to these guidelines and must adhere to them. Scholastic dishonest damages both the student's learning experience and readiness for the future demands of a work-career. Students who violate University rules on scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and/or dismissal from the University. For more information on scholastic dishonesty, please visit the Student Judicial services Web site at http://www.utexas.edu/depts/dos/sjs/.

About services for students with disabilities: The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259, 471-4641 TTY.

About the Undergraduate Writing Center: The Undergraduate Writing Center, located in the FAC 211, phone 471-6222, offers individualized assistance to students who want to improve their writing skills. There is no charge, and students may come in on a drop-in or appointment basis.