Dr. Lev Manovich, Visual Art Department, University of California, San Diego
manovich@ucsd.edu
http://jupiter.ucsd.edu/~manovich

The Language of New Media
 

Class description:

In this class we will analyze the language of new media by placing it within the history of modern visual culture. By new media I mean new cultural forms which are native to computers or rely on computers for distribution: Web sites, human-computer interface, virtual worlds, VR, multimedia, computer games, computer animation, digital video, special effects in cinema and net films, interactive computer installations.

What are the ways in which new media relies on older cultural forms and languages and what are the ways in which it breaks with them? What is unique about how new media objects create the illusion of reality, address the viewer, and represent space and time? How do conventions of older cultural forms such as printed page, architecture, cinema, and television interact with computer’s particular ways to represent data and the world at large to shape the language of new media?

In answering these questions we will rely on histories of computer science, art, design, photography, video and other electronic media, and, in particular, the key cultural form of the twentieth century -- cinema. Beginning with the assumption that that theory and history of cinema have particular relevance to understanding new media, we will discuss the following topics:

While the course's main emphasis is on theoretical and historical arguments, we will also view and analyze many key new media objects created during the last decade -- from commercial classics in the areas of computer games and special effects to the works of a variety of international award winning media artists. We will also scrutinize the principles of computer hardware and software and the operations involved in creating cultural objects on a computer in order to dissect a new cultural logic at work. Therefore along with analyzing finished new media objects (Web sites, computer games, CD-ROMs) we will also look at a number of standard software applications and standards used to create them such as Photoshop, Premiere, HTML, etc.
 

Class format:

The class will consist from discussions, lectures, screenings of films, CD-ROMs, Web sites and other new media objects; and demos of software applications.
 

 Class Topics:

 Week 1. What is New Media? Media and Computation. Human-computer Interface.

Week 2. Creating New Media: Plug-ins; Compositing. "Realism" in New Media.

Week 3. Digital Cinema and the History of a Moving Image.

Week 5. The Forms of New Media: Database and Navigable Space.
 
 

General  Class Schedule [see the separate page for exact times]:

Tuesday morning [10:30-1:00]: discussions of readings, lectures, viewing of Web sites, CD-ROMs, etc.

Tuesday afternoon [2:00-4:00]: screenings of videotapes related to this week’s topic.

Wednesday morning [10:30-1:00]: demos of software; discussion of student projects.

Wednesday afternoon [2:00-4:00]: screenings of feature films.
 

Class project:

Students will complete projects which will be theoretical in nature but will use computers for presentation. The projects will be linked together in a single Web site. More details will be provided once the course begins. Students will be provided with access to a computer lab to work on the projects.

 
Readings

All readings will be available on class Web site.