SAMPLE SYLLABUS
WEEK ONE
Themes: Bauhaus basics, Rule-based design methodologies, role of computer in design methodology, Concrete Art, Bit International, design that bridges art with science, the search for a computer aesthetic
- Read: Max Bill, “Structure as Art? Art as Structure?” Digital Design Theory p.39.
- Read: Bruno Munari, “Arte programmata.” (Arte cinetica. Opera moltiplicate. Opera aperta). Digital Design Theory p.28.
- Read: Margit Rosen: “The Art of Programming” in A Little-Known Story about a Movement, a Magazine, and the Computer’s Arrival in Art: New Tendencies and Bit International, 1961–1973, (Cambridge: MIT, 2011). p.27-47.
WEEK TWO
Themes: Utopia, Birth of personal computer, Graphic User Interface, Object-Oriented Programming, code
- Read: 9 Design Ideas that Shaped the Web
- Read: Ivan E. Sutherland, “The Ultimate Display,” Digital Design Theory p.36.
- Watch: Sketchpad demo
- Skim:The Mother of All Demos
- Read: Charles Petzold, Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software, (Microsoft Press, 2001). p.3-21, p.69-85
- In-class: Code Exercise
WEEK THREE
Themes: How tools affect design methodologies; Algorithmic approach to art/design; Serial Art; Emphasis on process rather than finished artifact
- Read: Karl Gerstner, “Programme as Computer Graphics,” “Programme as Movement,” “Programme as Squaring the Circle,” Digital Design Theory p.30.
- Read: Wim Crouwel, “Type Design for the Computer Age,” Digital Design Theory p.42.
- Read: Sol LeWitt, “Doing Wall Drawings,” Digital Design Theory p.48.
- Read: Ben Fry and Casey Reas, “Processing . . . ,” Digital Design Theory p.98.
- Checkout: Conditional Design
- Read: The Alien Style of Deep Learning Generative AI
- In-class: Conditional Design Exercise
WEEK FOUR
Themes: Birth of Hacker Culture, Politics of Programming, Tinkering and Mass Making
- Read: “The Hacker Manifesto” by The Mentor (first published in the underground hacker ezine Phrack, 1986)
- Read: Introduction to Turner, Fred, From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Steward Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Uptopianism, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008). p.1-9
- Read: Stewart Brand, “Whole Earth Catalog Purpose and Function,” Digital Design Theory p.41.
- Watch: Keren Elazari: “Hackers: The Internet’s Immune System”
- Read: In Election Hacking, Julian Assange’s Years-Old Vision Becomes Reality
- Read: Programming is Forgetting by Allison Parrish
- In-class: Hacker Exercise
WEEK FIVE
Themes: Privacy, copyright, friendship, politics
- Read: Richard Stallman: “Why Open Source Misses the Point of Free Software”
- Read: excerpt from Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig, London: Penguin, 2005 (or TED talk?) Preface and Introduction
- Watch: Glenn Greenwald: Why Privacy Matters
- Watch: Edward Snowden: Here’s how we take back the Internet
- What is the Dark Web?
- Browse: A Hacker’s Tip for Protecting your Digital Privacy
- Check out your activity on myactivity.google
- Read: Our Apathy Toward Privacy
- Experiment with: www.aboutmyinfo.org/
- In-class: Privacy Exercise
WEEK SIX
Themes: Interface background and future, computers and design, mechanical vrs biological, code literacy
- Read: “Alan’s Kay’s role in the development of personal computers: a graphic novel”
- Read: Alan Kay, “User Interface: A Personal View,” Digital Design Theory p.75.
- Read: Muriel Cooper, “Computers and Design,” Digital Design Theory p.64.
- Read: April Greiman, “Does It Make Sense?” Digital Design Theory p.62.
Read: Hugh Dubberly, “Design in the Age of Biology: Shifting from a Mechanical-Object Ethos to an Organic-Systems Ethos,” Digital Design Theory p.111. - In-class: Interface Exercise
WEEK SEVEN
Themes: Open Source, Participatory Culture, Peer Production, Community Building
- Skim: “Cathedral and the Bazaar” by Eric Steven Raymond (p.1-23)
- Read: “Chapter 3: Peer Production and Sharing,” from Yochai Benkler: The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006).
- Read: Chapter 1 from Henry Jenkins: Participatory Culture in a Networked Era (Polity: 2015).
- Read: “Chapter 9: Conclusion” from David Gauntlett: Making is Connecting (Polity: 2011).
- Read: “Community” from Helen Armstrong and Zvezdana Stojmirovic: Participate: Designing with User-Generated Content (Princeton Arch: 2011).
- In-class: Participatory Exercise
WEEK EIGHT
- Due: Post literature map and project proposal to the blog
- Midterm discussion: Meet individually to discuss project abstracts and research plan/ literature review.
WEEK NINE
- No class: Spring break
WEEK TEN
Themes: Internet of Things, Nanotechnology, Networks
- Visiting Designer to lead an IoT Workshop
WEEK ELEVEN
Themes: Internet of Things, Nanotechnology, Networks
- Read: Brenda Laurel, “Designed Animism,” Digital Design Theory. p.122.
- Read: Khoi Vinh, “Conversations with the Network,” Digital Design Theory. p.126.
- Read: Excerpt from David Rose: Enchanted Objects (New York: Scribner, 2014). p. 193: Five Steps on the Ladder of Enchantment
- Watch: Wanis Kabbaj: What a Driverless World Could Look Like
- Read: http://www.fastcompany.com/1842581/why-millennials-dont-want-buy-stuff
- Look at IOTlist and see what items appeal to you: http://iotlist.co
- Pick one IOT object (from this list or elsewhere) and be ready to discuss why you find it particularly useful or particularly not useful.
- In-class: IoT Exercise
WEEK TWELVE
Themes: the augmented human, technology and disability, inclusive design, big data
- Watch: “Examined Life” – Judith Butler & Sunaura Taylor
- Read: All Technology is Assistive by Sarah Hendron
- Listen to: 99% Invisible: On Average
- Read: “The White Cane as Technology”
- Check out: Sara Hendron
- Explore: fashioning tech
- Watch: Temple Grandin: The World Needs All Kinds of Minds
- Explore: Song of the Machine
- In-Class: Inclusive Design Exercise
WEEK THIRTEEN
Themes: AI, machine learning, singularity, creativity, hybrid thinking
- Watch: Ray Kurzweil: Get Ready for Hybrid Thinking.
- Read: The Current State of Machine Intelligence
- Read: Soon We Won’t Program Computers. We’ll Train Them Like Dogs by Jason Tanz
- Read: The Enlightenment is Dead, Long Live the Entanglement by Danny Hillis
- Browse: Reddit Machine Learning
- Explore: http://deeplearninggallery.com/
- Watch: How Computers are Learning to Be Creative
- In-Class: Machine Learning Exercise
WEEK FOURTEEN
- No class: Spring holiday
WEEK FIFTEEN
Themes: AI, machine relationships, post-human design, social bonds
- Discussion Leader
- Read: Excerpt from Sherry Turkle: Reclaiming Conversation ( 2016). p.337-362
- Read: Harken Faste: “Posthuman-Centered Design “Digital Design Theory p.134.
- Read: the summary of “Enhancing Humans, Advancing Humanity” by Ramez Naam (watch the whole lecture if you have time).
- Watch: Kevin Kelly: How AI Can Bring a Second Industrial Revolution
- Watch: Nick Bostrom: What Happens When our Computers Get Smarter Than We Are? Scroll down on the main page to get to his talk. The page will automatically begin playing Juan Enriquez.
- Explore: The Future of Humanity Institute
- Read: Chatbots: Xiaoice
- In-Class: Chatbot Exercise
WEEK SIXTEEN
- Student presentations of paper content .
- Exam Week: Final papers due.