Info 146

Foundations of New Media

3 units

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This course is not currently offered.

Course Description

INFO 146 (Foundations of New Media) is based upon the premise that New Media — a spectrum of technologies for representation and communication based on the paradigm of computation — represents a once in several century innovation in the representation of knowledge and culture. The goal of the course is to prepare students to participate in this process of innovation by analyzing the emerging genres of New Media and their history, and by designing new media.

To analyze the design challenges and opportunities of this moment, the class will examine key moments in media history — such as the introduction of the printing press, the telephone, and the camera — to gain perspective on the nature of the process of technological innovation and cultural change. Then the course will analyze the design of new media in the camera, the telephone, the web and computer games, using insights and methods from the humanities (i.e., theories of language, communication, and media), using social science techniques to analyze culture and media (i.e., participant-observation, interviewing) and applying basic computational understandings and skills (i.e., how computers work, what programs are, how to write simple programs). Weekly assignments will introduce and build these skills throughout the semester, using lectures, readings and lab sections to introduce basic techniques for the analysis and design of New Media.

(Prior to 2009, this course was offered for 4 units.)

Prerequisites

None

Last updated:

February 15, 2019