Design, Interactivity and Emerging Media - COFA0902

Faculty: College of Fine Arts

School: College of Fine Arts

Course Outline: Download course outline (PDF format)

Campus: College of Fine Arts Campus

Career: Postgraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 3

CSS Contribution Charge: 1 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

Description

(Fully Online Postgraduate by Coursework Elective)

From videogames to art, mobile devices to interactive television, blogs and wikis to social networks and beyond, this fully online course draws together a wide range of material and activities in order to analyse, uncover and develop the underlying principles of interactivity and these emerging cultural media.

The last fifteen years have seen a proliferation of screen-based interfaces and online content, most of which is interactive in some shape or form and are now part of our everyday lives. Yet many of these new forms are still emerging and changing and the processes of creating and examining these interactive media require new ways of thinking about this brave new world.

The course aims to develop a set of ideas, approaches and practices that are essential to the creation of engaging interactive experiences. The content includes a broad history of interactive media (from non-computer interactions to wireless devices) and questions existing conventions of interactivity by examining it in the context of play. You will also learn about progressive design processes as well as critically exploring leading theorists and practioners in the field.

This course includes a series of online lectures and discussions in which you will play an essential role in analysing and defining these experiences through theory and practice. Your assessment tasks will include individual participation and online team projects to encourage group interaction and collaborative processes, which are the currency of the contemporary online world.

Please note: Whilst there are some technical elements to this course, it is not intended to be a course that teaches specific technical skills but rather the ideas that should underpin these, and other, practices. Whilst some existing knowledge of a multimedia authoring application will be useful it is not essential to completion of the course.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Students will receive course website location and log in instructions via their UNSW email account prior to the commencement of the course.