Introduction to Interactivity: Users, Services,
and Meaning-Experiences
Fall 2003-College of Visual Arts
M &W 8:30-11:15
Room 301
Gregory Bringman, Instructor
Email: brin0126@umn.edu
Office: Room 306
Office hours M 11:15-12:15pm and by appointment
C
o u r s e D
e s c r i p t i o n:
While it is true that we
can interpret interactivity even in the viewing of paintings or other
traditional visual media, as communication mediated or moderated
by a visual artifact, not all forms of visual media have been explicitly interactive.
With the development of The Internet and also visualization tools,
interactive artists have provided
services and experiences along with information. In this
course, we will consider the practical, hands-on implications
of making artworks
interactive. These include anticipating viewer/user perception
and incorporating this factor into design, and concentrating
on the relationship
between different meanings generated through the multiple possibilities
of interactive works.
C o u r s e O b j e
c t i v e s:
1. Learn how to use screen-based technologies of interaction.
2. Learn how to anticipate viewer/user needs based on visual and
interactive information.
3. Learn the relationships between viewing interactive art and the
traditional way of perceiving meaning in visual objects.
4. Become acquainted with industry standard interactive software
tools and procedures (Dreamweaver, Flash).
G
r a d e s a
n d A s s i g n m e n t s:
Assignments are to
be completely finished at the start of class on the scheduled
due date. Late assignments will receive lower
grades: they will be reduced by 10 percent per day after
the due date and start of class.
Attendance is mandatory
and will be recorded at the start of class. Late arrivals will also be recorded,
as well as early departures. Three absences results in
a ten percent grade reduction; five, in a twenty percent grade
reduction. Two instances of tardiness or early departure
will result in the equivalent of one absence.
I
will determine grades based upon the four studio projects,
the one design
diagram, a four-page
topical essay, upon the completion of a catalogue of research/sketches,
and group and class participation. There are no tests. However,
grades for projects will be based upon problem solving ability
and demonstration of design ability as these relate to information
management,
architecture, and to usability considerations. The criteria
for all the projects follow:
The student includes multiple levels of fully articulated
images and text in his or her site.
The student creates non-literal meaning with images and information,
and if literal, uses the obvious in new ways.
The student’s visual research for the given project is
thorough, involving significant description of the background
of the project.
The student is aware of the web as a medium, while his or her
project is adequately researched to have a definite message.
The student's project includes a dynamics
of aesthetics and function, incorporating ease of use; if it
is not user-friendly
on purpose,
that purpose should clearly show how its ideas transcend
usability guidelines.
The student communicates a space of the intersection of creative
visuals and knowledge and information, in his or her project.
Point Totals:
Studio Project One : 25 pts
Studio Sub-Project One: 10 pts
Studio Project Two: 25 pts
Issues Writing Assignment: 20 pts
Studio Project Three: 30 pts
Peer Activity: Scripting: 15 pts
Studio Project Four: 30 pts
Participation: 15 pts
Selections from Research Documents: 20 pts
Total:
190 pts
Grade Assignment:
A to A- 190-171 pts
B+ to B- 170-152 pts
C+ to C- 151-133 pts
D+ to D- 132-114 pts
F 113 pts and below
Only in extreme medical emergencies, will
an Incomplete be given. An official letter from a physician
must be submitted before an Incomplete can be considered. Incompletes
must be made up by midterm the following semester; otherwise,
an "F" will
be given.
(Required): Macromedia Dreamweaver MX for Windows and Macintosh: Visual
QuickStart Guide by J Tarin Towers.
(Required): Macromedia Flash MX for Windows and Macintosh: Visual
QuickStart Guide by
Katherine Ulrich.
2-3 zip disks and a 2-3 inch notebook
that will keep visual and verbal/ documentary material (ring
binders are preferable, but you will need paper to complete
storyboards,
sketches and site-maps, which you will then add to the binders).
NOTE: you
must save your files consistently and frequently. The internal, electronic storage-media of institutional,
group facilities can be erased accidentally or maliciously. Make
sure you record your virtual work at regular intervals.
T
e n t a t i v e S
c h e d u l e:
Week 1 9/03: Introduction to course. Discussion: What is different about computer-based
interaction? Why we would want to use an interactive artwork.
Assignment: Studio Project One. Articulating Site Architecture through
Visual Storytelling. Begin
working in groups of two for sites on narrative, visual storytelling.
Due week six (Design Diagram due week three).
Assignment: Studio-Sub-Project One. (for
first critique) A Design
Diagram,
due week three.
Begin working in Macromedia Dreamweaver
MX, with basic image and text.
Wednesday 9/03: Class Activity: Visual
storytelling basics. Different ways of saying and different
meanings from directed visual cues.
Reading: Dreamweaver QuickStart Chapters 1-4, Getting Started, Setting
Up a Local Site, Basic Web Pages, Editing Code.
Week
2: Navigation: Examples of navigable sites and the strategies
they employ. Design Diagrams as preliminary planning for the Web.
Monday Class Activity 9/8: Navigation Bars,
Rollovers, and Templates in Dreamweaver.
Wednesday Class Activity 9/10: What
Services? What technologies? Conceptualization and Realization. What does my site "need?" How
do we communicate interactivity in a static diagram? What
are the benefits?
Reading: Dreamweaver QuickStart Chapters 5-7,17 Working with Images,
Working with Links, Inserting and Playing Media, Automating Dreamweaver.
Week 3: DUE: 9/17 Wednesday, Studio Sub-Project
One. Individual presentation of diagrams
9/15, 9/17: Work on sites. Show web artist's
work. Discussion of issues in Dreamweaver, and HTML
Reading: Dreamweaver QuickStart Chapters 8,9,11, Fonts
and Characters, Paragraphs and Block Formatting, Stylin'
With Style Sheets.
Week 4: Web Rhetoric and Web Interaction.
Monday Class Activity 9/22: From the
List to the Semantic Web.
Students will evaluate lists of objects for visual rhetoric,
i.e. given this sequence... in order to think about lists
of links in
sites. Listing in the site map. Listing in the
Design Diagram
Wednesday Class Activity 9/24: What's in
your database? Constraints on designing web pages through
image and information collections.
Reading: Dreamweaver QuickStart Chapters 12,13, Setting Up Tables, Framing
Pages
Week 5: HTML and XML: markup
and customized markup language.
Monday Class Activity 9/29: classification
for XML.
Wednesday Class Activity10/1: The
Rhizome and the Tree: re-classification
Reading: Dreamweaver QuickStart Chapters 14,15, 16, Layers and Positioning,
Filling Out Forms, Behavior Modification.
DUE 10/6
Monday: Studio Project One.
Critique sites.
Reading: Flash
QuickStart Chapters 1-4, The Flash Authoring Tool, Creating Simple
Graphics, Modifying Simple Graphics.
Week 7: 10/13,
10/15: Introduction to Macromedia Flash. Setting up the 2d
workspace. Generating basic animation in
Flash.
Assignment: Studio Project Two. Meaning Metamorphoses.
Using shape tweening, along with shape hints, students
will create meaning from graphics and control
how the graphics undergo transitions from one shape to another. Incorporating
interactivity into transformations.
Reading: Flash QuickStart Chapters 5-6,
9-10, Graphics on Multiple Layers, Saving and Reusing
Graphic Elements, Animation with Motion Tweening, Animation
with
Shape Tweening.
Week
8: 10/20,
10/22: Experiencing the multiple: how modularity and reuse affect what we "show" to
the viewer/user. Basic action scripting of Flash elements. Meaning Metamorphoses continued.
Reading: Flash
QuickStart Chapters 7,11,14, Using Non-Flash Graphics,
More Complex Animation Tasks, Adding Sound and Video.
P
o r t f o l i o R
e v i e w s:
No Studio Class, October 27-31. Email instructor
short description of QuickStart Chapter on Shape Tweening and idea/short proposal for: topical essay on issues in interactivity.
Week
9: 11/3, 11/5: DUE 11/3 Monday:
Studio Project Two, Critique Meaning Metamorphoses.
The Benefits of the different forms
of scripts and where to put them in your programs (Scripts
don't just "float" anywhere).
Object and movie scripts. Combining meaning patterns
into symbols and the notion of what programmers call an API.
Reading: Flash
QuickStart Chapters 12-13, 15, Interactivity with Simple Frame Actions,
Interactivity with Objects, Introducing Complex Interactivity.
Assignment: Studio Project Three.
visual and interactive directories. Students
will visualize an interactive menu that has four levels of organization.
Week
10: 11/10, 11/12. Begin
on Visualization
Wednesday: 11/12: Peer Learning Class Activity: Visualizing
beyond the frame-- interactively. When we separate data from computer
programs and visuals, our visuals become more interesting as simulations.
Students will dynamically model simple graphic
fluctuations by using variables within action scripting code.
Reading:
Flash QuickStart Chapter 16 Delivering Movies
to Your Audience.
Week
11: DUE 11/19: Wednesday, Menus. Menu Critiques.
Visualization in Flash Continued. Visualization
Critiques.
Monday11/17: Work on interactive
menus.
Studio Project Four: Using
any of the tools that we have covered, create an interactive
work
Week
12: 11/24 DUE: topical essay on issues in interactivity.
Work on Final Projects
Week13: 12/1,
12/3 Work on Final Projects
Week
14: 12/8-12/12 DUE: Studio
Project Four. Final Critiques
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