Course Preview
Description: This Special Topics class will explore the intellectual background of Interaction Design and Information Architecture, focusing on the concept of computer- (and otherwise-) mediated interaction, as constructed in computer science, semiotics, design, literary studies, and other disciplines. It is in many ways complementary to IDIA 620, Information Culture/Digital Economy, which focuses on social and economic implications of network technologies. This class is more concerned with questions of meaning: How can interaction be defined? How do developments in this area fit (or fail to fit) with prior accounts of media and culture? How does our engagement with information-processing technologies affect our understanding of who and what we are, as human beings?
As the name indicates, this course is primarily theoretical. It therefore assumes a certain critical distance from business and professional practice. Don't take this class if you're looking for a survey of interaction design as an applied social or information science. Do consider it if you'd like to think seriously about the idea of human-computer, or computer-mediated interaction, and what it has to do with modern life.
However, the course is not purely theoretical, and we will attempt throughout to ground all critical abstractions in discussion of real-world problems, developments, and experiments. (More about this below.)
Book List: The following texts are required and have been ordered through the University of Baltimore Bookstore (except as noted). We will read Liu and Sterling in their entirety, along with selected chapters from the New Media Reader.
- N. Wardrip Fruin and N. Montfort, The New Media Reader (MIT Press).
- A. Liu, Laws of Cool (U. Chicago Press)
- B. Sterling, Shaping Things (MIT Press)
- P. Cadigan, Synners (Bantam Spectra or other)
Cadigan's Synners (a novel) is not currently in print. However, you should be able to obtain a used copy from Amazon or other on-line booksellers.
Class Requirements: I will publish a definitive description of assignments when the active class site goes up, probably mid-August. The current list is not final, but is meant to give an early indication. Everything below is subject to revision.
- Blogging
- I will probably use NiNG or similar blog aggregator as a common space for written communication. You will be expected to write something short about each week's readings. I may also require everyone to write one longer response during the term, in preparation for class discussion. As usual, we will also use the blog to share insights, examples, and sightings of things relevant to our thinking.
- Focus of Interest
- At the beginning of the semester, everyone will select a technology, system, scheme, or application that: (A) fits within the domain of mediated interaction (not necessarily involving computers or computation); and (B) COMPLICATES in some way our received understanding of mediated interaction. I may at various points require you to blog in response to specific questions about your chosen technology, and to make a presentation to the class.
- Examples of eligible technologies/projects include: Joseph Weizenbaum's ELIZA, and her many offspring (intelligent agents); story-generation systems such as Façade; One Laptop Per Child, and/or its included software; interactive fictions such as "Bad Machine" by Dan Shiovitz, or other kinds of narrative hypertext; IF and adventure systems, generally; The Amanda Project (community-based writing); any interesting form of fan fiction; social annotation systems such as Wikipedia or Diigo; Generalized Universal Role-Playing System (GURPS), or any especially strange RPG; Babelfish (Web translation service); ubiquitous or location-aware computing, including RFID applications; wearable computing, and/or implants; experimental cinema such as Time Code; experimental fiction, such as Dictionary of the Khazars and House of Leaves; pinball, pachinko, and other physical game engines; open archives such as Freesound and cc:Mixter; many things Web-2.0, e.g., Twitter, or Twistori; any video game you can find that is not like every other video game; biofeedback devices; adaptive input devices, such as Dasher; chain letters; remote-operable telescopes and scientific instruments; any robot or programmable device that does something really interesting; anything happening in Second Life or other virtual environments that isn't like everything else, etc.; any personal data device that expands or challenges your notion of what such devices should be; ancient computers (e.g., Commodore 64); free-flight aircraft management systems; intelligent automotive systems (from traction control to collision avoidance to auto-parking); adaptive or "genetic" solutions for computer programming; geocaching; Google, and search engines generally; and more; and more: as Jorge Luis Borges always says, everything not included in the previous list; and as Ralph Waldo Emerson always adds, "dreams, beasts, sex."
- Critical Essay
- At the end of the semester, I will expect a lengthy and substantial essay based on the interactive technology or project you have been studying. This essay should begin with the particular twist, slant, or challenge to received understandings of interactivity that is posed by your example. It must then discuss this issue, or relate it in some way, to some proposition that arises in any of the semester's readings. I may require some additional library research as part of this exercise.
- Discussion
- Like Information Culture/Digital Economy, this class will run seminar-style, allowing for spontaneous pursuit of ideas and free-ranging discussion. However, all discussion will be woven as closely as possible into and around the assigned readings, so you are expected to give them close, critical attention.
Further: Watch this Web address for future updates about the class. A syllabus and initial schedule of assignments should go up August 15 or thereabouts. If you have questions, please contact me (Stuart Moulthrop), smoulthrop[at]ubalt[dot]edu.
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