Interactive Media & Publishing 2

GD5450.01 Spring 2013

Course Description

Interactive designs have multiple dimensions, such as culture, interaction, motion, and time — all of which can be pushed to create memorable and useful user experience. This graduate-level studio course is a continuation of Interactive Media and Publishing I. The course continues to explore best-practice modern online and on-screen design, production, and publishing practices including HTML, CSS, CMS, blogging and other social media. Students will have the flexibility to connect the technology and coursework to their graduate theses, core studio, and/or personal work as appropriate. The class will meet in smaller groups to accommodate the different levels of experience among students.

K Additions
We’re going to look into as much current and cutting edge web technology as we can &mdash HTML5, CSS3 animations, jQuery magic, Touch interfaces, responsive grids, etc. We’ll also talk about a variety of ways to bring content to the web, best practices in managing that process, and the business of web design. We’ll also touch on what changes when you move from print to web in terms of typography and other design principles. Class time will be used for lectures, discussions, theory, one-on-one troubleshooting and actually working on projects. Demonstrations will happen, but much of the code-writing and learning will happen as homework via Lynda tutorials and CodeAcademy assignments.

WE WILL NOT BE GETTING INTO BUILDING APPS. This is a class about building and publishing content for the web. We also will not be getting too deep into Wordpress or other CMSs. For those of you that want to jump into these things, please do so as long as basic outcomes of the projects are taken care of. I think we can better focus our time as a class elsewhere.

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Learning Outcomes

  • Further building students coding skills
  • Help students take more of their design talent to the web
  • Show students ways to take advantage of pre-built frameworks, grid structures, etc. to enhance the work that they do and minimize coding time while maximizing output.
  • Give general understanding of web technologies so that students are at least proficient in discussing and explaining sites regardless of tech. used.

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Contact Info / Office Hours

I don’t really have office hours. However, I should be around campus most Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons between 12–3 if you’d like to schedule outside of class meeting times. If you need something outside of class please email me, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. If it is an extreme circumstance or some sort of emergency please call.

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Materials

  • URL/Domain
  • Hosting account
  • Perhaps some other accts if necessary… We’ll get to these as the class progresses
  • Otherwise I just need you to have a good way of getting your files to me at project days — thumb drive, dropbox, whatever.

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Required & Recommended Readings

None, but there are plenty of recommended ones on the Readings page

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Last Class

Our last class meets on May 8th, 2013.

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Grading Criteria

One grade will be awarded per project unless otherwise noted. Each grade will evaluate process, execution, and presentation. The final grade for the semester will be an average of all project grades, plus a final evaluation of quality of resolve and follow-through in a student’s work, visual experimentation, growth of skills, and class participation & preparedness throughout the semester.

  • Class participation is paramount & should show marked progress in the student’s ability to talk about design intelligently & constructively.
  • Grades for late projects will be lowered one letter grade for each class period that they are late.
  • Punctuality & participation to in-progress & final critiques will have an impact on the grade for each project.
  • Work lost due to technological problems will be considered late. It is important to get in the habit of backing up & duplicating files. Technical trouble is not a valid excuse for missing a deadline—neither academically nor professionally.
  • A: Student’s work and effort far exceed expectations. Outstanding problem solving, ability to communicate ideas, & craft. Exceptional class participation & attendance.

  • B: Student’s work and effort are above-average achievement. Above-average problem solving, ability to communicate ideas, & craft. Excellent class participation & attendance.

  • C: Student’s work and effort are acceptable. Adequate problem solving, ability to communicate ideas, & craft. Acceptable class participation & attendance.

  • D: Student’s work and effort are below average. Problem solving, ability to communicate ideas, & craft are below acceptable standards. Unsatisfactory class participation & attendance.

  • F: Student’s work and effort are unacceptable. Unacceptable problem solving, ability to communicate ideas, & craft. Inappropriate class participation & attendance.

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Attendance Policy

MISS MORE THAN THREE CLASSES AND YOU DO NOT PASS THE COURSE. This isn’t my arbitrary decision, it is MICA policy across the board.

If you do miss a class, check the course website (im.ookb.co) I’ve setup for info on what we discussed and files you might need. If you have additional questions contact me immediately, please don’t wait until the next week. You will still be expected to present or be prepared for the following class after any absence — excused or otherwise.

It is also important you show up to class on time and prepared. We’ve got a lot to cover and it sets the whole class behind when event just one of you shows up late.

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Compliance Statements

Learning Resource Center ADA Compliance Statement

Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact the instructor privately to discuss specific needs. Please contact the Learning Resource Center at 410-225-2416, in Bunting 458, to establish eligibility and coordinate reasonable accommodations. For additional information please refer to: http://www.mica.edu/LRC

Health and Safety

It is the responsibility of faculty and students to practice health and safety guidelines relevant to their individual activities, processes, and to review MICA’s Emergency Action Plan and attend EHS training. It is each faculty member’s responsibility to coordinate with the EHS Office to ensure that all risks associated with their class activities are identified and to assure that their respective classroom procedures mirror the EHS and Academic Department guidelines. Each of these policies and procedures must be followed by all students and faculty. Most importantly, faculty are to act in accordance with all safety compliance, state and federal, as employees of this college and are expected to act as examples of how to create art in a way to minimize risk, and reduce harm to themselves and the environment. Faculty must identify, within each art making process, and require personal protection equipment use, by each student for each class, when applicable. Students are required to purchase personal protection equipment appropriate to their major. Those students who do not have the proper personal protection equipment will not be permitted to attend class until safe measures and personal protection is in place.

Plagiarism

Each discipline within the arts has specific and appropriate means for students to cite or acknowledge sources and the ideas and material of others used in their own work. Students have the responsibility to become familiar with such processes and to carefully follow their use in developing original work.

Plagiarism Policy

MICA will not tolerate plagiarism, which is defined as claiming authorship of, or using someone else’s ideas or work without proper acknowledgment. Without proper attribution, a student may NOT replicate another’s work, paraphrase another’s ideas, or appropriate images in a manner that violates the specific rules against plagiarism at MICA. In addition, students may not submit the same work for credit in more than one course without the explicit approval of the all of the instructors of the courses involved.

Consequences

When an instructor has evidence that a student has plagiarized work submitted for course credit, the instructor will confront the student and impose penalties that may include failing the course. In the case of a serious violation or repeated infractions from the same student, the instructor will report the infractions to the department chair. Depending on the circumstances of the case the department chair may then report the student to the Office of Academic Affairs or Graduate Studies, which may choose to impose further penalties, including suspension or expulsion.

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Miscellany

Door codes for 3rd floor of Brown

Brown 303 6,9,0,0 (Lounge)
Brown 304 6,2,3,4
Brown 305 5,4,4,7
Brown 306 1,2,3 enter
Brown 307 5,4,1,3
Brown 308 key only, guards can open
Brown 309 2+4, 3 enter
Brown 311 photo room; sign up with Anita