Section 352243/4: T / Th 9-11:30am  
Section 35835/6: T / Th 12-2:30pm  
Instructor: Sabrina Raaf, Associate Professor / New Media Arts  
Contact: sraaf1 @ uic.edu  (office hours by appointment only) 
  
NMA Lab Specialist: Shane Hope: shope@uic.edu 

Description
Introduction to New Media Arts is a studio-based course that provides an overview of the theories and practices of New Media Arts. Students will learn fundamental practices of electronic arts and interaction design including but not limited to circuit design, basic to intermediate electronics, and programming for interactivity. Through hands-on exercises, students will explore basic electronic techniques and use of programmable microcontrollers (Arduino) to control interactive art, sound, light, and environments. Students will also be introduced to various professional new media artists and their work through survey lectures rooted in the history, theory, and current practices of responsive and new media art.
**This course requires a laptop to be used in class. Students are responsible for bringing their laptop to each class and installing required (free) software.**

Student Responsibilities and Requirements
This course is designed to draw inspiration from the history of artists and designers who explore ideas and applications of interactivity to gain practical experience with basic electronics, coding, and other techniques of digital art production. This course also encourages the development of experimental art, interactive objects, and responsive environment project based on conceptual assignments. Students should also be inclined to research digital and experimental artworks and trends that they find personally interesting or compelling. This studio course is structured around a series of tutorials in the realm of programming and physical computing, culminating in a final project. Emphasis will be given to the creative development of the project, through a complete iterative design process, pursued individually or collaboratively. Tutorials and workshops are aimed to support and inform this creative process, providing modules of skill-sets and technologies. Throughout the duration of the course, participants are asked to utilize the class blog in order to collect and share resources and their praxes.

Students may leave their kit of supplies (Arduino, components, etc) in the lab. When students take these items out of the lab, they are responsible for bringing them to the following class.

Course Goals
In sum, students will:
• Draw inspiration from the history of artists and designers who explore ideas and applications of interactivity
• Gain practical experience with basic electronics, coding, and other techniques related to digital art production
• Develop experimental art, interactive objects, and responsive environment projects based on conceptual assignments
• Research digital and experimental artworks and trends

Assignments
This class focuses on the imaginative use of electronic tools in art-making as well as surveying the recent history of new media and responsive arts. A series of assignments will be announced over the course of the semester that will support this focus. Please visit the Assignment section for more information.

Reading Materials
• Articles and excerpts from journals, conferences, and books covering topics such as critical theory, experimental new media art, and computer graphics will be handed out in class as reading assignments. No texts need to be purchased from the Bookstore.
• Suggested readings and supplemental materials can be found under the resources section of this site.

Evaluation
Comprehension of concepts and integration of artistic goals, acquired technical skills, and imaginative ingenuity will be considered. Additionally, participation in class discussions, lab sessions, and the amount of effort put into each class and outside work will be evaluated – as will the ability to apply the techniques introduced in class in an innovative and inventive mater for creative assignments. Personal initiative and artistic development over the length of the semester will also be considered. Assignments are invitations to invent and experiment. Creative and ambitious experiments will be evaluated high, while obvious and easily attained solutions are evaluated low. Participants are encouraged to capitalize on their individual backgrounds, artistic and applied, but are expected to excel in the chosen context. The complexity of the workshops will increase as the semester progresses. An active contribution during class is required. You are expected to be resourceful to your peer students and seek help when needed. All exercises must be completed to pass the course.

Contact / Credit Hour Policies
This class is a 4-hour credit course. During an average week, you will be expected to spend 7-10 hours on homework per class.Homework will primarily consist of assignment completions, project development, project documentation, and written assignments. (For a detailed explanation for how homework time is calculated on a per-credit-hour basis, see the UIC Contact / Credit hour policy.)

GRADING, ATTENDANCE, PRIVACY, AND ACCOMMODATION POLICIES Department of Art, UIC: linked here 

Grading
• 10% – Participation is worth 10% of your grade. Class participation includes lab time, workshops, critiques, discussions, and overall active engagement in class.
• 35% – The conceptual art Project Assignments are weighted at approximately 35% of the total grade. These assignments will be discussed in class and will be posted on the course website with adequate time for completion. These include major assignments geared towards helping you gain technical skills and to broadening your understanding of new media arts.
• 10% – Practical Assignments – There will be practical homework assignments to help you gain technical skills. They are worth 10% collectively.
• 20% – The Final Project is worth 20% of your grade. The final project will consist of an artistic work or installation of your choice, utilizing the skills obtained in lab exercises and inspired by course content. Please see the homework and assignments section for my details.
• 10% – Final Project Documentation – Completed Documentation of your final project uploaded to the class Blog.
• 15% – Blog assignments count towards 15% of your total grade and are graded upon the insight in your writing and your overall understanding and resourcefulness of the information given. Each week we will look at several new media artists and projects and you will be asked to submit a short one-paragraph response about a specific topic (TBD weekly by the instructor) to the class blog. Feel free to use the blog for things other than just required weekly responses. The class blog is a place meant for you to share your ideas about class topics, resources, collaborative ideas, and interesting projects that you might come across. I will email you a link to join the class blog, be sure to accept the invitation so you can post your weekly responses if you have any problems please let me know.
• LATE WORK: Projects and Blog Assignments turned in late (up to one week) after the assigned date/time will be accepted for a one letter grade reduction. After that, the project will not earn credit. Keep in mind, late work undermines not just your own learning, but the learning community of the class as a whole.
• EXTRA CREDIT may be given in the case where the work completed goes well beyond the parameters of the assignment OR if the student proposes and completes an extra “mini” assignment. (please discuss with the instructor)

Use of Devices
The use of phones, laptops, tablets, and other devices for email, social media, texting, chatting, web browsing, or any activity unrelated to what we are doing in class is a distraction to yourself and other students. Web browsing and computer use is part of this class, but used for class research only.

Lab Policies
• There is a required laboratory fee for this course which is used for the course materials and supplies that you keep.
• Food or drink must be kept clear of the workspaces and tables.
• Never eat or drink while soldering! Lead poisoning is no good.
• Clean up after yourself! This includes empty drinks, all small pieces of plastic, and misc. clippings.

Lab Orientations
You can schedule a lab orientation/ overview of the New Media Lab’s Digital Fabrication tools and how to properly use them to aid in the construction and completion of your projects at any time. To do so, contact Lab Specialist Shane Hope: shope@uic.edu

Lab Hours
• For Lab hours, please contact Lab Specialist Shane Hope: shope@uic.edu