Mission/Vision

The current mission of the Digital+Media department is to provide a diverse learning environment for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary exploration in the digital arts; to educate talented and intellectually engaged individuals from diverse cultural Backgrounds; to provide an expansive pedagogical set of options to enable individuals to investigate innovative approaches to contemporary theory and practice; to facilitate exploration of the broad potentials of digital media as a ubiquitous tool across multiple domains; to foster individual inquiry, high level collaboration and team-based media production; and to graduate articulate individuals – creative critical thinkers who might become leaders in the field over the years ahead.

Goals

• To focus on the exploration of the creative and expressive potentials of digital media.
• To develop non-standard approaches to the potentials of the computer.
• To provide an educational setting that balances the study of technology and art (or design) with inquiry that is conceptual, critical, social, cultural and historically informed.
• To expand the breadth of the knowledge of each student and encourage them to become a vital force in terms of cultural production.
• To be immersed in a multi-perspective approach to knowledge acquisition.
• To train each student to contextualize their work and the work of others in relation to the current field of digital media orientedpractice and research.
• To develop a technological knowledge-body that is particularly relevant to each individual’s practice and research.
• To define bridging languages to other disciplinary domains – communicating and coming to understand multiple approaches to contemporary creative technological practices.
• To foster critique and discussion by mentors, lecturers, external critics, curators, and peers.
• To expand on a media art focus that incorporates digital media in some aspect of production.
• To graduate articulate individuals.
• To provide a curriculum that hybridizes, redefines and/or re-articulates the digital arts as an ongoing pursuit.

Faculty

Facilitated by top practitioners in the field drawn from many disciplines, study includes a high profile Lecture Series and visiting artist program examining the latest trends in digital media production as well as providing a critical/historical context for understanding current digital art and expanded media design practices.

Thesis

Graduate Students work independently and/or in teams under the supervision of a Faculty advisor and thesis committee. A major THESIS PROJECT (either individual or team-based) and a written thesis including multi-media documentation form the culminating experience.

Curriculum

Current research areas include: locative media; new forms of sensing and physical interface production; interactive digital media; virtual environments; experimental games; augmented reality; motion graphics; digital audio production – electronic music and sound arts; Internet oriented authorship; hybrid architectural/media environments; expressive ubiquitous computing; experimental industrial design; wearable computing; new forms of literary media production; rapid prototyping; digitally articulated sculpture, installation and performative practices; responsive environments; digital media research; and the exploration of emerging forms. In addition to regular coursework, Students may also gain experience in teaching, assisting Faculty research, international exhibition, and inter-institutional research and collaboration.