Thanks for your interest in JAMS-336 Media Graphics. Here is a link to
the syllabus, http://tinyurl.com/jams336.
It is a popular class, so if you have met the prerequisites you should
register or work on fulfilling the prereqs asap. The prereqs are: either
declared JAMS major or minor or DAC pursuant; and either a C or better
in Art 118 Digital Arts and Culture: Theory and Practice or JAMS 336
Internet Culture, and Junior status.
Briefly, this is a class in which we look at some historical and
contemporary theories of media and actually test them out in the lab using
digital tools from the Adobe Suite such as Photoshop, Illustrator and
Premiere.
The course content begins with considering the nature and cultural impacts
of new technologies and digital information in particular, with a technical
and aesthetic focus on pixels and how to represent concerns about the
future while striving to create a believable, photo-realistic vision.
We move into vectors and discuss strategies of brand logos and identities
and the practice, tactics, morality and legality of Culture Jamming,
culminating with your own activist statement, an edition of posters that
get viewers attention about your issue, communicate why they should care,
and ask them to take action to do something about it. We actually test their
potency by putting them up on campus. Postering Day!
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The final unit of the course involves researching and writing a brief article
about a viral media artifact, then taking that knowledge and in groups,
through an iterative process, creating a viral-media-mashup or remixed
video that comments on the social, political, or cultural contexts of the
phenomenon. Any group that is able to garner 1000 views by the final
exam date, through sheer quality, timeliness, or social network leverage,
gets an A on the project! Let the games begin!