Syllabus Spring 2017-2018
DIGM 540: New Media Project
Spring Term 2017-2018
Meeting Time: Mondays 15:00 – 17:50
Instructor: Stefan Rank [stefan.rank (AT) drexel.edu]
Office Hours: by appointment
Course Description
This class enables students to work on new media projects in areas of personal interest. The time may be used to become more familiar with the depth and breadth of the field, to explore new areas of research and development, and to build literature reviews that will support the MS thesis project, to perfect technical skills, and to prepare digital media assets for later use as part of a thesis project. Projects are developed in consultation with the course instructor based on current issues, concerns and trends in the field of New Media as documented in the academic and professional literature of the field, exemplified in recent new media works and by personal media experiences.
The main purpose of this course is to provide students opportunities to experiment, to challenge, to be open, to fail/to succeed, to be adventurous, brave and courageous in thinking about the possibilities of media for the decades ahead. The course invites you to invent the future!.
Learning Objectives
Explore New Media areas of personal interest
Gain a deeper understanding of the field
Develop professional bibliographies
Perfect New Media skills
Perfect presentation and writing skills
Develop media assets for possible use in an MS thesis project
Format
In the first three weeks, the planning and startup phase, you will formulate your project idea and present your work plan. Regular classroom sessions, starting week 4, will consist of individual project progress reports and discussions. In each session, half of the class (groups A and B) will present their progress and receive feedback from the instructor and peers.
Over the whole course, you will contribute in the following ways (see also the schedule):
One Work Plan Presentation (5 minutes, about 2 or 3 slides):
Obstacles and workarounds: Think of things that can go wrong! What can you do about it?
Milestones and success criteria: Show us when and how you will know that you succeeded or failed.
The instructor must approve the project before development continues.
Three Progress Presentations throughout the term (15 minutes, followed by questions/answers and feedback):
Demonstrate progress on your project along the timeline, progress of your reading list and media works that influence your work. Integrate feedback. Note changes and deviations from the plan.
Students enrolled in the class will comment on and offer feedback regarding peer presentations and assigned readings (see below). Based on class feedback and discussions, the instructor may recommend additional avenues of investigation, readings and/or project modifications. These suggestions must be acted upon and reflected in the next round of presentations.
Your Project Paper in three revisions:
Your project progress and your understanding of its relevance in the context of digital media will be demonstrated in 3 revisions of your project paper, describing the New Media project and its objectives including a work plan with key benchmarks for measuring progress, and an adequate bibliography.
Your media portfolio that you will develop throughout the term is considered to be part of your project reports and needs be made accessible to the instructor in an appropriate way.
The first revision will introduce the project and will support the project proposal in terms of literature and knowledge of comparable works.
The second revision will report on changes to the original proposal, on progress so far, and include a revised timeline and bibliography.
The final revision will summarize the project including difficulties encountered and resolved. The final version also includes a summary of what you learned during the project, what ideas will be kept what will be jettisoned and why, as well as plans for future research. The instructor may distribute the summary part to the class.
Paper Annotations:
As an MS candidate your project will be informed by contemporary digital media understanding, therefore you are expected to read a minimum of 2 articles or one book a week. Your growing bibliographies will be reported upon in your progress presentations and form part of your three paper revisions. You will also submit three paper annotations during the term, prior to your three progress presentations. They will be distributed to the class as reading assignments, in part to prepare your peers for your presentation. The instructor reserves the right to request another article if the submitted one is not acceptable. To ensure your article is accepted for class distribution, be sure that it comes from a peer-reviewed journal or an academic press.
Submission and Formatting
Submission of slides, papers, and annotations will all be handled via the Drexel Learn site for the course.
Unless otherwise noted, submissions are due on the day of class at 10:00.
Any submission must have your name, a date, a title, and the name and number of the course on the first page/slide.
Papers and annotations need to use the IEEE paper template available here: IEEE Author Center (first link to "Transactions template and instructions on how to create your article")
with the following changes: use the [Author(s) Year] citation label format instead of numbering, so: [Rank 2014] instead of [1], and you do not need to include an author affiliation/address for yourself on the first page.
Use the spellchecker of your text editor / word processor!
Each annotation will be one page in length and must include a complete reference for the paper and a link to the full pdf. If a full pdf version is not accessible from the Drexel network, the full pdf needs to be sent to the instructor via email.
For information on how to prepare an annotation see http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/01/ and/or http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/annotated-bibliography.
Papers should be 3 to 6 pages for revisions one and two, and up to 8 pages for the final version.
Papers should be submitted in doc(x) or odt format and make use of the "Track Changes" feature of Word/LibreOffice to show changes since the last revision when appropriate.
The bibliography is expected to grow progressively up to a minimum of 20 papers for the final version (books that you have read count as 3 papers).
Papers not following prescribed formatting will be returned for reformatting and will be graded as late papers.
Group Assignment
Group A: Jen, Ruben
Group B: Tom, Steven, Adem
Texts:
[Wardrip-Fruin Montfort 2003] Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Nick Montfort (eds): "The New Media Reader", MIT Press, Cambridge MA, 2003.
Requirements and Grading Policy
Class Participation: Active and informed class participation is expected and mandatory. This includes participation in discussions and providing feedback to classmates.
Late Policy: All work must be submitted on time. Any work 1 day late will be penalized 15% and 2 days late will be penalized 30%. No work will be accepted beyond 2 days.
Plagiarism and Academic Integrity: For the benefit of those who may not have been told before, cheating or plagiarism are violations of both personal and academic integrity. Such violations are punishable with a failing grade on the work and may also result in a failing grade for the course and disciplinary actions on the part of the University. In this course in particular, plagiarism, including cutting and pasting from the internet without proper citation, will result in an F grade for the class
Two unexcused absences will constitute a loss of 20% of the final grade. 3 absences, without a valid excuse will result in an F grade.
Students receiving an “A” grade will be active and constructive participants in class discussions, deliver a high-quality project proposal, progress steadily in their project measured in part based on their timeline, their class presentations, as well as their final project reports and media portfolio.
Grading System
20 points - Class participation, active and informed, constructive criticism of peers (10 + 10, per half-term)
30 points - Class Presentations, based on timeline and responsive to feedback (5 + 7 + 8 + 10)
15 points - Paper Annotations (4 + 5 + 6)
35 points - Project Progress, paper revisions and media portfolio (10 + 10 + 15)
A+: 97-100, A: 94-96, A-: 90-93, B+: 87-89, B: 84-86, B-: 80-83,
C+: 77-79, C: 74-76, C-: 70-73, D+: 67-69, D: 60-66, F: 0-59
Schedule (may be updated during the term)
Drexel University Code of Conduct
Academic Integrity, Plagiarism, and Cheating Policy
http://drexel.edu/provost/policies/academic_dishonesty.asp
Drexel University Student Handbook
http://drexel.edu/studentaffairs/community_standards/studentHandbook/
Students with Disability Statement
http://drexel.edu/ods/student_reg.html
Course Drop Policy
http://drexel.edu/provost/policies/course_drop.asp
Course Change Policy
The instructor reserves the right to change the course during the term at his or her discretion. These changes will be communicated to students via the syllabus, website announcement, or email.