We think it is very important to document your projects, for starters the work you will be doing as part of the NMNT course. On your personal website include some info on you, what inspires you, and what new media, media technology or creative science things you are interested in, potentially projects you have worked on before etc.
Note that these are portfolio pages so visible to the general public. See also Working with Google Sites for info on how to edit, how to create sub pages etc and an example portfolio for a sample structure.
Pick an old new media artist/scientist you consider an iconic example, doesn't necessarily need to be well known, nor a person you necessarily identify with, and can also be a modern new media / mediatech / creative science example, and provide a short description of him/her or one of their main projects, plus a motivation why this is an inspiring or impactful example for you. Pictures/movies welcome.
This is about a person that inspires you, but for examples see Past NMNT Editions,
Create a new sub page under your student page to host this info - do this for any other info you need to host here.
Create an art-work / practical creative research project as a tribute to an old New Media technology (pre-1995). Invest at least 3 to 5 days time per person to this assignment. All works will be presented and exhibited in the morning of Workshop 2. You can work in groups of up to 3 people (or solo).
You can choose a any topic as long as it fits the above; say pre 1995 old new media, or a mash up of pre '95 and new.
Work from your own inspiration, interests & ideas. As some suggestions for additional inspiration see:
The examples of first major exhibitions
cyberneticserendipity.net, web site dedicated to the Cybernetic Serendipity Expo (full expo catalogue)
Jack Burnham. Software - Information Technology: Its New Meaning for Art. Exhibition Catalogue, Jewish Museum, New York, 1970.
The project can be something playful, something interesting or surprising, we are not looking for technical complexity. If you can achieve something through simple means even better. In other words we will primarily evaluate it on the actual concept as well as the translation into an experience for an openminded and interested audience, not on how it technically works.
No paper versions of Facebook please!
Take something that really interests you, the below is just a random list.
Text-adventures & MUDs
BBS
Circuit Bending
Steampunk & Jules Verne
NET.ART
Hacktivism
Old-school VR (Virtual Reality)
Old-school CG (Computer Graphics)
Early Artificial Life / L-Systems / Cellular Automata / Fractals / Flocking / Emergence
ELIZA, PARRY and other early chatbots.
ASCII Art
Create your own Personal Computer from scratch
Demo Scene
8 bit music etc.
Radio / Television
Teletext
CRT ART
New Media pre 1800
Minitel and other Videotex services
Telephone
BASICODE
Retro Interfacing
Narrative: Hypertext & Cut-up (The Garden of Forking Paths).
Mammuth tusks or beaver pelts
....
Give your project a catchy title and document your work on your personal portfolio page on this course website. This year I intend to be stricter with respect to the timeliness and adherence to documentation. I will grade the project from two perspectives: the experience when you present, as well as the experience for someone who will only have seen the documentation.
It should describe the concept (key part), and describe this from say a 'exhibition / web site visitor' point of view, plus some details on the implementation.
It should include at least one visual, ideally at least a link to a video, a motivation and a description of the project. But the richer the better - make videos, photos, share designs, sourcecode, etc.).
We only have 100MB total for this site, so use links for large files, take care that pictures are appropriately sized etc.
If you work in a team, make sure you mention the team members. You can put the description under the page of 1 of the members, and then refer from the other team member page to the description so that you still have a complete portfolio.
The grades will be determined by the quality of the project itself and its ranking across the other projects, by looking at the following aspects (more or less in order)
• The strength, novelty, depth, interestingness, originality, clarity, creativity, context of the concept itself (i.e. not taking into account technicalities of how it was built)
• The execution of the project as displayed by the end result
• The (technical) approach of how the project was realized – complexity not necessarily an advantage (maximum of effect with minimum of means).
• The documentation on the course website
in preparation for workshop please also have a go at installing openFrameworks - the base install should be pretty straightforward. Note that this will also include a substantial download for a so called IDE such as Xcode or Visual Studio, hence there will not be sufficient time during class to do this.