Sound and Image Laboratory

Code:

LSI202

Acronym:

LSI

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Communication Design

Instance: 2014/2015 - 2S (of 16-02-2015 to 17-07-2015)

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Design
Course/CS Responsible:	Communication Design

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
DC	67	Licenciatura em Design de Comunicação	2	-	6	60	162

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

1. To understand the history, the technical foundations and the role of digital media, specifically sound and image, in a perspective that seeks to enhance individual discourse and expressive practice.


2. To explore the expressive potential of digital sound and image through diverse production and manipulation methodologies.


3. To generate and maintain habits of documenting individual practice.

Learning outcomes and competences

1. To frame and define major trends in the domain of digital media, as to support both creative practice and critical discourse. The student will thus be qualified to reflect upon digital media’s themes and artistic languages, with the perspective of building a personal audio/visual syntax.


2. To extend the familiarity with the working media, through an exploration of its constituent technical elements, as promoted by the development of practical exercises and projects.

Working method

Presencial

Program

This course proposes an approach toward the constituent technical elements of digital media, exploring sound and image – both moving and still – both as sequences of bits, elementary units of information, as well as complexities emerging from algorithmic operations.

Practical experiments of binary manipulation (databending / datamoshing) are thus proposed, as well as experiments of audiovisual generation from simple algorithms, made using creative coding tools (Processing, P5.js). In addition, experiments that seek alternatives to traditional forms of capture, manipulation and audition/visualization are also proposed (for instance, exploring slitscanning techniques to spacialize time in image capture).

Course content will include:

• Digital Art, Digital Media and the Contemporary: Transgressing the limits of representation – from analog art to computer art; Cybernetics; Information aesthetics; Digital video and animation; Reactivity and interactivity; The institucionalization of Digital Art; Curatorial models, exhibition and preservation of Digital Art; Publishing and dissemination of Digital Art.
• Foundations and Explorations of Digital Media: Bits and Information Theory; Text; Raster imaging; Digital video; Digital audio; Glitch Art, databending and datamoshing.
• Foundations and Explorations of Algorithmic Creation: Algorithms; Principles of coding with Processing / P5.js; Audiovisual creation; Sound and image manipulation; Creating audiovisual capture and exhibition software.

Mandatory literature

Reas, C. & McWilliams, C.; Form+Code in Design, Art and Architecture, Princeton Architectural Press, 2010
Wardrip-Fruin, N. & Montfort, N.; The New Media Reader, The MIT Press, 2003

Complementary Bibliography

Juarez, G. & Quaranta, D.; The F.A.T. Manual, Free Art and Technology Lab, 2013 (http://fffff.at/the-fat-manual/)
Manovich, Lev.; The Language of New Media, The MIT Press, 2001
Montfort, Baudoin, Bell, Bogost et al.; 10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10, The MIT Press, 2013 (http://10print.org/)
Noble, J.; Programming Interactivity, O’Reilly, 2009
Schiffman, Daniel; Learning Processing, Morgan Kaufmann, 2008

Teaching methods and learning activities

In classes mainly practical in character, experiments will be proposed as to manipulate and deconstruct images and audiovisual objects through the use of techniques, such as databending and datamoshing, that intervene directly in these objects’ binary representation. The construction of software that manipulates or generates audiovisual forms will also be proposed, with an invitation to the creation of expressive mechanisms that challenge these objects’ usual modes of capture, editing and exhibition. Careful documentation of individual work will be demanded, as the necessary methodologies will be approached in class. In addition, lectures will provide complementary content, framing the practical work in the context of the historic evolution of Digital Art and Digital Media.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	20,00
Trabalho escrito	20,00
Trabalho laboratorial	60,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Elaboração de projeto	48,00
Estudo autónomo	25,00
Frequência das aulas	64,00
Trabalho laboratorial	25,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

With a final grade equal or superior to 10 points.

Calculation formula of final grade

Weighted average of the quantitative grades of the evaluation components. Projects lacking instructor supervision will have null evaluation, as will projects in which the development goes undocumented by the student.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Cases in which the students may benefit from special status (student workers, student athletes, etc.) will be subject to appreciation on an individual basis. Therefore, such students are to contact the instructor ASAP.

Classification improvement

Only through course repetition.