Digital Culture

Code:

MDICD

Acronym:

MDICD

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
CNAEF	Design

Instance: 2022/2023 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Design
Course/CS Responsible:	Master in Image Design

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MDI	18	Plano de Estudos do MDI_Publicação em DR de 03/11/2016	1	-	9	60	243

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

This course unit intends to map the current technocultural context and the ways how computational and digital systems have been transforming it. Starting from historical, technological and philosophical contexts on computational technologies and their impacts in arts, design, culture, and society, this course unit will offer analysis and reflection mechanisms for the development of their critique.

Learning outcomes and competences

- Develop a broad knowledge of the history, nature, and impact of computational systems in society and culture;
- Develop knowledge on the theory of, and on art and design practices with computational systems;
- Critically analyse the impact of the digital medium on contemporary society.

Working method

Presencial

Program

Each lecture will be organised around central topics that will be discussed from reading materials and related with the remaining topics and the research in development by the students. The central topics to be explored are:

- Artificial Creativity
- Artificial Intelligence
- Computation
- Computational Art
- Computational Aesthetics
- Computational Design
- Cybertext 
- Games
- History of Computational Media
- Literacy
- Post Digital
- Procedural Authorship

Mandatory literature

Carvalhais Miguel; Artificial aesthetics. ISBN: 978-989-746-092-0
Miguel Carvalhais; Art and computation. ISBN: 978-90-828935-5-7
Wardrip-Fruin Noah 340; The^new media reader. ISBN: 0-262-23227-8

Complementary Bibliography

Aarseth Espen J.; Cybertext. ISBN: 0-8018-5579-9
Boden Margaret A.; The^Creative mind. ISBN: 0-415-31453-4
Crawford, Kate; Atlas of AI, Yale University Press, 2021. ISBN: 9780300209570
Denning, Peter J.; Tedre, Matti; Computational Thinking, The MIT Press, 2019. ISBN: 9780262536561
Denson, Shane; Discorrelated Images, Duke University Press, 2020. ISBN: 9781478010913
Fuller Matthew 340; Software studies. ISBN: 978-0-262-06274-9
Galloway, Alexander R.; Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture, University of Minnesota Press, 2006. ISBN: 978-0-8166-4851-1
N. Katherine Hayles; How we become posthuman. ISBN: 0-226-32146-0
Kwastek Katja; Aesthetics of interaction in digital art. ISBN: 978-0-262-52829-0
Lévy, Pierre; Collective Intelligence: Mankind's Emerging World in Cyberspace, Perseus Books, 1997. ISBN: 0-7382-0261-4
Maeda, John; How to Speak Machine: Laws of Design for a Digital Age, Penguin Random House, 2019. ISBN: 978-0-241-42214-4
Manovich Lev 1960-; The^language of new media. ISBN: 0-262-63255-1
Manovich Lev 1960-; Software takes command. ISBN: 978-1-6235-6745-3
Mitchell, Melanie; Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans, Pelican Books, 2019. ISBN: 978-0-241-40482-9
Mitchell, Melanie; Complexity: A Guided Tour, Oxford University Press, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-19-979810-0
Murray Janet H.; Inventing the medium. ISBN: 978-0-262-01614-8
Penny, Simon; Making Sense: Cognition, Computing, Art, and Embodiment, The MIT Press, 2017. ISBN: 9780262036757
Petzold, Charles; Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software, Microsoft Press, 2000. ISBN: 978-0735611313
Taylor, Grant D.; When the Machine Made Art: The Troubled History of Computer Art, Bloomsbury Academic, 2014. ISBN: 978-1-6235-6884-9
Turing, Alan Mathison; Mechanical Intelligence: Collected Works of A.M. Turing, Elsevier Science Publishers B. V., 1992. ISBN: 0-444-88058-5 (Ince, D.C., ed.)
Upton, Brian; The Aesthetic of Play, The MIT Press, 2015. ISBN: 978-0-262-324219-2
Wolfram, Stephen; A New Kind of Science, Wolfram Media, 2002. ISBN: 1-57955-008-8
Zielinski, Siegfried; Deep Time of The Media: Toward an Archaeology of Hearing and Seeing by Technical Means, The MIT Press, 2006. ISBN: 0-262-24049-1
Zuboff, Shoshana; The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, Profile Books, 2019. ISBN: 9781781256848

Teaching methods and learning activities

This course unit will be organised around seminars with exposition, analysis, and discussion from previously provided reading materials. Students will develop theoretical and practical works with the intent of problematising the main topics of discussion and identifying further areas of action and study.

keywords

Social sciences > Communication sciences > Media studies
Technological sciences > Architecture > Design

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	20,00
Participação presencial	20,00
Trabalho escrito	60,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Elaboração de projeto	78,00
Estudo autónomo	60,00
Frequência das aulas	45,00
Trabalho escrito	60,00
Total:	243,00

Eligibility for exams

Positive average grade in the various evaluation components.

Calculation formula of final grade

Average of the works presented and of the participation in classes.