ART 315 – Digital Literacy

Digital Literacy builds upon the tools learned in Design Media I and Design Media II to introduce students to the detailed history, theory, and practice of screen-based interactive design and web publishing using Dreamweaver, Flash, and introductory programming languages. Students will use advanced web-based skills to employ digital media in technical, interactive, and investigative contexts of art and design practice. Conceptually this course will take students from the earliest history of computing and electronic media, into the digital-as- convergent media, and outward to examine the greater impact of digital media on the world of art, design, and culture, stressing the relevant implications for the designer. Digital media has traditionally been practiced and theorized within pedagogical and critical frameworks of pre-existing media, including television, avant-garde art, and fluxus art. The understanding of what is radically new about digital media often eludes such frameworks because digital media challenges many of the existing paradigms. Lectures, readings, and guided discussions will supplement project work, introducing students to the topics of interaction design, dynamic data, design authorship, networked culture, and critical analysis of the use of technology in design and our everyday lives.