| Parsons The New School for Design |
|---|
| School of Art, Media and Technology |
| Creative Computing |
| PUCD 2035 E; CRN 5731 |
| Fall 2015 |
| Fridays 3:50pm—6:30pm, 6 East 16th Street, Room 609 |
| Justin Bakse |
|---|
| baksej@newschool.edu |
| http://justinbakse.com |
This course will introduce students to the building blocks of creative computing within the visual and media environment. Students will learn to create dynamic images, type and interfaces, that can translate into print, web and spatial forms. Through weekly problems, students will learn programming fundamentals that translate in virtually all programming platforms. Primary software platform: JavaScript.
Design and technology are inextricably linked. In your career you will almost certainly be designing for new technologies, and also using new technology to produce and stimulate your designs.
At its core, the objective of this class is to teach you how to program — or if you are already familiar, to strengthen your fundamentals. At a broader level, our goal is to make you comfortable approaching new technologies; to allow technology to stimulate creativity, to make you a better designer and artist.
The following outlines the main topics to be presented in each class. This may be adjusted during the semester.
| Unit 1 | Introduction to Programming in Javascript and p5 | Assignment |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Intro to Programming | Basic Drawing |
| Week 2 | Intro to Javascript Syntax | Variable Drawing |
| Week 3 | Interactivity and Animation in p5 | Coding Challenges |
| Week 4 | Javascript Functions and Data | Coding Challenges |
| Week 5 | Working with Images in p5 | Coding Challenges |
| Unit 2 | Creative Computing Projects | Assignment |
|---|---|---|
| Week 6 | Intro to Interaction Design | Interaction Story Boarding |
| Week 7 | Programming Interactions | Implementing Interaction |
| Week 8 | Interaction and Narrative | Children’s Book Interactive |
| Week 9 | Collaborative Programming | Crowd Source Project |
| Week 10 | Programming for the Web | Networked Code |
| Unit 3 | Advanced Topics and Final | Assignment |
|---|---|---|
| Week 11 | Advanced Topics | Final Concepting |
| Week 12 | Creating Proposals | Final Proposal |
| Week 13 | Creating Proofs of Concept | Final POC |
| Week 14 | WIP Critique | Final Review |
| Week 15 | Final Critique | Final Crit |
At the completion of this course, students should be able to:
Students will complete weekly assignments to demonstrate understanding of course material. These assignments will be evaluated based on technical mastery and conceptual and aesthetic exploration. In addition a multi-week final project will be assigned. This assignment will require deeper exploration, development, and application of course material.
Assignments will be graded using the following rough guide. Some assignments are more technical in nature, and will be graded with less emphasis on concept development. Please note that work that merely meets all stated requirements is considered “C” work. This is because all assignments are designed to allow (and require) further, self-directed exploration. Higher grades are reserved for work that demonstrates substantial effort and achievement in both technical skills and conceptual development. You are encouraged to think of assignments as starting points, and to build on top of them.
| Grade | Points | |
|---|---|---|
| F | 0 | Did Not Turn In |
| D | 1 | Incomplete |
| C | 2 | Complete, Average Work |
| B | 3 | Good Creative/Technical Exploration |
| A | 4 | Very Good Creative/Technical Exploration |
The grade of W may be issued by the Office of the Registrar to a student who officially withdraws from a course within the applicable deadline. There is no academic penalty, but the grade will appear on the student transcript. A grade of W may also be issued by an instructor to a graduate student (except at Parsons and Mannes) who has not completed course requirements nor arranged for an Incomplete.
The grade of WF is issued by an instructor to a student (all undergraduates and all graduate students) who has not attended or not completed all required work in a course but did not officially withdraw before the withdrawal deadline. It differs from an “F,” which would indicate that the student technically completed requirements but that the level of work did not qualify for a passing grade. The WF is equivalent to an F in calculating the grade point average (zero grade points), and no credit is awarded.
The grade of I, or temporary incomplete, may be granted to a student under unusual and extenuating circumstances, such as when the student’s academic life is interrupted by a medical or personal emergency. This mark is not given automatically but only upon the student’s request and at the discretion of the instructor. A Request for Incomplete form must be completed and signed by student and instructor. The time allowed for completion of the work and removal of the “I” mark will be set by the instructor with the following limitations:
Undergraduate students: Work must be completed no later than the seventh week of the following fall semester for spring or summer term incompletes and no later than the seventh week of the following spring semester for fall term incompletes. Grades of “I” not revised in the prescribed time will be recorded as a final grade of “WF” by the Office of the Registrar.
Grades of “I” not revised in the prescribed time will be recorded as a final grade of “WF” (for Parsons and Mannes graduate students) or “N” (for all other graduate students) by the Office of the Registrar.
The grade of “N” does not affect the GPA but does indicate a permanent incomplete.
In certain cases, you may resubmit work to improve your grade (up to 2 points) on an assignment. In order to resubmit work the following conditions must be met:
Extra Credit will be given for formal contributions to the class. One way to contribute is to provide corrections, enhancements, or additions to the class materials and website. For example, spelling and grammar corrections submitted through a pull request will earn a small amount of credit. More credit can be earned by adding content to class notes or resource pages, authoring small tutorials that benefit the class, etc.
Each student must have a Github account. We will use Github to turn in and host assignments.
Homework is probably the most important part of this class. If you do the homework regularly and keep up, you will do well. It will be hard to do well otherwise. This course involves a new way of thinking, a new language, and a new set of tools. To learn any language or tool, you must use it. A lot. And homework is where you will apply what we discuss discuss in class.
Weekly homework will be due at the start of class. Be sure to commit your project to you Github account before this time. Late postings will be marked down one point. Postings turned in more than one week late will not be accepted.
By appointment. Email to arrange.
There is no required textbook for this course.
We only meet once per week, and new material will be introduced each week. I strongly discourage missing any classes. In accordance with Parson’s attendance policy, if you miss three classes you will likely be asked to withdraw from the class. Two late arrivals or early departures will count as one absence. Inappropriate use of a laptop (e.g. browsing social media during critiques or lectures) may result in being marked as an absence.
We will spend a good amount of class time working together on coding projects. During work time, computers will be used. However, during a lecture, discussion or critique, computers must be closed or set to sleep. Note-taking can be done on paper. Nothing kills a conversation like a room full of people staring at screens.
All projects are to be completed by you individually. You are encouraged to help each other, but unless otherwise specified you must turn in your own work.
Code reuse is a complex issue in computer programming. Looking at existing code is a key part of the programming process, especially while learning. You often learn best by modifying working examples rather than starting from scratch. We stand on the shoulders of giants; that is the essence of the open-source philosophy.
Copy/paste makes it easy to use other’s code without fully understanding it. It is important when using example code that you take the time to read, study, and understand it. In many cases this process can be improved by retyping code.
In a professional environment, the best practice is often to reuse existing code as much as possible. When learning however, it is often best to do as much as possible from scratch.
With that in mind, you may use limited amounts of existing code in your homework. However, there is a very important caveat: any code you use, borrow, and/or modify must be labeled as such. If you study code closely but do not directly use any of it, you should still cite the code you studied in your own source. You must include the name of the author (even if it is me or a student in this class), the source URL, and you must make clear which lines of code are not yours. If you fail to do this, you will fail the class. It is very, very easy to get this right, though, so if you take a moment’s time to label your work correctly, you will not have a problem. Just be diligent and honest.
The New School views “academic honesty and integrity” as the duty of every member of an academic community to claim authorship for his or her own work and only for that work, and to recognize the contributions of others accurately and completely. This obligation is fundamental to the integrity of intellectual debate, and creative and academic pursuits. Academic honesty and integrity includes accurate use of quotations, as well as appropriate and explicit citation of sources in instances of paraphrasing and describing ideas, or reporting on research findings or any aspect of the work of others (including that of faculty members and other students). Academic dishonesty results from infractions of this "accurate use". The standards of academic honesty and integrity, and citation of sources, apply to all forms of academic work, including submissions of drafts of final papers or projects. All members of the University community are expected to conduct themselves in accord with the standards of academic honesty and integrity. Please see the complete policy in the Parsons Catalog.
It is the responsibility of students to learn the procedures specific to their discipline for correctly and appropriately differentiating their own work from that of others. Compromising your academic integrity may lead to serious consequences, including (but not limited to) one or more of the following: failure of the assignment, failure of the course, academic warning, disciplinary probation, suspension from the university, or dismissal from the university.
In keeping with the University’s policy of providing equal access for students with disabilities, any student with a disability who needs academic accommodations is welcome to meet with me privately. All conversations will be kept confidential. Students requesting any accommodations will also need to meet with Jason Luchs in the office of Student Disability Services, who will conduct an intake, and if appropriate, provide an academic accommodation notification letter to you to bring to me. At that point I will review the letter with you and discuss these accommodations in relation to this course. Mr. Luchs’ office is located in 79 Fifth Avenue, 5th floor. His direct line is (212) 229-5626 x3135. You may also access more information through the University’s web site at http://www.newschool.edu/studentservices/disability/.