Interactive Exhibit Design/IM357/Rouvelle/Fall Õ08

Monday 4pm-10pm.

Bunting 320

 

Contact:jrouvelle@mica.edu

Office: Brown Center, room 211, phone (in office).

Office hours: by appointment

 

 

 

Course Description

 

Interactive Exhibit Design is a rapidly evolving, team-based, profession at the intersection of art/science/interactivity/technology and design. This course will be a real world experience, matching MICA students with the exhibition staff of the Maryland Science Center to create interactive, mixed-media, on-screen/off-screen projects and prototypes for an upcoming exhibit on Cellular Biology entitled "Cells: The Universe Inside You", opening in February '09, which will be in the permanent collection of the center. Student works created during class will be displayed and user tested at the Science Center during the semester. 

 

Evaluation:

 Grades in this course will be based on regular class attendance, the quality of your work, class participation, and progress.  Tardiness and excessive absences will adversely affect your grade.  Participation in discussions and critiques is mandatory.

 

Projects & Grading:

 

  You will be asked to conceive, build, install and document a prototype.  You must create three copies of your documentation and submit them to: Dr. Cooks at the Science Center, and Me. You should also keep a copy for yourself.

 

                                                            ***We will not have a final exam during finals week***

 

 Students will be graded by letter, A-F, on all evaluated work.  Work must be completed on time and in full satisfaction of each project goal.  Late work (assignments handed in or posted after the start of in-class critique sessions) will be automatically downgraded by one letter grade.  In addition to in class exercises, you will complete four projects.

 

A

Well above the expectations of the course.  Outstanding participation, attendance, and exceptional progress.

B

Above average assignments and participation. No more than one absence.

C

Average execution of assignments, participation, and no more than two absences.

D

Well below average: work, attendance (two absences), projects, and participation.

F

Unsatisfactory: work, attendance (more than two absences), projects, and participation

 

 

Attendance:

Two or more unexcused absences from class may result in failure.  Two unexcused late arrivals, or early departures will be marked as the equivalent of one absence.  Absence from a class is not an excuse for skipping a tutorial, reading assignment, or posting an assignment.  You are fully responsible for completing work.

 

Readings:

Readings will be linked from the syllabus.  There is no textbook.  You may utilize the printers in class to download hard copies of web-based content if you prefer.  Critiques and discussion will frequently be initiated from various topics covered in the readings – in other words, please use the concepts you read about in discussion of fellow studentsÕ work.

 

Supplies:

Please bring to each class a storage media of your choice.  I recommend a jump drive from the bookstore, in lieu of this, an ipod, or server space, or 1-2 CD-R(s) – Recordable Compact Discs (700 MB) will suffice. YouÕll probably go through many of them, for both this and other digital classes.  You might also want to bring in a sharpie to label your CDÕs.

 It is essential that all work done in class be saved to either your jump drive, CD-R, server space, ipod, etcÉ at the conclusion of class.  There will be many, many other students using these computers and anything saved on them will be permanently removed shortly after the conclusion of class.

 

Food and Drink in the Computer Labs:

No.

 

ADA Compliance Statement

 

Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact [insert instructorÕs name/title] privately to discuss specific needs. Please contact the Learning Resource Center at 410-225-2416, in Bunting 458, to establish eligibility and coordinate reasonable accommodations. For additional information please refer to: http://www.mica.edu/learningresourcecenter/.

 

Health and Safety Compliance

 

From the Office of Environmental Health and Safety (EHS):

 

The Office works to provide EHS support for all members of the MICA community.   The primary goal of the Office is to be proactive in establishing a culture of safety in which each member of the community shares ownership responsibility that allows each person to be involved in maintaining a healthy work and studying environment. EHS uses several methods to achieve this objective. 

 

First, the EHS office looks at the totality of the EHS requirements by combining campus needs with state and federal requirements and clearly communicating the shared policies and procedures.  Second, EHS identifies training needs and develops guidelines for the use of equipment, material and procedures.  Third, we ensure compliance with policies through evaluations, inspections, and committees.

 

It is the responsibility of faculty and students to understand health and safety policies relevant to their individual activities and to review MICA's Emergency Action Plan, as well as to participate in training, drills, etc.  It is also each faculty member's responsibility to coordinate with the EHS Office to ensure that all risks associated with their class activities are identified and to assure that their respective classroom procedures mirror the EHS and Academic Department guidelines. Each of the Academic Department's also publish EHS procedures and policies such as a dress code, the use of personal protective equipment, fire safety, training, and how to properly dispose of chemical waste.  Each of these policies and procedures must be followed by all students and faculty.  Most importantly, it is the responsibility of the faculty to review, test, and assess each student's awareness of basic safety procedures, such as evacuation routes, use of chemicals, fire prevention, and all other guidelines posted by the Environmental Health and Safety Office, (e.g., smoking policy, independent studio policies, pet policy, disposing of hazardous and chemical waste, etc).

 

To become a member of the Faculty EHS Committee or for any questions relating to EHS, please contact Denelle Bowser, EHS Manager, at dbowser@mica.edu or by calling 410.462.7593.  You can also visit the department online at www.mica.edu/ehs

 

 

Weekly Schedule

 

______________________________________________________________________________

 

Week 1

Introduction, Resource website, review syllabus, registration matters.

Googlegroup class setup.

 

Presentation by Exhibition Design Staff, Maryland Science Center on, Q/A,

 

 

****NEXT WEEK WE WILL MEET AT THE SCIENCE CENTER AT 4PM, PLEASE PLAN AHEAD!!!

 

 

>>IÕll need to invite all of you to join the group today...

 

 

 

 

 

Resources, Reference, Partners

 

Maryland Science Center Contacts:

 

>> Dr. Roberta Cooks: rcooks@mdsci.org

>> Patrick Rogan: patrogan@assemblenet.org

 

The Exploratorium

 

 

 

 

The National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research, UCSD >> Ruth West is on the AdvisorÕs Panel for the Exhibit.

 

 

Art & Science Collaborations, Inc.

 

Liz Lehrman Dance Exchange >> ferocious beauty

 

Assignment:

_______________________________________________________________________________

 

Week 2

 

****THIS WEEK WE WILL MEET AT THE SCIENCE CENTER AT 4PM, PLEASE PLAN AHEAD!!!

 

MEETING AT THE SCIENCE CENTER. 

 

 

 

___________________________________________________________________________

 

Week 3

 

****THIS WEEK WE WILL (AGAIN) MEET AT THE SCIENCE CENTER AT 4PM, PLEASE PLAN AHEAD!!!

 

MEETING AT THE SCIENCE CENTER. 

 

 

_______________________________________________________________________________

Weeks 4-7

 

Arduino:playground

Connecting the arduino to hardware and software

 

Arduino -> flash

 

(more) Arduino->flash

 

Each team will build a prototype for the exhibit.  Each prototype must include specific information on how it fits with the exhibit, who will do what, how much it will cost, etc.  These weeks will involve close work with museum staff team members, all correspondence among groups must copy james via the google group.  Clastime will be for working on projects.

 

Week 8

Prototype presentation to class and science staff.  Each prototype will be critted by class and science staff.  For class week 10 adjustments to prototype must be made to reflect crit comments.

 

Weeks 9-10

Prototype construction for placement in science center.

 

Weeks 11-13

Installation/Documentation at Science Center.  ***Schedule on-site documentation over the next two weeks.  Each team must have audio/video documentation of the prototype installed in the science center and in use and the science center, as well as documented discussions with users.

 

Week 14

Presentation of documentation (documentation must be a/v and @ 5-7mins., one copy goes to the Science Center, one copy goes to me, one copy goes to you).

 

Week 15

Deinstallation ÔpartyÕ (aka food and drinkÉ) at science center.