DMS 155. Intro to New Media: New Media Ecologies (Spring 2012)
While in contemporary media theory the word “ecology” typically refers to an abstracted network of interactions between humans and their technologies, this course suggests another, broader application of the term, which places (new) media technologies in the broader context of regional (and global) ecological systems. This course will use regionally significant contemporary issues including watershed activism, land preservation, climate change, pollution and waste storage, and the emerging food justice movement, as well as the diverse artistic practices associated with terms like “tactical media,” “experimental geography,” “new genre public art,” and “social sculpture” as a lens through which to explore new media production tools such as Photoshop and Illustrator (or their open-source analogs, Gimp and Inkscape), basic HTML and CSS, the free and open-source audio editing tool Audacity, and content management platforms like WordPress and Drupal, as well as other tools as interest and time allows.