Topic outline

    • The Media Culture and Theory will give opportunity to students to get familiar with diverse theoretical frameworks that explore some of the ongoing debates regarding media, technology and society. Within the interdisciplinary characteristic of our fields and based on the research interests represented in the department, the course will explore several related topics; Learning, Memory, Embodied Interaction, Visual Thinking and Game Culture. The seminar will deal with these topics through the areas of intersection between different dimensions of human agency and new technological/social practices in art and design context. We are interested in highlighting and discussing differences between modalities (sound vs. image); representation (video vs. graphics).

      The course begins with the Memory module which provides introductions to the topic as well as a brief survey of Critical media Theory. We explore how media's practices have contributed to expanding and changing the concept of Memory and how this in turn has had a transforming effect in media creation. The idea with the Embodied Interaction module here is to understand designing interactions from the embodied perspective, focusing on the physicality of the body, positioning the body at the center of interaction as the active component for creating meaning and aesthetics of the experience. Recent developments and the use of enhanced technologies will be starting point for the discussions in Learning module. At the same time, visual representation and its ways of thinking in media practices will be examined in detail during the Visual Thinking module. The module on Game Culture explores the multiple ways in which game design techniques can be applied to media and technology and everyday life as a way to conduct meaningful individual and social practices. At end of the course, students will have a broader perspective of these fields, and tools to develop their own critical perspective to theory and practice that is grounded in critical notions of the new media.