MA in Interactive Media

Core course: Practical Methods

This course promotes a critical attitude to media; its systems, and its ecologies. We will use a series of defamiliarisation techniques to create an environment where media becomes strange again and thus a site of experimentation.

The practical methods employed are not illustrations of the theoretical, just as the theory is not a simple distillation of the practical. Our methods will become tangible speculations, prods and pokes into the mediasystems that reassemble, block, or make possible our worlds.

Your learning will be self-directed within a group environment. You will need to be totally curious and open. You will formulate questions, based on your curiosities, that are answerable through research. You will foster the ability to perceive yourself objectively and accept feedback from others about personal performance non-defensively. We encourage you to constantly diagnose your own learning needs â identifying experiences and human, material, resources to accomplish the tasks you set yourself.

Term 1 - Experimenting, information gathering, research
Lectures and seminars will focus on diverse topics of new media such as the confluence of media and culture and their relationships within social systems, different levels of perception in cultural narratives, the production and distribution of culture, etc. Lab sessions will be dedicated to the development of small projects and the teaching of technical skills. Visiting tutors might occasionally collaborate with lecturers or workshops.

Term 2 - Concept and development
Lectures and seminars will focus on topics of emerging interests, closely related to the students' fields of research. Lab sessions and tutorials will be dedicated to the conceptualisation and development of your minor project. Visiting tutors might occasionally collaborate with workshops, according to your needs and interests. Deadline - minor practical project and accompanying notes: typically mid May.

Term 3 - Final show and Dissertation
Lab sessions and tutorials will be dedicated to the development of your final project, focusing on the ability to bind together the different contextual and technological levels involved in the process. Visiting tutors might occasionally collaborate with workshops, according to your needs and interests. The planning and implementation of the final show will also be part of your activities.

Deadline - Show at end of July. Dissertation at end of September (for details see 'Dissertation' below).