ECS 89 – Introduction to Media Computation

Description

Media computation involves understanding both how media are represented in the computer and how they are manipulated and generated programmatically.  This course introduces students who may have no background in programming to simple programs with clear graphical output, written in Processing.  Processing is a computer language designed for artists that provides a simplified yet powerful interface.  By first manipulating sample programs, students learn the connection between the commands and the generated output. They will then move towards developing their own programs for manipulating and generating media. Students will also study how media – images, sound and movies – are represented, stored and transmitted in/by computers.  This gives students a solid basis for understanding digital media.  More generally, it introduces them to how computational processes operate.

Required Supplies

Storage media for backing up work (flash drive, etc.).  PLEASE BACKUP YOUR WORK OFTEN.

Reference Material

There is a required textbook:

Learning Processing: A Beginner's Guide to Programming Images, Animation, and Interaction  by Daniel Shiffman

In addition, there are a number of great online resources

• www.processing.org  Download processing, find the definitive reference, search tutorials – this site is a great resource.
• http://www.learningprocessing.com/ This is the website that accompanies the book.  It also offers lots of code examples, tutorials, etc.
• Lecture slides will be placed online.

Meeting Times

Class Sessions:  Tues. and Thurs. 4:40-6:00, 290 Hickey.

Office Hours:  W 11-12 or by appointment

Get Help!

There are a number of resources for getting help during the course:

• Discussion Forum:  There is an online discussion forum available through smartsite.  There will be separate sections for general questions and each assignment.  Please post all non-private questions here.  The forum will be monitored by the instructor and TA, so you will get a response from one of us and/or your fellow students.
• Labs:  Ask the TA and tutors questions on your work.
• Office hours:  Come by for help with course material.

Contact Information

Instructor:

Michael Neff

Kemper Hall 3031

mpneff  AT ucdavis  DOT edu  (preferred) 

530-754-9510

Please only e-mail the instructor about private matters.  All other questions should be posted to the discussion forum.

Teaching Assistant:

Zehra Shah

zshah AT ucdavis DOT edu

Labs

Students are expected to attend a one hour lab session every week (first week is optional).  Most weeks there will be a short assignment in the lab and the rest of the time will be to work on and get help with your assignments.  There will be both a TA and tutors available in the lab, so look for any of Zehra, Jackson or Iqbal for help.  Lab assignments are based on the first letter of your last name.  If you have a conflict, please e-mail the instructor for reassignment.

Last Name Starts with:	Your lab:
A-H	W 10-11am 2060 SciLab
J-N	F 1-2pm 2060 SciLab - Except for Fri 3/8
O-Z	F 2-3pm 2060 SciLab - Except for Fri 3/8

Advice

A few things to keep in mind that will help your assignments go smoothly:

• Make multiple backups.  “I lost my flash drive.” is not an acceptable excuse for not handing in your assignment!  Keep a copy on your home computer, e-mail it to yourself, etc.  Also version your files.  Add an index number to the end of a file name that you increment when you make substantial changes.  This will allow you to go back to an earlier version if/when you break something.
• Things will break.  This is OK and perfectly normal.  Even very experienced programmers often have bugs in their code the first time they write it.  Just allow yourself plenty of time to get the assignments done.  It often takes much more time to find and fix bugs than to write a program in the first place.
• Please follow submission instructions carefully.
• Have fun!

Grading

This course will be letter graded.  The distribution of marks will be as follows:

Course Component	Weight
A1	5%
A2	10%
A3	10%
A4	10%
A5	10%
A6	15%
Lab Assignments	5%
Midterm	15%
Final	20%

Note:  For the last five assignments, students are invited to submit a one page summary that describes what you were trying to achieve, how you went about it and possibly what you feel did or did not work.  This will be considered when evaluating your piece.

Late Policy

All assignments must be submitted on time or they will receive a grade of zero.  To deal with any personal issues that may come up (illness, family matter), every student is given two extension days that they can apply towards a deadline.  Only whole days can be used (i.e. for any assignment you can use 0, 1 or 2 days, adding to a maximum of 2 over the entire course).  Save them until you need them.  Extension days cannot be used with the final assignment.  This must be presented in class as scheduled.