MEDIA 717

Ubiquitous Media

Please note: this is archived course information from 2019 for MEDIA 717.

Description

This course takes advances in both media technology and computation to address the development and future direction of fully mediated environments or, given the widespread distribution of algorithms that automate them, what we might call robotic environments.

What is variously called "ubiquitous computing" (Ubicomp), "pervasive computing", or "ambient computing"—leading to the derived concepts of ubiquitous, pervasive or ambient media—explore developments in new interfaces, sensor and tagging technology as well as new forms of digital communication, connectivity, data storage and the ubiquitous presence of code to consider the implications of intelligent, personalised, synchronised, multi-user environments.

The first part of the course will introduce some of the central researchers in this relatively new area of academic and corporate endeavour to draw out the central questions that need to be addressed in this new media ecology. The second part of the course explores some of the most pressing issues of our time, namely the phenomenon of big data and the use of algorithms; the growth in robotic technologies; artificial intelligence; and data mining, prediction and surveillance.

The course will also interrogate the relation between the human and the technical as we increasingly defer operations, cognitive functions, social relations and memory to these new robotic devices and environments. The course addresses the problem of increased technological embodiment and technological embeddedness that are essential for any understanding of ubiquitous media.

Availability 2019

Semester 2

Lecturer(s)

Lecturer(s) Professor Neal Curtis
Associate Professor Luke Goode

Points

MEDIA 717: 30 points

Restrictions

FTVMS 717