The Interdisciplinary Minor in Multimedia Arts

Co-Directors:

Robert Gonsalves, Electrical Engineering/Computer Science
David Locke

Program Description

Multimedia, the integration of textual, visual, sonic, and graphical information, furnishes an outstanding platform from which to integrate study and research in Electrical Engineering/Computer Science and the arts. Multimedia is an exciting contemporary mode of communication that facilitates interdisciplinary study by students from both the College of Engineering and the College of Liberal Arts. The minor encourages acquisition of (a) arts-and-humanities knowledge by engineers, and (b) engineering experience by liberal arts students. The Interdisciplinary Minor in Multimedia Arts develops transferable skills--project design and implementation, creativity, critical thinking, oral and written communication, team-work and leadership, interpersonal relation--that are relevant to many careers. All undergraduate students are encouraged to participate.

Requirements

The minor requires six credits comprising of five courses chosen from three different participating academic departments (Art and Art History, Drama/Dance, Electrical Engineering/Computer Science, and Music) and a thesis project (CIS 95-96). COMP 20 Multimedia Programming is required for the minor. One course must be selected from the list of multimedia arts courses offered by any participating department; check with participating departments for a current list. Two courses must be chosen from a list of related courses in the participating departments. The thesis, a capstone course required for the minor, shall be a multimedia project under the guidance of a faculty member in a participating department. Further details are available at the offices of a participating department.

A. Required Courses (two credits)

• COMP 20 - Multimedia Programming
  Introduces students to the capabilities and limits of tools for creating interactive multimedia presentations. This course is team taught by a member of the engineering department and the drama department. It provides a coherent view of the unique problems of creating an interactive multimedia document from the perspective of both the creative artist who defines the work as well as the Engineer who makes it possible.

  Course requirements include weekly lectures and hand-on laboratories. In addition each student will collaborate with one or more other students in creating a final project which is a polished interactive multimedia presentation, either an interactive CD or web document.

• CIS 95, CIS 96, or EE97 - Senior Thesis
  This course unites Arts and Engineering students in pursuing the common goal of producing a complete multimedia system. The project consists of integrating software, hardware and content focused on accomplishing a pre-determined task. For example, a project produced as a collaboration of musicians, engineers and engineering psychology majors introduces African drums and musical notation. The resulting CD-ROM entitled, "Gahu of the Ewe" was a finalist in the 1996 Massachusetts Interactive Media Council's (MIMC) Multimedia competition.

  The EPIIC Colloquium Course, EXP 91, also satisfies this requirement. Click here to see more of the CD-ROM project collaboration between engineering and liberal arts students involved in EPIIC.

B. Multimedia Arts Course (one credit)

• DR 21 - Computer Assisted Design

• DR 22 - Introduction to the Art of Multimedia

• EE120 - Computer Animation for Technical Communications"
  Students learn image processing, 2-D and 3-D animation techniques to communicate complex subjects or to enhance learning by using visual methods.

• FAH 189 - Multimedia and the Visual Arts

• MUS 191 - Multimedia Projects for Music-culture Research

• Approved courses in digital arts from the Museum of Fine Arts

C. Related Courses (two credits; half course credits may be bundled into one full credit)

• All Drama and Dance courses
  DRAMA:
  • Introduction to Acting
  • Principles of Theatrical Design
  • Advanced Acting
  • Principles of Staging
  DANCE:
  • Dance movement and Creative Process
  • Performance Ensemble
  • Studies in Dance Composition

• All Computer Science courses numbered 11 or above
  • Introduction to Computer Science (COMP11)
  • Data Structures using C++ (COMP15)
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Object Oriented Programming
  • Network and System Administration - A study of the principles and practice involved in creating a modern computer network.

• All Music Courses
  • Multimedia and Live Musical Ensembles
  • Fundamentals of Music Theory
  • Principles of Tonal Theory
  • Harmony and Voice Leading
  • Form and Analysis
  • Conducting
  • Seminar in Composition

• All Art and Art History Courses
  • Cartooning
  • Electronic/Computer Art
  • Film: Basic Film Making
  • Video Techniques

D. Elective Courses (one credit; half course credits may be bundled into one full credit)

• A course in category B or C

• An approved internship for credit