COURSE DESCRIPTION/OBJECTIVES

NM 374: New Media Research is structured (in conjunction with NM 374: New Media Production) to expand the worldview of UNC Asheville students majoring in new media, art, art history, and music. We will accomplish this through immersion in a media arts themed study program to Belgium and Netherlands -- neighboring European countries with over four decades of deeply-rooted histories in the media arts at cultural and institutional levels. Cinema, video art, photography, computer-generated art, internet art, hacktivist art, and experimental music/sound art all factor significantly in these artistic communities and institutions. Our program uses the subject of the media arts to explore our host countries of Belgium and the Netherlands.

NM374 it is interdisciplinary in quality and naturally transposes as a creative catalyst for students in multiple disciplines. As a 4 hour course, NM 374: New Media Research is comprised of relevant theoretical readings and resultant written research. Its companion 4 hour course (NM 474: New Media Production) is comprised of the rendering of written research in the form of a creative media project.

Note: This course fulfills the university's Arts requirement.

This course is Writing Intensive, which means writing is an essential component of this course. You will read and be exposed to various multi-disciplinary perspectives. Writing is an integral tool which will allow you to better comprehend and assimilate these perspectives. Through your writing, you will develop and explore original insights regarding new media and its relation to contemporary culture. Research, thinking, and written expression are intrinsically related.

Note: The University Writing Center (UWC), located on the main floor of Ramsey Library (room 136), offers support to writers in 45-minute, one-on-one sessions. UWC consultations are highly recommended but not required. The UWC helps writers: brainstorm; find a topic; incorporate and document sources; organize their drafts; develop revision strategies; and more. If you visit the UWC, take a copy of your assignment, any drafting or notes you may have, as well as any sources you're working with. To find out more about UWC services, visit their web page at unca.edu/uwc. To schedule an appointment, call 251-6596 or stop by in person during open hours.

Student Learning Objectives
In this course you will:

• expand their understanding and cultural context for media art to include an international community of artists.
• experience the art and meet artists working within vibrant communities that blend imaginative applications of technology with artistic concepts.
• make new connections between artistic disciplines and further develop a personal and specific hybridity in their own media research practice.
• discover and relate new art, artists, and media theories to their own media research practice through relevant readings that will inform a larger research paper which will be completed during the summer following the trip.
• develop cultural competency and become more sensitive to cultural subtleties.
• understand the ways in which art, media and culture affect each other and society.

Required Materials:
Bulldog email account -- check regularly
Student web hosting space (for posting work)
Flash drive, notebook or sketchbook, graph paper, pencils, and pens