New Media
Graduate Division
Program Office: 426 Sutardja Dai Hall, (510) 495-3505
Director: Greg Niemeyer, MFA (Department of Practice of Art)
Program Website: Berkeley Center for New Media
Overview
The Berkeley Center for New Media (BCNM) is a focal point for research and teaching about new media, led by a highly trans-disciplinary community of 120 affiliated faculty, advisers, and scholars, from 35 UC Berkeley departments, including Architecture, Philosophy, Film Studies, Art History, Performance Studies, and Music; the Schools of Engineering, Information, Journalism, and Law; and the Berkeley Art Museum. BCNM is located at a global center for design and information technology and based in a public research university known for alternative thinking.
Our mission is to critically analyze and help shape developments in new media from cross-disciplinary and global perspectives that emphasize humanities and the public interest.
All media (Latin for "middle elements") facilitate transformation: by definition, media are transformative. From the stone tablet to the printing press to the Internet, media have become increasingly reconfigurable. The value of a medium is often related to its capacity for reconfiguration. To claim a medium as "new" is to posit a meaningful improvement over prior media. Thus new media are highly reconfigurable and doubly transformative: they achieve a transformation of prior modes of transformation.
New media often produce new perceptions, new behaviors, and new insights, yet new media remain deeply rooted in powerful aesthetic, cultural, and political forces. As media transform, they often distort. Sophocles observed, "Nothing vast enters the life of mortals without a curse." BCNM actively engages scholars who critically examine the opportunities and risks associated with new media and who consider how new media can constructively benefit education, political engagement, privacy, and aesthetic experience.
BCNM catalyzes research, educates future leaders, and facilitates public discourse through courses, lectures, symposia, and special events. BCNM has established cross-disciplinary faculty positions and a special program for PhD students. The BCNM supports academic modes of scholarship while encouraging unorthodox artworks, designs, and experiments. By reaching out to students, researchers, industry figures, and the broader public, BCNM stimulates new perspectives on contemporary new media.
Graduate Programs
Designated Emphasis (DE)
BCNM's designated emphasis is for selected students from any Berkeley doctoral program. It provides enhanced skills in analyzing and/or designing future media with an awareness of historical, social, cultural, and other perspectives that might not be visible from any single disciplinary point of view. Students take three core courses—(1) Theory and History of New Media, (2) Questioning New Media, and (3) Methods of New Media – to fulfill their breadth requirements in the areas of humanities, art/design, and technology. Students must also enroll in two elective courses that significantly deal with new media. Students completing the PhD program receive the designation "in New Media" on their diplomas.
Graduate Certificate
Designed to enhance interdisciplinary graduate studies at UC Berkeley, the Graduate Certificate Program emphasizes critical understanding of the nature and implications of new media, broadly conceived, drawing on theories and methodologies from across the disciplinary spectrum—the arts, the humanities and social sciences, and science and engineering. The Graduate Certificate in New Media provides students with an introduction to the different facets of new media research and an ensuing competitive edge for some of the most desirable jobs in industry and academia. Affiliation with the New Media faculty and student community may enhance opportunities for innovative and collaborative research.
The Graduate Certificate in New Media serves as an adjunct to existing master’s degree-granting programs. Upon successful completion of all requirements, you will receive a certificate with the designation: “Graduate Certificate Program in New Media.” This designation certifies that you have participated in, and successfully completed, a Certificate Program in New Media in addition to your home department’s requirements for the master’s degree. The award of the certificate will also be posted to your transcript.
For information regarding curricula and program requirements, please see the program's website .
NWMEDIA 150AC New Media and American Cultures 4 Units
Department: New Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 to 4 hours of lecture/discussion per week. 7 to 9 hours of lecture/discussion per week for 6 weeks. 5 to 7 hours of lecture/discussion per week for 8 weeks. 4 to 6 hours of lecture/discussion per week for 10 weeks.
This course studies the influence of new media on various cultures in the U.S. and/or the influence of American cultures on new media. Topics vary by semester. Check current Schedule of Classes or Berkeley Center for New Media web site for current course offerings (bcnm.berkeley.edu).
Satisfies the American Cultures requirement
Course may be repeated for credit as topic varies. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
NWMEDIA 190 Special Topics in New Media 1 - 4 Units
Department: New Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 1 to 4 hours of lecture/seminar per week. 1.5 hours to 6 hours of lecture/seminar per week for 10 weeks. 1.5 hours to 7.5 hours of lecture/seminar per week for 8 weeks. 5 to 15 hours of lecture/seminar per week for 3 weeks.
See Schedule of Classes for current section offerings. Topics deal with new media and related issues.
Course may be repeated for credit as topic varies. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
NWMEDIA 198 Directed Group Study 1 - 3 Units
Department: New Media
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Offered for pass/not pass grade only.
Hours and format: 3 hours of work per unit per week.
Prerequisites: Upper division standing.
Course may be student-intitated or initiated by a faculty affiliate of the Center for New Media. The subject matter will vary from semester to semester. Student initiated courses will be taught by a student facilitator under the supervision of the faculty sponsor, who must be a faculty affiliate of the Berkeley Center for New Media.
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes. Enrollment is restricted; see the Introduction to Courses and Curricula section of this catalog.
NWMEDIA 200 History and Theory of New Media 4 Units
Department: New Media
Course level: Graduate
Term course may be offered: Spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 4 hours of Seminar per week for 15 weeks.
Prerequisites: Graduate standing or consent of instructor. Required for all students in the Designated Emphasis in New Media.
This course provides a broad historical and theoretical background for new media production and practice. The class will map out theoretical approaches from different disciplines and allow graduate students to discuss and apply them to their own research projects.
NWMEDIA 201 Questioning New Media 3 Units
Department: New Media
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 2 hours of conference paper/workshop presentation every other week.
Prerequisites: Graduate standing or consent of instructor. Required of all students in the Designated Emphasis in New Media.
Held in conjunction with the Art, Technology, and Culture Colloquium which brings internationally-known speakers to campus to present their work on advanced topics in new media: http://atc.berkeley.edu. Students will enhance skills in questioning new media: how to think critically about new media, how to use new media resources to research pioneering work in new media, how to form incisive questions about new media, and how to evaluate and create effective presentations on topics in new media.
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes. Instructor: Goldberg
NWMEDIA 202 New Media Methods 3 Units
Department: New Media
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of seminar per week. 5 hours of seminar per week for 10 weeks. 6 hours of seminar per week for 8 weeks. 9 hours of seminar per week for 6 weeks.
In this methods course we will study key languages of new media innovation, ranging from flow charts to scripting languages and circuit diagrams. Our study method involves the creation and application of sensing devices in an urban context, and engages students in establishing chains of references which connect ground truth to data, data to information, information to people, people to actions, and actions to policies. Taking into account technical, political, cultural and literacy questions we seek to connect our data production work with information needs of underserved communities in the Bay Area region.
NWMEDIA C262/INFO C262 Theory and Practice of Tangible User Interfaces 4 Units
Department: Center for New Media; Information
Course level: Graduate
Term course may be offered: Fall
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Lecture and 1 hour of Laboratory per week for 15 weeks.
This course explores the theory and practice of Tangible User Interfaces, a new approach to Human Computer Interaction that focuses on the physical interaction with computational media. The topics covered in the course include theoretical framework, design examples, enabling technologies, and evaluation of Tangible User Interfaces. Students will design and develop experimental Tangible User Interfaces using physical computing prototyping tools and write a final project report.
Instructor: Ryokai
NWMEDIA C263/INFO C263 Technologies for Creativity and Learning 3 Units
Department: Center for New Media; Information
Course level: Graduate
Term course may be offered: Spring
Grading: Letter grade.
How does the design of new educational technology change the way people learn and think? How do we design systems that reflect our understanding of how we learn? This course explores issues on designing and evaluating technologies that support creativity and learning. The class will cover theories of creativity and learning, implications for design, as well as a survey of new educational technologies such as works in computer supported collaborative learning, digital manipulatives, and immersive learning environments.
Students will receive no credit for Information C263/New Media C263 after taking Information 290/New Media 290 section 2 spring 12 only. Instructor: Ryokai
NWMEDIA C265/INFO C265 Interface Aesthetics 2 Units
Department: Center for New Media; Information
Course level: Graduate
Term course may be offered: Spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 2 hours of Lecture per week for 15 weeks.
This course will cover new interface metaphors beyond desktops (e.g., for mobile devices, computationally enhanced environments, tangible user interfaces) but will also cover visual design basics (e.g., color, layout, typography, iconography) so that we have systematic and critical understanding of aesthetically engaging interfaces. Students will get a hands-on learning experience on these topics through course projects, design critiques, and discussions, in addition to lectures and readings.
Instructor: Ryokai
NWMEDIA 290 Special Topics in New Media 1 - 4 Units
Department: New Media
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 1 to 4 hours of lecture/seminar per week. 1.5 to 4.5 hours of lecture/seminar per week for 10 weeks. 1.5 to 7.5 hours of lecture/seminar per week for 8 weeks. 5 to 15 hours of lecture/seminar per week for 3 weeks.
See Schedule of Classes for current section offerings. Topics deal with new media and related issues.
Course may be repeated for credit as topic varies. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
NWMEDIA 299 Individual Study or Research 1 - 4 Units
Department: New Media
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 1 to 4 hour of Independent study per week for 15 weeks. 1.5 to 7.5 hours of Independent study per week for 8 weeks.
Individual study or research with Center for New Media- affiliated faculty. This course provides the opportunity to search out and study in detail subjects unavailable in the ordinary course offerings. Unit credit will reflect conparable work per unit as regular courses, and will include both meetings with faculty sponsor and independent work.
Course may be repeated for credit as topic varies. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
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