Elsevier

Computers & Graphics

Volume 27, Issue 3, June 2003, Pages 361-368
Computers & Graphics

What do computers eat? Teaching beginners to think critically about technology and art

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0097-8493(03)00031-1Get rights and content

Abstract

This paper presents new curriculum for an introductory course in art and technology. Here students compare the software industry with fast food to investigate and critique patterns of consumption in our culture. Relevant readings, assignments, and tutorials can be found online at http://www.tiffanyholmes.com/fundamentals.

Introduction

Educators face a tremendous challenge in striking the proper balance between technique, craft, and theoretical knowledge in an introductory course in the media arts. What kind of curriculum might orient a beginning class to the complicated history and cultural significance of both hardware and software while simultaneously teaching enough technological skills to allow students to create art works with substantive meaning and content?

This paper presents an undergraduate course curriculum developed in the Art and Technology Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In “Fundamentals of Art With Technology”, students debate the similarities and differences between the fast food industry and the software business to gain a critical understanding of the forces that define patterns of consumption in our culture. The following sections discuss the motivation and structure behind the “Fundamentals” curriculum: pedagogical issues in digital media, overview of the first class, summary of eight instructional modules, detailed synopsis of links between technical tutorials and theoretical discussion, responses to the final project, and student evaluation of the course.

Section snippets

Pedagogical issues facing digital media instructors

For the last 6 years, I have been teaching introductory and advanced classes in digital imaging and multimedia authoring at art schools, first in Baltimore, then Ann Arbor, and now Chicago. Of the two or three course syllabi I prepare each fall, the most difficult by far is the introductory class plan. At the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, this course offering [1], called “Fundamentals of Art with Technology”, orients students to the “concepts of electronic media, perception,

First class meeting

The semester begins with a field trip to McDonalds. Our guide leads us through a whole world of gadgets designed to automate production of every menu item from the multi-layered Big Mac to the flawlessly blended McFlurry. Breathless with the excitement of a surprise outing, students compare notes about newly computerized cooking techniques—the sure-fire way to eliminate unwanted nasties like salmonella, E. coli, and other dangerous pathogens from the beloved burger. Back in the classroom,

Conclusion

While some reading selections and study assignments will change, I plan to teach the Fundamentals class using the theme of fast food to spark interest and generate meaningful critique of the software industry and its products. Admittedly, the business of fast food is an arbitrary choice—interchangeable in some ways with other industries dependent on public taste and convenience. The comparison might not work as well in a different context. In downtown Chicago, we are all but surrounded by the

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the Art and Technology faculty at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for supporting this curricular initiative.

Tiffany Holmes is a multimedia artist whose practice blends traditional materials and new media in large-scale interactive installations. Her work explores the relationship between digital technology and culture with an emphasis on technologies of seeing. Her recent work explores the movement of both human and animal bodies and the visual languages from different disciplines used to capture that movement. She exhibits and lectures in international and national venues, including the J. Paul

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Tiffany Holmes is a multimedia artist whose practice blends traditional materials and new media in large-scale interactive installations. Her work explores the relationship between digital technology and culture with an emphasis on technologies of seeing. Her recent work explores the movement of both human and animal bodies and the visual languages from different disciplines used to capture that movement. She exhibits and lectures in international and national venues, including the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Interaction ’01 biennial in Japan, ISEA, SIGGRAPH 2000, World@rt in Denmark, Digital Salon ’99 in New York and Madrid, and the Viper media festival in Switzerland.

With a diverse academic background in painting, animation, and biology, Holmes situates her work at the intersection between artistic, biomedical, and linguistic modes of bodily representation. To promote her interdisciplinary artistic practice, the Society of Fellows at the University of Michigan awarded Holmes a prestigious 3-year fellowship. With a BA in art history from Williams College, Holmes received an MFA in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art and an MFA in digital arts from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Art and Technology at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she teaches courses in interactivity and the history and theory of electronic media.

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