Graduate Viewbook 2008-2009 - The New School

collaBoration studio
collaboration studios are courses that team students with industry
partners to undertake real-world projects. Many are crossdisciplinary
and dedicated to applied design research areas at
the new school. past partners include curious pictures, the open
society studio, scholastic, human rights watch, franklin furnace,
the new Museum, unicef, the port authority of new york and new
Jersey, and the american symphony orchestra league. Media
range from mobile wireless applications, games, digital film, animation,
websites, cd dVds and kiosks to experimental installations.
described below are examples of recent collaboration studios.
scholastic learning lab is sponsored by the lab for informal
learning, a research and ideation group at scholastic. students
create a design brief and conceptual prototype for one of two
concepts aimed at children between 6 and 12 years old: the energy
game and Monster Quest. the energy game is a multiplayer, webdelivered,
turn-based strategy game that exposes elementary
and middle school students to energy policy politics and science.
Monster Quest is a user-generated content website for children
focused on avatar creation and social networks.
internet famous is dedicated to spreading work on the internet,
getting hits, and attracting web media attention. custom tracking
software, currently in development at the eyebeam openlab, is
released in beta form to students. sites like digg, del.icio.us, alexa,
youtube, and technorati are mined for data to deliver a single
bulk index of internet fame. students study successful contagious
media projects to increase their chances of making work spread
contagiously. grades are awarded algorithmically on the basis of
web popularity.
Jazz and animation gives students the opportunity to work with
illustrators, communication designers, and musicians to create both
live and recorded animation to accompany the music of contributing
jazz composers and performers. students work with a variety of
analog and digital technologies, ranging from Max Msp and Jitter
to drawn cel animation and lighting and staging effects.
supernormal futures students work with graduate architecture students
to envision future scenarios that challenge our sense of what
“normal” will be. extrapolating from existing technologies, students
model and prototype critical responses to the present by designing
scenarios of and objects from the future.
44 DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY
newschool.edu/parsons
More electiVes
Physical Computing connects the
physical and the digital, investigating
physicality and interface with respect
to the computer and exploring related
analog and digital technology.
Geek Graffiti Graffiti, street-art, guerrilla
marketing, and other technologybased
urban projects are explored in
collaboration with the Wooster
Collective, an arts group in New York.
Narrative and Dynamic Systems looks
closely at the mechanics of storytelling
within interactive fictions, exploring
connections between technology and
narrative experience.
Game Design is an introduction to
games as formal, social, and cultural
systems, emphasizing rapid prototyping
and play-testing of game concepts
and introducing game analysis and
production.
Mike Edwards
Student
design and technology