Principles of Digital Media

ME9HP

Staff

• Chris Lane - Module Convenor• Anne Robinson - Part time

lecturer• Sally Mould - Part time lecturer

Module Aims To provide students with a detailed

understanding of the contexts and practices of multimedia;

To introduce them to the production of a multimedia project;

To develop awareness of the communicative possibilities of multimedia.

Outline of Syllabus• Introduction to the module• History and development of digital media

technology• Overview of digital media tools• Theorising digital media - identity,

community, gender and race• The digital divide - regional and global

perspectives• Digital Media - concentrations of

ownership and independent production

Syllabus - continued• Theorising digital media -

communication, narrative and interaction

• Market trends in digital media applications and services

• Digital media, design, creativity and aesthetics

• Careers in digital media

Syllabus - continued• Overview of Photoshop Environment

and Tools• Understanding image resolution,

mode and size• Introduction to Using Photoshop

Creatively• Painting Tools• Using Layers• Working with selections and paths

Syllabus - continued• Masks and Alpha Channels• Compositing• Working with type in layers• Filters• Image Ready• Automation of actions• Creating interaction

Learning outcomes:

• On successful completion of this module post-graduate students will be able to:

Assess and select the appropriate tools to produce a multimedia project;

Create a small multimedia project; Critically analyse the current issues

and future developments in multimedia and electronic publishing

Teaching and learning methods:

• Teaching methods include lectures and on-line interactive learning material, tutorials, seminar discussions and computer lab sessions. Students will be expected to attend lectures and take part into on-line activities as well as comment on their readings.

Assessment instruments:

• a) An interactive image series presented on CDROM (Weighting 50%)

• b) A 2,000 word essay critically assessing the context of multimedia developments (Weighting 50%).

• Coursework deadline: January 13 2003

Study hours:

• Students will study for a total of 150 hours on this module made up in the following way:– Timetabled lectures, seminars and workshops: 30

hours

– Self-directed study, including Online work: 78 hours

– Preparation for assessment: 37 hours

– Private review of assessment after receiving feedback: 5 hours.

What is digital media? 1.

• A new means of media production

• A new kind of medium that allows the user to interact

What is digital media 2.

?

Maths

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Collection of academic theoretical traditions

• Sociology• Computer Science• Philosophy• Design

Technology

A method for storing, transmitting and reproducing information

Lifestyle

• http://www.nokia.com/speechless/main.html

Software

Political force

Bodily transcendence

Driver of creativity

Historical period

Industrial sector

http://www.apple.com/creative/

Economic paradigm

Genre in story telling

Set of media production tools

Distribution system

New medium

Interactive multimedia

Bits (rather than atoms)

What is digital media? 3.

• Not analogue media• So what is analogue media?

Analogue information is …• Continuous• Stored as a physical arrangement of

atoms that have an analogous relationship to the original information

Digital information is …• Quantised• symbolic• Sometimes stored through the

presence or otherwise of an electical charge in an atom

• Sometimes as an arrangement of atoms where the arrangement has only a symbolic reference to the original information

Visual qualities of Analogue and Digital

• Analogue– Noise and distortion– Continuity– Deterioration on reproduction

• Digital– Quantisation– Pixelation– Resolution

Analogue wave

Digitised wave

Digitised wave - higher resolution

Digitised wave - even higher resolution

Digitised wave - even higher resolution

Photoshop for beginners

• Starting a new image• Painting• Rubbing out

Photoshop for more experienced students

• Using filters to emulate digital and analogue visual language

• Mosaic filter (a digital effect• Noise filter

The brief for today• Create a self portrait using

photoshop’s painting toolsor• Create a self portrait using

photoshop’s painting tools, image’s taken from the web and filters to emulate visual attributes of bother digital and analogue images

Twenty minutes before the end of the session

• Show each other what you have made

• Take a look in the other rooms

Recommended reading• NEGROPONTE, N. (1995). Being Digital. Random

House.• TANNEBAUM R. (1998). Theoretical Foundations

of Multimedia. W.H. Freeman and Company.• CHAPMAN, N. & CHAPMAN, J. (2000). Digital

Multimedia. John Wiley & Sons.• PLANT. Sadie. (1997). Zeros and ones : digital

women and the new technoculture. Fourth Estate.

• Weinmann, E. Lourekas, P. (2002). Photoshop 7 for Windows & Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide, Peachpit.