Honors College
Design Cultures + Creativity
University of Maryland, College Park
Fall 2011
HDCC 105
Team taught with Krista Caballero, Evan Golub, Leah Flake
This required introduction to the Digital Cultures and Creativity program will examine the history of creative digital expression from the invention of computers in the mid-20th century through the “Web 2.0” landscape of today (and beyond). This is part one of a two-course sequence that will be completed by all DCC students during their first year. You will learn to use new media technologies, explore the cultural context in which they were first imagined, and explore examples of creative works that exploit the unique opportunities the digital medium offers. Historical and theoretical insights will be applied by actively considering issues of ethics, aesthetics, and community as they are manifest in the contemporary globalized cultures of the Web, including popular social networking sites such as YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter, virtual worlds such as Second Life, computer games, and online reference tools such as Wikipedia. This will be coupled with a practical introduction – also to be continued in the second semester – to developing new tools and applications for platforms such as PCs or phones or tablet computers. This team-taught course is therefore aggressively interdisciplinary, coupling hands-on experimentation with a curriculum designed to focus awareness on the historical, theoretical, and cultural contexts in which digital creativity happens.