Course material for Interactive Media: Web, an undergraduate course taught at OCAD University over the following semesters:
- Fall of 2018
- Spring/Summer of 2019
- Spring/Summer of 2020 (Virtual)
- Winter of 2022
- Spring/Summer of 2024
- Location: 100 McCaul Street/Sharp Centre
- Instructor: Garry Ing, ging@ocadu.ca
Learn how to weave a range of online technologies into engaging interactive experiences. In this course, students will learn the basics of web technologies that are fundamental to building an online presence for any design project. Students will learn how to identify the current technologies underlying social media interfaces, mobile web applications that rely on browsers and apps. You will also gain an understanding of the fundamentals of markup languages (HTML, XML) as well as formatting (CSS) and client-side programming (JS). —OCAD U Course Catalogue, 2018
- Course content adapted from Ali S. Qadeer
- Source code is available under GNU General Public License v3.0
- Unless otherwise indicated, course content is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
12 classes are held in a regular semester. The following is based on the Fall 2018 semester and is meant to be an approximate guide as to when course content is presented.
Introduction to the course, our expectations and the gain a basic understanding of fundamental code-materiality of the web. Discussion prompt: What is one of your earliest memory of being online?
- Presentation: Module 1
- Assignment: Household Objects
- Reading: What Screens Want (Frank Chimero, November 2013)
A walkthrough and demonstration on fundamental aspects of structuring web documents and gain insights into the difference between form and function (Also framed as syntax and style).
- Presentation: Module 2
- Reading: J.R. Carpenter, Uniformagazine - issue five, January 2016)
Presentation and assignment on the basics of on-screen typography past and present as well as embedding, anatomy of a screen font, and discuss how screens affect our typographic practices.
- Presentation: Module 3
- Assignment: Variation on a Poster
A class devoted to playing with the fundamentals of web-based interaction via the JavaScript programming language and it's jQuery library.
- Presentation: Module 4
- Reading: Turing Complete User (Olia Lialina, October 2012)
Presentation and demonstration of jQuery and interacting with the document object model (DOM) before our Study Chapter.
- Presentation: Module 5
- Assignment: Interactive Typologies
- Reading: This Stands as a Sketch for the Future (David Reinfurt, July 2007)
In-class discussion of Turing Complete User, by Olia Lialina, and reviews of drafts for Interactive Typologies.
Review of the Interactive Typologies project and workshop session around using JavaScript, jQuery, and uploading work to OCAD University's Webspace.
Class review of Interactive Typologies assignment. Presentation, and deeper look into the possibilities of web experience by learning about responsive design, media queries & HTML5 variables.
- Presentation: Module 6
- Assignment: Variable Dimensions
- Reading: Scroll, Skim, Stare (Orit Gat, April 2016)
Presentation and demonstration around the design methodologies and possibilities of working with APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) as a means of creating novel experiences.
- Presentation: Module 7
- Assignment: Data Rivers, Streams, and Creeks
- Reading: Graphesis: Visual Forms of Knowledge Production (Johanna Drucker, July 2014)
Work session for the Data Rivers, Streams, and Creeks assignment and discussion around the final assignment, Collection of Collections.
Final work session for Data Rivers, Streams, and Creeks assignment. Review of the brief for the final assignment final assignment, Collection of Collections.
- Assignment: Collection of Collections
- Reading: My website is a shifting house next to a river of knowledge. What could yours be? (Laurel Schwulst, May 2018)
Brief discussion about Graphesis, by Johanna Drucker, and Database as a Symbolic Form, by Lev Manovich. Taking a look at a few offline, IRL, references for the final assignment, Collection of Collections.
- In Class Workshop: Module 8
Final class review of the assignment Collection of Collections. Construct, and sequence, the class webring WWWorkshop.