Requirements

You will complete weekly homework assignments and three projects over the course of the semester as well as assigned readings, reading responses, journal entries, in-class discussions, field trips, and critiques.  We meet less than four hours per week; plan on spending at least an equivalent amount of time on work for this course outside of class.  Preparation for and participation in discussions and critiques is essential. This course requires steady work and creative thinking.  Last-minute cramming will be evident in the quality of the work you produce, and shoddy work is disrespectful to your classmates, me, and above all, yourself.   

Projects

Your projects will consist of a still image, animation, and Web site project.  The Web site project will result from a semester-long engagement with tracing the origins of one meal and presenting that information in an engaging and informative way that incorporates the various multimedia forms we explore this semester.  This complex project will mimic closely the development process used in commercial production, and you’ll be asked to define a role prior to starting production and be required to meet particular benchmarks throughout to make sure that you are on track. Your grade will be based equally on the quality of the finished project, the thoroughness of your development stage, and the effectiveness of your specific contribution.

Homework

You will also be responsible for weekly technical homework assignments that we will not, due to limited in-class time, be able to critique as a group.  You should, however, take these assignments seriously and try to make them work in both a technical and a design sense.  I will give you a grade on these assignments each week and provide comments if it seems like you are struggling with the tools or design.  If a pattern of struggle becomes apparent, I will ask you to arrange for additional tutorials during my office hours.  You will turn in your homework assignments by placing them in the folder of your last name in the “Homework” folder on the class share on the server.  Please follow the following naming convention: yourlastname_techhomework01.ext.

Reading Responses

For each week in which we have a reading from The Omnivore’s Dilemma, you are required to write a 1-2 page reading response in short essay form.  In three or more paragraphs, identify a particular theme that was meaningful or provocative to you and discuss why you agree or disagree with it.  At the end of your reading response, you must write three intelligent discussion questions that you may be asked to share with the class.  Reading responses are due the same day that the reading due unless otherwise noted.

Creative Notebook

You will maintain a creative notebook over the course of the semester in which you will complete journal entries; take notes on the readings; clip and paste visual material from nature, art, and popular culture; and make thumbnail sketches and storyboards of your project ideas.  An average creative notebook will include notes and sketches on all assignments and evidence of thoughtful completion of journal entries.  A superlative sound journal will demonstrate an ongoing curiosity about the course material and continued investigations into design and the visual culture of food beyond the required journal entries and sketches.  You are required to purchase a bound, unlined journal or sketchbook for this purpose; in the likely event that several classes have the same requirement or that you also use your book as a personal diary, please create and clearly label a specific section for this course. The creative notebook will be reviewed at midterm and graded at the end of the semester.  I will not accept lined notebooks or unbound pages as a creative notebook, and if you attempt to turn such a thing in, you will get zero points.

Field Trips

This course entails two field trips that will be scheduled outside of regular class time.  You MUST attend at least one of these field trips; extra credit will be available to those who attend a second.  Field trip dates and destination will be announced at least a month in advance to allow working students to make arrangements in their schedules.

Attendance