This page lists the schedule of topics, readings, and assignment due dates for the course. This schedule will be updated throughout the semester: any changes will be announced in class and on the course website.
For class meetings where a reading is listed, make sure you have done the reading before you come to class. Also note that there are suggestions regarding when to start some of the readings.
The agendas for each day will include some notes about the day’s topic and activity, and may also include discussion questions. Please read each agenda before you come to class. Keep in mind that the agenda will usually include things you need to do to prepare for the day’s activity: these will be indicated with the following “get ready” graphic:
It is very important that you do all of the “get ready” tasks before you come to class!
In the readings, LP is the textbook (Learning Processing). For other readings, see list below.
Topic codes:
- SC Success curriculum
- VA Visual art
- MU Music
- DH Digital humanities
- PS Science
- PH Physical computing
| Date | Topic | Activity | Agenda | Due | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 29 | SC | First day | Day 1 | Assignment 0 | — |
| Aug 31 | SC | Discussion: expectations for college Team project intro |
Day 2 | — | NYTEd30Jul15, Lahey15 |
| Sep 5 | VA | Lab 1: Drawing with Processing | Day 3 | — | Start Noll67 LP, Chapters 1–2 |
| Sep 7 | VA | Lab 2: Repetition | Day 4 | — | — |
| Sep 12 | VA | Lab 3: Animation | Day 5 | — | — |
| Sep 14 | SC | Being an engaged learner Important: class meets in Weinstock Lecture Hall, Willman Business Center |
Day 6 | A3 outline | — |
| Sep 19 | VA | On-Campus Resources (mini-lesson) Lab 4: Generative Art |
Day 7 | A2 (project proposal) | LP, Chapters 3–4 ShiffmanNOCCh8 |
| Sep 21 | VA | Computers and art discussion | Day 8 | A3 draft | Noll67 |
| Sep 26 | MU | Lab 5: Drum and bass | Day 9 | — | Start IAMUSDocumentary, Guardian1Jul12, and 0musicPlaylist |
| Sep 28 | MU | Lab 6: Melodies | Day 10 | — | — |
| Oct 3 | MU | Lab 7: Sample playback | Day 11 | — | — |
| Oct 5 | MU | Computers and music discussion Organization (mini-lesson) |
Day 12 | A3 essay, code | IAMUSDocumentary, Guardian1Jul12, and 0musicPlaylist |
| Oct 10 | PS | Lab 8: Outbreak | Day 13 | — | — |
| Oct 12 | DH | Lab 9: N-grams | Day 14 | A4 draft (Friday) | — |
| Oct 17 | Fall vacation, no class | ||||
| Oct 19 | SC | Ready, set, registration! | |||
| Oct 24 | PH | Lab 10: Physical Computing with Scratch - Day 1 | Day 15 | — | — |
| Oct 26 | PH | Ubiquitous and Pervasive Computing Discussion | Day 16 | A4 essay, code | Weiser91 and Weiser93 |
| Oct 31 | PH | Lab 10: Physical Computing with Scratch - Day 2 | |||
| Nov 2 | PH | Wearable Computing Discussion and Team Building | Day 18 | — | Starner2001a, Starner2001b, SignAloud News Release, and SignAloud Gloves Demo |
| Nov 7 | PH | Lab 11: Designing Children’s Toys with Scratch - Day 1 | — | A5 bibliography | |
| Nov 9 | PH | Lab 11: Designing Children’s Toys with Scratch - Day 2 | |||
| Nov 14 | PH | Lab 12: Connecting Arduino and Processing | — | A5 outline | |
| Nov 16 | PH | Initial Project Prototyping | |||
| Nov 21 | PH | Lab 13: Computing Machines that are Finite | |||
| Nov 23 | Thanksgiving vacation, no class | ||||
| Nov 28 | PH | Presentation by Boston Artist, Ross Miller | — | A5 draft | |
| Nov 30 | PH | Work on Installation | — | A5 peer evals (by Friday) | |
| Dec 5 | PH | Work on Installation | |||
| Dec 7 | PH | Work on Installation | — | A5 essay (by Friday) | |
| Dec 12 | PH | Initial Demo | — | A6 Demo | |
| Dec 16 | PH | Final Presentation @ 10:15AM | — | A6 Presentation | |
| Dec 16 | PH | Project Reflection (may be submitted before) | — | A6 Reflection |
Readings/Videos/Media:
- NYTEd30Jul15: Advice for New Students From Those Who Know (Older Students), New York Times, July 30th, 2015
- Lahey15: Jessica Lahey, When Success Leads to Failure, The Atlantic, August 11th, 2015
- Noll67: A. Michael Noll, The digital computer as a creative medium, IEEE Spectrum, Volume 4, Issue 10, Oct 1967 (Note that you will need to download this article from campus)
- ShiffmanNOCCh8: Daniel Shiffman, The Nature of Code, Chapter 8
- IAMUSDocumentary: IAMUS / MELOMICS documentary
- Guardian1Jul12: Iamus, classical music’s computer composer, live from Malaga, Philip Ball, in The Guardian, July 1st, 2012
- 0musicPlaylist: 0music
- NYTArts17Nov10: Digital Keys for Unlocking the Humanities’ Riches, New York Times, Nov 17th, 2010
- MichelAidenTEDJul2011: What we learned from 5 million books, TEDxBoston 2011
- Weiser91: The Computer for the 21st Century, Scientific American. 1991
- Weiser93: Some Computer Science Issues in Ubiqiutous Computing. Communications of the ACM. Volume 36. Issue 7. 1993.
- Starner2001a: The Challenges of Wearable Computing: Part 1. IEEE Micro. Volume 21. Issue 4. 2001.
- Starner2001b: The Challenges of Wearable Computing: Part 2. IEEE Micro. Volume 21. Issue 4. 2001.
- SignAloudNews: SignAloud News Release
- SignAloudDemo: SignAloud Gloves Demo
