“Digital Image/Sound and the Fine Arts: A Double Major with Computer Science and Fine Arts” by Garvey

This paper describes the new double major/minor in Digital Image/Sound and the Fine Arts in conjunction with the Option in Computer Science: Computer Applications. Central to the program is a two-course sequence, each six credits and two semesters in duration. DFAR 350 Multi-media Authoring was introduced in the 1997-98 academic year, and DFAR 450 Advanced Workshop: Theory and Practice in Digital Image/Sound will be offered in the 1998-99 academic year. Results of teaching DFAR 350 are presented, including a demonstration of the course Web site used to support in-class teaching and examples of student work using HTML, Macromedia Director with Shockwave, VRML and Javascript.

The emergence of the “digital arts” calls for a re-alignment and exploration of intersections across a number of disciplines previously separated by department and faculties at universities, colleges, and specialized schools. The World Wide Web is perhaps the most recent example of how a new technology “retools” pre-existing skills and aesthetic practice from previously separated domains. Successful Web page development may involve the traditional skills of a story teller, writer, poet, copy editor, art director, graphic designer, typographer, illustrator, painter, photographer, and composer, in combination with the newer expertise of the 2D and 3D animator, digital non-linear video editor, software programmer, sound effects designer, cognitive psychologist, and human factors engineer.