These are unique types of studio courses, pairing teams of students with industry partners to undertake real-world projects. Descriptions for fall 2016 offerings will be posted soon.

‘Design in Safaris’ is an Interaction Design (IxD) course from the lens of wildlife and their sensory phenomena. Throughout the course, we look at sensory systems of various animals ranging from bats, bees, sharks and more. We observe how animals and birds experience or navigate the world. We draw a parallel in the human world and build devices with two primary aims: i) to understand and connect with wildlife, ii) to augment and build new dimensional experiences for humans. The fundamentals of Human-Centered Design provide us with a framework to develop solutions by involving human in all aspects of problem solving. But what if the users of technologies were not humans? How would we design interfaces meant for mental health stimulation of animals? By learning radically different sensory experiences and dialogues from animals, could we also design novel interfaces for humans? This class focusses on fundamentals of interaction by changing the traditional users of our technologies. There will be weekly lectures from zoologists and animal experts. The class will have weekly readings, assignments and projects for students to support their hypothesis. The students are expected to have prior prototyping abilities to rapidly iterate their solutions in this intensive course. We intend to have a mix of students from different disciplines in this class. A select number of students from the class may be chosen to deploy and test their final projects at the San Diego Zoo’s naturalistic setting. The students may also have opportunities to continue working with the Zoo beyond the course.

“The end goal is identifying every music maker in the space and their works past and present… accelerating and improving collaboration …” The future of Mycelia is about "decentralised, open governance, looking to nature and viable systems thinking for direction... it's about earning, adapting, sharing… as a self-sustaining organism.” —Imogen Heap “If you want to play it, it's a good guitar. If it does you harm, it's a bad guitar. Some guitars are both good and bad at the same time.’ —Markus Reuter The Limits of Guitar is a collab studio exploring the limits of musical expression and instrument design. In this course, students will test both the physical and virtual limits of sonic production. At its core, the collab asks: what forms of sound, what kinds of [networked] musical instruments, could be uniquely able in our contemporary world to support a radical philosophy of music, going beyond current limits of aesthetics and politics in sound? We will draw on 5+ years of ongoing collaboration with the most renowned guitar and instrument designers in the world, who have joined our Future and Limits of Guitar series. We will also collaborate intensively with leading musicians, including Tanya Kalmanovitch [Mannes, co-lead on the Post Genre Instruments project] and Elliott Sharp [renowned NY guitarist, composer, and CTM Fellow 2014]. Across the semester, a series of guest workshops with instrument designers, builders, coders, and musicians will provide foundation and cutting edge interaction. Hands on workshops with luthiers will take place in studio as well as the Parsons Making Center. Salons, symposia and performances across the spring will include our collab students and their work. The outcome of this collab will run the gamut from new instruments you have designed and built, to new musical forms of expression you have invented and performed, to new sound software platforms you have designed and coded. The semester will conclude with a multi-day conference and performance series. Students and guest faculty in the collab will participate in these events. Musicians and non musicians are welcome! Bring a love for sound in all its forms! The collab is supported by Parsons MFADT; Mannes School of Music; The Making Center; the Provost’s Office Innovations in Education Fund grant; the Center for Transformative Media; as well as outside sponsors including Strandberg Guitars, Positive Grid, and more.

Networks and their interfaces dictate how we engage with the world around us. They determine what kind of information we have access to and develop preferences for, how and with whom we communicate, and what we believe. In this course, students will research, design, and develop a peer-to-peer network that allows for an intensive exploration of how interfaces filter our information, guide our social dynamics, and ultimately shape our perceptions and biases.

An algorave, short for “algorithmic rave”, is a live-coded, electronic music event growing in popularity across the globe. Through lectures and workshops, students will learn to live code electronic music and visuals. We'll also learn about art and technology events, live streaming, online distribution, and the greater algorave community. Through a series of iterative, human-centered design and research sprints, we will design and produce our own pop-up algorave event. Engagement with notable guests and stakeholders will address and amplify a number of pertinent themes and concerns. No prior knowledge or experience with music composition or programming is necessary; non-musicians are encouraged to contribute to the studio.

This course is specifically designed to bring together two types of students: 1) those who have a background in critical reading and writing but no extensive experience in design and 2) those who have a background in design but no extensive experience in writing and publishing. We will begin with a critical survey of the transmission of written communication from Gutenberg to the present to get up to speed, and in the second half of the semester we will discuss contemporary issues that cross design and publishing through an analysis of contemporary books, magazines, and periodicals across both printed and digital platforms, with a particular focus on the relationship between form and content. The seminar will be the underpinning of a hands-on studio course, where students will get a working introduction to typography, image, layout, sequence, and order, with the aim to design and publish in interdisciplinary teams, both printed and digital, by the end of the semester.

Five of New York City’s universities are partnering to defend and support journalism and independent news media --- one of the most critical elements of our democracy --- as they are increasingly under threat. This unique, first-of-its kind program and collaboration will bring together Cornell Tech, Columbia University, City University of New York, New York University, and The New School -- in partnership with the NYC Media Lab -- to investigate and understand the various threats to journalism and media, and attempt to address these challenges using design, engineering, and computational methods and techniques. The effort will gather graduate students with backgrounds and expertise in journalism, design, and engineering/technology from these institutions in a special course to kick off in Spring 2018. In addition to the course, a speaker series hosted at news organizations around the city will launch in October around the themes of the partnership, featuring influential figures from media and technology. Inaugural media participants that will host fall programming include The New York Times, CNN, BuzzFeed, and the HuffPost. See https://www.techmediademocracy.nyc for more information.

Motion capture (mo-cap) is the technique of recording patterns of movement digitally. It is used heavily in filmmaking, animation, video games, as well as in Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality environments. Mo-cap allows movement to be used to animate a 3D model, perform position-tracking for large-scale VR, and more. Using Parsons’ new Motion Capture Studio, we will learn how to use high-end professional motion capture equipment, as well as how to work with the resulting data in several different workflows (both real-time and recorded). Mo-cap results in data that can be mapped in a myriad of ways. This studio aims to expand on the typical applications and mappings of the data in the context of VR and room-scale AR. How can we use the body as a controller/musical instrument? How can we visualize movement data? How can we subvert the output of mo-cap? For example, to create a feedback loop to guide the bodies being tracked? How can we embody and perform as other (not necessarily human) bodies and forms?

How to build Augmented Reality (AR) experiences? While AR is an emerging technology that offers a new type of interaction with the physical environment through digital interfaces, it introduces many questions to the field of design that demand exploration. How can we effectively tell stories about spaces or products in AR? What is the nature of experience and interaction in AR? How can we use AR to warp and excite our lived environments? While seeking answers to core design questions about AR, this course aims to bridge the process of design and development of AR applications. Students will develop AR experiences for mobile by using Unity, and software development kits like Vuforia, ARkit and ARcore. By using different tools and prototyping techniques, they will investigate the nature of storytelling and interaction in AR. In the first half of the semester, students will analyze existing projects, prototype their own AR experiences, and develop their technical skills in Unity and AR platforms. For the second half, students will design AR experiences for specific organizations, brands, or products. They will be expected to apply their knowledge to the development and design of their final projects. The final project will be presented in a critique with AR artists, designers, and developers. Some Unity experience is recommended, but not required.

This course is specifically designed to bring together two types of students: 1) those who have a background in critical reading and writing but no extensive experience in design and 2) those who have a background in design but no extensive experience in writing and publishing. We will begin with a critical survey of the transmission of written communication from Gutenberg to the present to get up to speed, and in the second half of the semester we will discuss contemporary issues that cross design and publishing through an analysis of contemporary books, magazines, and periodicals across both printed and digital platforms, with a particular focus on the relationship between form and content. The seminar will be the underpinning of a hands-on studio course, where students will get a working introduction to typography, image, layout, sequence, and order, with the aim to design and publish in interdisciplinary teams, both printed and digital, by the end of the semester.

Can play transform players? Can play be found inside the social forms of daily life? Can game design function as a form of research? Can the design process itself become an object of play? Working with graduate students at Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (KADK), we will explore these and other questions by creating objects 
of play that address the social forms of 
an Scandinavian cultural institution 
(organization TBA). The course will employ creative research strategies derived from social practice art, participatory design, and the iterative design process to consider the role of play in impact games. The course will begin with a series of planning sessions beginning late February, followed by a workshop in Copenhagen from Friday, March 15 through Friday, March 22. The class is co-organized by game theorist Jesper Juul (KADK, http://www.jesperjuul.net), social practice artist Nancy Nowacek (Stevens Institute of Technology, http://nancynowacek.com), and MFADT faculty member John Sharp.