**Important: this course starts the week of January 13, 2020. All registered students should plan to be there on January 13.** This is an intensive that runs 1/13-1/17, 9AM – 6PM. Full attendance required. This COLLAB explores the vocabulary, technique, opportunities and challenges of interdisciplinary collaboration as an active creative process. The specific focus and application this semester will be the question of how we relate to the world around us - as it represents itself in sensory and tactile form - as well as the virtual world of the internet. Both in creation and performance, we will attempt to reflect, juxtapose and critically investigate the way the "real" and "virtual" world shape our perceptions. This course continues an inter-disciplinary collaboration that began between Parsons Design & Technology and Drama and now includes all other Parsons and New School Departments which will: -Apply performance principles to design based work. -Apply design principles to performance. -Create theatrical installations and performance art. The COLLAB will culminate in a public event.

Who defines data, and how accessible is it to an audience for which it is not intended? Publicly available information doesn’t always correspond with the priorities of a given research project or organization, but we can develop methods to fill in the gaps. In this course students will visualize both ground-sourced and publicly available data to support the mission of the Gowanus Canal Conservancy in the constantly fluctuating context of a Superfund Cleanup, NYC’s Green Infrastructure Plan, and a rezoning. We will interrogate the power dynamics implicit in data collection and information sharing, and consider methods to manipulate and draw inferences from incomplete data sources. As students develop an understanding of the global and local context of data fragmentation, they will parse through environmental data collected by the Gowanus Canal Conservancy and its partners. Coursework will introduce scholarship and precedents of data activism to inform our approaches to creating GIS maps, timelines and other infographics that GCC can use and share with its network of educators, students, and environmental stewards.

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.

Learn about leading edge AI technology while embarking on the trip of a lifetime. Parsons DT China trips are legendary! This year's journey (the 12th annual) will visit Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, and the spectacular Dunhuang Caves, while working with leading Chinese universities (Tsinghua, Tongji, Chuan Mei, Bei Fu). Participants will conceptualize and implement AI projects using machine learning, object recognition, and computer vision. No prior experience is necessary- projects will be tailored to the groups' skill level. Projects can be experimental or practical, art or design (students will choose). This course will take place during the 3 weeks immediately following the spring semester (May 16th- June 4th), departing the day after graduation. There will be 3 preparatory workshops prior to leaving. The trip will be a combination of research, studio engagement, and exploration, with plenty of opportunity to explore many stunning Chinese destinations.

Can play transform players? Can play be found inside the social forms of daily life? Can creative practice function as a form of research? Can the creative process itself become an object of play? Working with graduate students at Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Design (KADK), we will explore these and other questions by creating objects of play that address the social forms of the art museum. More specifically, we’ll work with The National Museum of Denmark (NMD). The course will employ creative research strategies derived from social practice art, participatory design, the iterative design process, and other fields to expand notions of play. The course will begin with a series of three workshops (February 22, February 29, March 7), followed by a workshop in Copenhagen from Friday, March 13 through Friday, March 20. The course requires a $200 participation fee, and is by permission only. The class is co-organized by game studies scholar Jesper Juul (KADK), social practice artist Nancy Nowacek (Stevens Institute of Technology), and MFA Design & Technology faculty member John Sharp.

Working with Estee Lauder and the NYC Media Lab, this course will investigate the implications and possibilities of digital and virtual beauty. Using available animation, rendering, and XR technologies, groups will undertake projects that ask the question: "can the virtual be more perfect than the real?", And "do we want it to be?" Participants will learn about technical approaches as well as undertake experimental artistic investigations. Groups will speculate about practical applications to the real world (fashion, advertising, publishing, art). Teams will work closely with members of Estee Lauder's development team, as well as researchers from the NYC Media Lab, to build perspective and understanding on a variety of related philosophical and technical fronts. No prior experience is necessary, but be ready to dive in as this stuff requires dedication to master: the most important thing is a strong interest in the topic and a willingness to work hard!

How can sound create space and hold form? What are the qualities of sound that help us feel its impact? How can sound drive mythology, story, and movement? In this studio class, students will work to name and carve out a creative practice that resides between music and artmaking. We will look at record labels and artist collectives that are thinking about the context in which their productions are experienced. The class will include performative lectures by invited artists, music producers, and DJs who are blurring the edges of sound, sculpture, installation, immersion, theater, and performance. The class will visit two experimental live shows over the course of the semester. The class will result in a final showcase at a performance venue in Brooklyn.

Positioning as an experimental UX/UI design studio, OnePlus is reimaging the future of the mobile interface with us. Throughout the semester, students will be immersed in the evolution of UX/UI design and exposed to real UX/UI design challenges that the mobile industry is facing in the speculative future. Students are responsible for researching these challenges in-depth and building radical prototypes with guidance and support from OnePlus's senior UX/UI team based in New York City. Selected teams will be offered an opportunity to work with OnePlus to include their projects as design experiments in the company's future phone release.

Shima Seiki is a world renowned manufacturer of computerized knitting equipment from Wakayama, Japan. This course introduces students to the basics of how to create digital programs for a Shima Seiki WholeGarment(TM) knitting machine. Students will be given a rapid introduction to the essentials of knitting and knit programming for a variety of applications. Initial projects will allow students to practice and develop their knit programming skills. The remaining two thirds of the course is devoted to student projects that develop innovative concepts and techniques in their respective domains. Students will be grouped by areas of interest in order to fully program and produce a project of their collective design. The course provides the student with extended textile and technology skills that supports their individual design philosophy. This course is in close connection to the Making Center's L2 Knit Lab: students are required to devote significant time outside of class to complete assignments in the Making Center.

In this Collab, students will travel over a 10-day period to Berlin, Köln, and Paris, over Thanksgiving break [November 21st-December 1st], 2019. The course will occur in participation with students from KISD (Köln International School of Design]. The course project will focus on exploring, researching, and producing VR sketches about experiences and cultural locations visited on the trip, under the overarching question: “how might VR be used in the future of documentation and journalism?". Students will work in groups with other Parsons and KISD students, with new groups assigned each day. Tools such as Unity, Google VR, GoPro, Samsung Gear, Risc, and Vive (and others) will be used— no prior experience is necessary (tech workshops will be held prior to trip departure). Groups will submit daily sketches, and each student will be responsible for an overall trip report sure at semester's end. There will be frequent group activities while traveling, but plenty of time for individual exploration as well. Students are responsible for communicating with NY faculty regarding all missed classes (usually not more than one per section, which is why we schedule the trip over Thanksgiving). Costs: Participants are responsible for all travel expenses (lodging, airfare— to and from NY, and within Europe, food, and incidental expenses while in Berlin, Köln, and Paris). Students are responsible for obtaining their own necessary visas for travel to Europe, as needed. There will be a separate course fee of $300, payable upon registration. No scholarship is available. Registration by faculty permission only— this will be determined in early September, 2019, when the fall 2019 semester is underway. Space is strictly limited.

Food by Design is a course for students interested in exploring and working in the edges of the design and technology practices. It will be focused on fundamentals of design and interaction design working with the unusual elements, processes and context of food. The goal is to reconsider the traditional role of food and feed back learnings from food materials, contexts, processes, methodologies, experiences and objects to our current understanding of design. Can food teach us a new perspective on design? Can design, innovation and fiction reframe how we experience food? The class will have regular readings, assignments and design-build projects leveraging contemporary technologies to project a critical light and speculate about the pasts, presents and futures of food. The students are expected to have some basic cooking abilities and prior design, tech and prototyping skills to rapidly iterate their ideas. There will be lectures from food-related experts, guests and class discussions to inspire and support the development of students and their concepts.

While the primary audience for XR today is gaming, immersive media show potential to augment reality in varied and exciting ways. Industries like Architecture, Interior Design, Urban Design, Product and Industrial Design, medical and scientific research, as well as in the design and development of transportation, museums and retail institutions can all be enhanced through the use of AR, VR and 360° cinematography. This course will explore how XR technologies can be applied to these numerous industries. This course will explore the history of immersive media, pioneers of VR, current applications of VR, the relationship between AR and VR, and extensions of VR that connect it to the real world. Students will work in a variety of platforms depending on their own interests, including Unity, UE, Blueprint, Playmaker, Grasshopper, Rhino and 3D Studio Max.

Digital interactions are no longer limited to our personal devices but are now increasingly becoming part of the out of home environment. Out of home advertising in the form of billboards and signage found on sidewalks, roads, highways, in transit, and other public places while previously considered a traditional advertising medium has seen significant digital growth in recent years. In this collab students will partner with Outfront Media - the MTA’s partner for out of home advertising and digital communications. Currently Outfront Media has installed and continues to maintain 590 digital boards across 39 New York City subway stations. This class will be a deep dive into NodeJS, an exploration in data driven design, and an opportunity to challenge what's possible in an emerging media format. This class will partially meet at Outfront Media’s office at 140 Broadway where students will have access to the Outfront Media team as well as Outfront’s media lab ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTR8w7UdvjI&feature=youtu.be ).