THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2024/2025

Timetable information in the Course Catalogue may be subject to change.

University Homepage
DRPS Homepage
DRPS Search
DRPS Contact
DRPS : Course Catalogue : Edinburgh College of Art : Design

Postgraduate Course: Histories and Futures of Technology (DESI11073)

Course Outline
SchoolEdinburgh College of Art CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course provides an introduction to the cultural and technical context for Design Informatics. The course addresses key historical and contemporary developments across digital media and the network society and plots primary themes, initiatives and technologies that have informed present conditions in which a design practice is bound to digital technologies and the flow of data. The lecture series will explore the role of data throughout culture and expand on developments to date including environments and material artefacts. Students will receive practical support through a series of workshops that are intended to provoke creative responses to specific design problems. Involvement in these workshops will establish skill sets for the development of a significant piece of group coursework that responds to the challenge themes within the module.

Course Aims
This course will:
1. Expand students' understanding of digital media, network technologies and emergent technologies, and their relevance to all forms of contemporary design.
2. Develop a critical perspective upon the cultural implications for design informatics based upon historical, theoretical and practical precedents.
3. Develop skills in the use of digital technologies and extend existing design skills within a research-based framework of enquiry.
Course description As above
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2024/25, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  77
Course Start Semester 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 50, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 146 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) This course will be assessed under the Edinburgh College of Art Assessment 100% coursework. Students are expected to develop practical perspectives upon the series of lectures and create a significant piece of coursework that demonstrates these ideas.

Learning outcomes will be assessed as coursework containing:

Your mid-term presentation as well as final presentation slides that develop the context of your practical work.

A 2-minute video demonstrating an original design concept.

A 1000-word report that evidences your research, engagement with theory and your progress and findings throughout the course of the module.
Feedback Formative feedback/feedforward is provided verbally at designated points during the course in form of tutorials, and following mid-term presentations.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Theory: demonstrate an awareness of theoretical and practical developments that underpin design informatics and extend a personal and critical perspective through the production of written and practice based work.
  2. Practice: demonstrate an ability to develop a language and methodology toward the production of design artefacts or experiences that integrate aspects of digital systems and are informed by conceptual and cultural concerns.
  3. Research: understand a research problem and apply appropriate methods for negotiating it, including an analysis of both literature and design precedents to support a personal enquiry.
Reading List
Indicative Bibliography
Castells, M. (1996) The Rise of the Network Society (Second Edition). Oxford: Blackwell.
Dourish, P. (2001) Where the Action Is: The Foundations of Embodied Interaction. MIT Press.
Haraway, D. J. (1995) Cyborgs and symbionts: living together in the new world order, in C. H. Gray (ed.) The Cyborg Handbook, xi-xx, New York: Routledge.
Hayles, N.K. (1999) How We Became Posthuman, University of Chicago Press
Kern, S. (1983) The Culture of Time and Space1880-1918. Harvard University Press
Latour, B. (2001) Reassembling the Social, Oxford University Press.
Mitchell, W. J. (1996) City of Bits. Cambridge. MA: MIT Press.
Rheingold, H. (2002) Smart Mobs, The Next Social Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Basic Books.
Shirky, C (2009) Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations. Penguin.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsDesign,Informatics,Digital Media,Digital Culture
Contacts
Course organiserMiss Ruby Marshall
Tel:
Email: rmarsha3@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Ruth Lee
Tel:
Email: clee5@ed.ac.uk
Navigation
Help & Information
Home
Introduction
Glossary
Search DPTs and Courses
Regulations
Regulations
Degree Programmes
Introduction
Browse DPTs
Courses
Introduction
Humanities and Social Science
Science and Engineering
Medicine and Veterinary Medicine
Other Information
Combined Course Timetable
Prospectuses
Important Information