There is, as yet, no genuine example of artistic expression that could only have been delivered on a computer. This course attempts to help students understand how to achieve this great goal. It will extend over 15 weeks, with two lessons addressed each week. If you are interested, please contact me using the contact form above.
Lesson #1: We have failed to successfully tap the potential of the computer as a medium of expression.
Lesson #2: To understand interactivity, you must learn a new and more abstract way of thinking.
Lesson #3: This failure is in turn due to our predilection to perceive the universe as a collection of objects rather than a system of processes.
Lesson #4: The computer as a medium of expression is a Process-machine, not an Object-machine
Lesson #5: You must see the universe as a system of Processes
Lesson #6: To use Processes in a computer, you must use mathematics.
Lesson #7: How to express ideas mathily
Lesson #7a: Simulation for Dilettantes
Lesson #8: Personality Models
Lesson #9: Numbers
Lesson #10: Using BNumber math
Lesson #11: Object Elements of Storyworlds
Lesson #12: Process Elements of Storyworlds
Lesson #13: Verbs
Lesson #14: Roles
Lesson #15: Sappho
Lesson #16: Language and Deikto
Lesson #17: Options
Lesson #18: Engines
Lesson #19: Gossip
Lesson #20: Develoment Systems
Lesson #21: Faces
Lesson #22: What does the user do?
Lesson #23: Conclusions
I’m constantly making minor revisions to these lessons, and I'm still working on a few additional lessons.
Course Format: Reading plus Zoom
I love lecturing, and I’m pretty good at it. But let’s face it: lecturing just doesn’t cut it when it comes to simply delivering information. Reading is faster and more efficient. A teacher always does best by interacting with students rather than talking at them. So we’re splitting the non-interactive part from the interactive part.
The course will work on a weekly cycle. During the week, each student reads the next lesson in this course.Once a week, we all meet on Zoom for some interaction. It will be an open Q&A session where the students and I will discuss the content of the reading. I will not volunteer any information; this is not a lecture. Instead, the responsibility for taking the initiative lies completely on the students. If you ask no questions, I won’t say anything.
Details
There will be no tests, assignments, requirements, certificates, or anything else formal. This is a truly abnormal course in that its goal is exclusively to educate and not to evaluate. If you do take the course and later ask me to write a letter of recommendation, I might be willing to do so if you impressed me during the course with lots of good questions and arguments.
