Undergraduate Courses
Digital Studies courses must satisfy at least one of the following areas:
- Integrate digital media as tools for research and dissemination in traditional scholarship
- Examine cultural, social, ethical, or theoretical implications of new media technologies
- Apply digital technologies to practical applications involving problem-based learning
- Develop knowledge and skills in new media and multimedia composition
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Introduction to Digital Studies
Introduction to Digital Studies provides students with a space to tinker with digital tools and also to develop critical vocabularies for analyzing digital objects. The class begins by examining some of the historical roots of digital technologies and then moves on to some key terms in digital studies: networks, interfaces, code, digital narratives, and physical computing. The class examines the history and cultural significance of digital technology while also experimenting with how to write, design, and make with those same tools. Students in the class use Twine to create interactive stories, Audacity to create audio compositions, and Arduino circuit boards to build physical computing projects. No technological expertise is required.
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Evolution of Gaming and Esports
The global community of video gaming and esports is a multibillion-dollar industry. But how did it evolve? In this course, you will discover the history of games and spectator sports. You will track that history up to the current moment, and in the process learn what makes the esports and gaming industry so unique. This course will cover topics such as defining the difference between esports and gaming, reviewing the current esports market and industry, and exploring the various moments in gaming history that led to the interactive spectacles that stream every day on Twitch.
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Multimedia Thinking
Multimedia thinking is a way of making arguments and telling stories using digital media production tools. Multimedia thinking cultivates a transmedia perspective and involves the convergence of text, graphics, audio, and video, and the distribution of these assets over various media. Media may include video and sound, text, animation, still images, audio, or any form of non-physical media. Ideas are presented in a variety of formats including videos, comics, electronic literature, sound installations, remixes, mash-ups or video games. The course will begin with a theoretical and critical examination of media to prepare for their own digital media creations.
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Creative Coding
This course serves as a hands-on introduction to programming using a variety of coding languages including: Unity3D, C#, Processing, and JavaScript while also exploring “computer logic.” Students will come away understanding the affordances and constraints of computation as a tool and as a medium for expression. Readings, along with other supplemental video lectures, will serve as the basis for the theoretical side of the class. Here, we will step away from the lines of code and consider the broader concepts of programmatic thought: operating in discreet values, thinking in variables and functions, and some philosophical and artist implications for symbology, abstraction, and narrative. (Listed on the Course Scheduling System as Computational Thinking)
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Constructing the Moving Image
“Constructing the Moving Image” provides students with conceptual, formal, aesthetic, and technical approaches to reconsider film, videos, and animation within the context of emerging digital forms. The class culminates in a project where students have the opportunity to build a 3D interactive scene in the Unity game engine.
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Digital Studies Capstone
Required of all students in the Digital Studies program, the capstone course involves working with a faculty advisor on a digital project designed and executed by the student. Students are also required to teach a 1-hour workshop based on a digital technology they have used or investigated in the course of the project.
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Independent Study In Digital Studies
An opportunity for advanced students to pursue their interests in digital humanities in a self-determined course of study under the direction of a faculty member.
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Constructing the Moving Image
Application of digital skills in a position as a digital lab or project assistant for the Rutgers-Camden Digital Studies Center. Individually designed and evaluated experience under supervision of intern adviser. Commitment of at least 30 hours per credit/100 hours for 3 Credits.
Interdisciplinary Major Electives
The following courses can be counted towards the Digital Studies Major and Minor.
- All Computer Science courses (198)
- 50:080:213 Graphic Design I: Computational Foundations
- 50:080:226 Introduction to Conceptual Art Making
- 50:080:264 Digital Photography I
- 50:080:279 Computer Animation
- 150:080:332 Graphic Design III Studio
- 50:080:388 3D Modeling and Printing
- 50:080:346 User Experience and Interface Design
- 50:080:448 Character Animation
- 50:220:122 Introduction to Data Science
- 50:220:366 Applied Data Mining & Knowledge Discovery
- 50:354:201 Art of Film
- 50:570:210 Media Literacy
Graduate Courses
56:209:630 Weird Books
Tuesday– 6:00PM – 8:50PM
Jillian Sayre
A study of Experimental novels that prays particular attention to the book as material form and the ways in which author and artists distorted, broken, or challenged the traditional structure of both the narrative and the material form of the book.
56:209:670 AI Ethics and Law
Monday 6:00 PM to 8:50 PM
Nate Walker
The dawn of artificial intelligence (AI) has raised new ethical and legal questions. These rapidly evolving technologies span the gamut from foundational algorithms—sequential instructions used in all AI systems—to sophisticated machine learning models that leverage neural networks to digest vast amounts of data. Large language models in deep learning systems build upon these innovations to generate language and create images, multimedia, and speech recognition programs. These advancements range from narrow AI for highly specified tasks, such as chatbots, language translation, medical imaging, navigation apps, and self-driving cars, to the theoretical realm of general AI.
56:209:640 Motion Design and Animation
Wednesday 6:00 PM – 8:50 PM
Liz Wolfe
This course explores the art of animation using Adobe After Effects. Students will learn motion graphics and visual storytelling to create compelling animations for film, web, and media. Through hands-on projects, they’ll develop skills and build a portfolio of dynamic, professional work. Perfect for all skill levels.