92985 - Interaction Media Design (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students are put in touch with the intangible cultural heritage mediated by computer science and expressed under the form of practices, representations and skills that the multimedia research community recognizes as part of its identity. Students are able to reflect upon and manipulate a variety of digital instruments, including objects, artifacts and cultural spaces, manifested through interactive multimedia signs and actions.

Course contents

Interaction Media Design focuses on the design of interactive applications in the humanities and specifically in the domain of Cultural Heritage. During the course, media are treated (images, audio, video, 3d, etc.), together with their acquisition and processing. Main design principles are discussed in relation with CH and cognitive sciences.

The course is divided in 6 areas:

1. Cognitive-Emotional goals of Interactive Media Design:
   
   Distraction and Concentration, Meaningfulness, Transformation through Provocation, Sense of Belonging and Caring attitude, Memory and Recall, Authenticity, Embodiment, Language and Narration, Engagement, Empathy, The Perception of Cultural Heritage 
   
   
2. Human Computer Interaction for Cultural Heritage:
   
   basics: what is interaction, interaction principles, how do we interact, WIMP paradigm: Device-based Interaction and Natural Interaction
   
   
3. Digital Images and Digital Photography:
   
   principles, analog/digital, electromagnetic spectrum, colors and human vision, color in visualization, image processing and computer vision, intensity images, range images, pixels, bit depth, file formats /jpg, tiff, gif, png, raw/, rawtherapee (sw); Digital Photography: focus, slr/dslr camera, exposure, Shutter Speed, Aperture and F-number, Luminance, Focal length, Depth of Field, ISO 
   
   
4. Beyond Multimedia: from digital images to virtual experiences:
   
   Computer Graphics: non interactive CG, interactive CG, 3d models, file formats, software; Image Based Modelling; Panoramas and Virtual Tours (Pano2VR); Videogames: design tools (Twine) 
   
   
5. Interactive Media Design principles and Tools:
   
   PACT frameworks, Egonomics, Mental Models, Personas, Metaphors, Requirements, Design Brief; Card Sorting, Visitor Box, Scenarios (role-play), Cultural Probes, Storyboards, Interactive Storytelling (Twine) [2 lectures]
   Hands-on: the Design Process: 1-Context definition, Star Assets and Target Audience; 2-Institutional Goals (Cognitive and Educational Goals); 3-Design Brief (motivations, barriers, capabilities, devices); 4-Ideas generation and envisionment techniques: storyboarding (Twine) and virtual tours (Pano2VR); 5-Distruption (constraints, negative experiences, beyond); 6-Revision and Evaluation; other envisionment techniques (low-fi prototypes); 10 golden rules of Interactive Media design for Cultural Heritage 
   
   
   

Readings/Bibliography

FOR THE EXAM STUDENTS ARE REQUIRED TO STUDY:

• Book chapters: Benyon D. “Designing Interactive Systems” (2014): chapters 1-3, 5, 7-9, 13, 16, 18, 20-25 [chapters are also available in Virtuale]

• Book chapters: Ansel Adams, The Camera, 2012: chapters 1,2,5-7 [the book is available in Amazon or other on line stores. An extract of the required chapters are in Virtuale]

• Book chapters: Li Ze-Nian, Drew S.M., Fundamentals of Multimedia. (2004). chapters 3-4 [An extract of required chapters is available in Virtuale]

• Paper: Remondino F., El‐Hakim S. "Image‐based 3D modelling: a review." The photogrammetric record 21.115 (2006): 269-291. [the paper is available on line: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1477-9730.2006.00383.x ]

• Paper: Bekele, Mafkereseb Kassahun, et al. "A survey of augmented, virtual, and mixed reality for cultural heritage." Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage (JOCCH) 11.2 (2018): 1-36. [paper available on line: https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3145534 ]

• Book Chapter: Marschner S., Shirley P. Fundamentals of computer graphics. CRC Press, 2018.: chapter 1 and 3 [An extract of the required chapter is in Virtuale]

Teaching methods

Students will follow theoretical lectures and participate to hands-on sessions of design and of creation of multimedia content, such as digital images, panoramas, virtual tours and interactive stories.

Assessment methods

"Interaction Media Design" is part (Module 2) of the Course of “Digital heritage and multimedia”. There will be only one final Exam which will include Module 1 and Module 2 Assessment. The exam is made of 3 parts: T1 and T2 will be written tests and O3 will be the final Oral session:

T1) “module 1” written test (18th of March 2022) with Prof. S. Pescarin, aimed at verifying the acquisition of main concepts. Passing the test is mandatory to be able to enroll for final exam. The mark represents 25% of the final score (FS). In case of GLOC/ERASMUS students attending ONLY module 1 (Museology, Museography and Virtual Environments) the mark will represent 40% of the overall score.

T2) “module 2” written test (13th of May 2022) with Prof. S. Caraceni, aimed at verifying the acquisition of main concepts, among those listed here. Passing the test is mandatory to be able to enroll for the final exam. The mark represents 25% of the overall score.

O3) “digital heritage and multimedia” project work oral presentation (dates will be published in almaesami.it starting from June 2022 or agreed with the teachers). The mark represents 50% of the overall score. In case of GLOC/ERASMUS students attending ONLY module 1 (Museology, Museography and Virtual Environments) the mark will represent 60% of the overall score.

The Final Score will be the sum of the weighted scores in the written and oral exams

Teaching tools

The following software will be used and required: 

• RAWTHERAPEE
• PTGUI
• PANO2VR
• TWINE

Slides, Papers and other resources will be available in VIRTUALE at this link: https://virtuale.unibo.it/course/view.php?id=34707 

Office hours

See the website of Sofia Pescarin