COML 4281

Last Updated

  • Schedule of Classes - January 11, 2024 7:32PM EST
  • Course Catalog - January 11, 2024 7:07PM EST

COML 4281
Human-Centered Design and Engaged Media

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2023-2024. Courses of Study 2023-2024 is scheduled to publish mid-June.

This StudioLab course connects critical design teams with researchers, NGOs, and nonprofits working on human rights, public health, and environmental and land rights in the US and abroad. Practicing methods of transmedia knowledge, critical design thinking, and strategic storytelling, students collaborate on projects with the Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide, Health Access Connect (Uganda), NYS 4-H, and SOOFA Ranch (GA). Consulting on partners' ongoing projects, teams study and practice processes from IDEO's Human-Centered Design Thinking and Stanford's Design for Extreme Affordability, as well as UX, tactical media, and activist organizing developed by ACT-UP, Black Lives Matter, Guerrilla Girls, and contemporary, multi-platform campaigns, presenting and sharing their collaborations via project site and other platforms.

When Offered Fall.

Distribution Category (ALC-AS, CA-AS)

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ENGL 4705, INFO 4940, INFO 6940

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  6207 COML 4281   DES 501

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  • Instruction Mode: In Person
    What happens when Greta Thunberg tears into the EU? Or Banksy interrupts Disney World? Or Black Lives Matters confronts the justice system? How can we help local communities use media to address their concerns? This course mixes seminar, studio, and field activities to explore community-engaged media through hands-on study of media activism, human centered design, and project-based learning. Students combine cultural analysis and media production to study how artists and activists engage audiences in direct action and civic engagement. We’ll draw on fields of performance studies, human-computer interaction, and media theory to study how artists and activists use media to create social engagement. Working as critical design teams, we will work with local schools and community organizations on an on-going civic storytelling project.