University of Sydney Handbooks - 2014 Archive

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Table B: Postgraduate Elective Units of Study descriptions

Sydney College of the Arts electives

CAEL5028 Rich Internet Applications

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1,Semester 2 Classes: 1x1-hour lecture and 1 x 2-hour tutorial/week Prerequisites: MMDE5011 Assessment: 1x15min oral examination of presentation of major studio project (70%) and completion of associated documentation (20%) and participation in class exercises (10%) Campus: Rozelle
This unit of study provides students who have an intermediate level of knowledge in HTML5 and JavaScript/jQuery with a diverse exposure to web 2.0 concepts for website and web application development. You will learn Object Orientated Programming concepts, and how to transmit data between a server and web application using AJAX, JSON and XML in order to create an interactive Rich Internet Application (RIA). The unit will also introduce you to database management and manipulation using PHP and MySQL, and how to integrate these tools with HTML5 web applications/websites.
You will be familiarised with the use of open source Frameworks and Application Programming Interfaces (API's) like YouTube, Flickr and Twitter with the aim of understanding how to use available open source resources and APIs rather than building your own from scratch. You will be demonstrated how to develop rich web 2.0 websites and in particular the glue required to combine different Web 2.0 languages, frameworks, APIs, resources and environments into one HTML5 project as extensible and component based application development.
This unit covers the process from planning technologies and the project through to development and deployment.
The outcome of this unit is the creation of an interactive HTML5 website/application that utilises dynamic data and content, which can include images, sound and video. You will be required to complete a web application/website that successfully integrates user interaction, dynamic data and server transmission within the framework of a creative project.
CAEL5029 Sound Design for Film and Digital Media

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1,Semester 2 Classes: 1x3-hour studio class/week Assessment: production planning (20%) and presentation of independent research (20%) and sound design project (60%) Campus: Rozelle
This unit of study is intended to be a broad introduction to the theory & practice of audio production and sound design for moving pictures in both analogue and digital forms. Through viewing and discussing critical excerpts, the unit will offer a grounding in the history, theory and criticism of sound design and its applicability to current film and television production practice. The unit will look at the tools and techniques available to the sound designer, as well as examine the various underlying strategies, processes, and sound design philosophies. You will develop an understanding of critical film sound theory and an apprehension of key concepts including: synchronous and asynchronous sound, synchresis; on-screen, off-screen, and non-diegetic sound; the sound stage, point of view, causal semantic and reduced listening, internal and external logic, audiovisual rhythm and counterpoint. Applications of those principles will be explored in creative practice from sound capture and creation to construction using field/location and studio recording and post-production techniques. The sound designer's role in the process of creation of meaning will be examined in cultural as well as technical contexts of compositional practices. The unit will aim at developing a conceptual design language and individual aesthetic as well as encourage the invention of original sounds. At the completion of this unit you will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of the audiovisual language and demonstrate technical and conceptual skills by producing a short sound for a film project.
CAEL5032 Contemporary Curating

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2-hour seminar/week Assessment: curatorial case study presentation (30%) and research paper (70%) Campus: Rozelle
'If artists since Marcel Duchamp have affirmed selection and arrangement as legitimate artistic strategies, was it not simply a matter of time before curatorial practice - itself defined by selection and arrangement - would come to be seen as an art that operates on the field of art itself?' (Aaron Schuster, 2005). This unit of study focuses on contemporary curatorial practice and analyses emerging trends and new directions in curating. It considers the changing role of the curator, moving from traditional contexts in the art gallery and museum, to contemporary art spaces, artist run initiatives, public sites, community engagement, and into globalized and virtual settings. The unit considers a number of case studies of curatorial practice, both exhibitions and renowned international curators who have defined the contemporary scene, such as Okwui Enwezor, Hou Hanru, Catherine David, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Harald Szeemann.
CAEL5033 Curatorial LAB

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x3-hour studio class/week Assessment: curatorial concept presentation (30%)and project development (70%) Campus: Rozelle
This unit of study gives you hands on curating experience within an intensive laboratory environment. The curatorial LAB is a critical space that encourages experimentation, exploration of curatorial frameworks and methodologies, and generates new discursive possibilities. You develop a curated project from concept to full realisation as an exhibition, guided by professional and theoretical feedback. The LAB emphasises the working relationships between curators and artists and the significance of the studio in contemporary art making. You do workshops on the main aspects of contemporary curatorial practice, including: production logistics for organizing exhibitions and public events; developing proposals; analysis and discussion of artist selection processes; curatorial decision making in relation to exhibition space; exhibition design and installation including new technologies; project management and funding; legal and ethical issues; and negotiating with artists, institutions, and the arts industry. The LAB emphasises the communication of curatorial ideas through research, critical writing, publication, marketing and promotion, and education and public speaking in both interview and conference contexts. The LAB uses the Sydney College of the Arts galleries, studios and workshops, encouraging you to work independently or institutionally to develop curatorial projects. The LAB offers you the opportunity to network with leading curators and artists working in the field.
CAEL5034 Image/Object in Photomedia

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x3-hour studio class/week Assessment: thematic project 1 (20%) and thematic project 2 (30%) and self-directed project (50%) Campus: Rozelle
This unit of study extends the possibilities of photographic practice to expand photographic ideas beyond a two-dimensional form. The unit plays with the traditional material outcome of a photograph by considering what a photograph is as 'an image'. The 'image' unlike the 'photograph' can be anywhere and anything. In the context of image/object it is also considered sculpturally, as an object. The relationship between objects and photography stretch the function of the image. How can the image encompass a sculptural and interactive dimension?
CAEL5035 The Art of Sound and Noise

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x3-hour studio class/week Assessment: thematic project (25%) and self-directed project (75%) Campus: Rozelle
This unit of study will engage a studio-based approach to the production of sound art works through the prism of two of its primary means, namely recording and amplification. The emphasis will be on the production of recorded sound works and sound devices that can expand and develop the relationships between the analogue and the digital and between the composed and the open-ended structures of noise as an event. The unit will begin with ideas from sound ecology and music concrete and by way of field recording, sound manipulation and performance heading in an exploratory way towards the limits of sound as noise, situating the spectrum of a material practice with sound in a historical context. This unit will be conducted in an open studio framework within workshops, sound studios and digital labs suitable for candidates working in a broad range of artistic disciplines.
Sound has the potential to invent new sonic landscapes and to demarcate unheard psycho-geographies: from radical approaches towards production to potential new collaborations in the street (or in the landscape), from the technical and the scientific to oral investigations of the social. This open studio investigates sound as a primary vehicle for artistic expression in a work of contemporary art.
CAEL5037 Investigating Clay

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x3-hour studio class/week Assessment: research folio (10%) and thematic project (40%) and self-directed project (50%) Campus: Rozelle
This postgraduate elective unit of study in Ceramics provides a studio-based approach to the production of creative work. At the beginning of each semester you will follow either a project-based curriculum, or develop an individual work proposal in consultation with an academic staff member. Your creative development will be supported by access to academic staff consultations. These consultations focus on the conceptual, creative and technical aspects of your elective work. The elective provides for the development and enhancement of critical skills through individual tutorials and critiques and the acquisition of technical skills appropriate to the assigned projects and/or individual work. You are expected to produce a body of work for review at regular intervals during the semester.
CAEL5038 Screen Printing: Introductory Workshop

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1,Semester 2 Classes: 1x3-hour studio class/week Assessment: experimental prints (20%) and self-directed project (80%) Campus: Rozelle
This unit of study introduces you to the techniques and conceptual underpinnings of screen printing, and develops your understanding of its application across a range of mediums. In addition to familiarising you with the practical skills necessary to use screen print as part of your own practice, the unit encourages you to critically engage with the medium by asking you to reflect on the specific qualities of this particular print process and its use more broadly in contemporary art.
CAEL5039 Fusion: Jewellery and Ceramics

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x3-hour studio class/week Assessment: technical samples (15%) and research assignments (25%) and self-directed project (60%) Campus: Rozelle
In etymological terms fusion refers to the merging or melting of different materials into one. In this unit of study you are asked to consider this concept also in relationship to the construction of an object from multiple parts. In this sense the artist becomes alchemist - or scientist, or musician, mixing, constructing and blending to create a new object.
Underpinned by processes of moulding notions of multiplicity, the original, the copy and the archetype come into question. The unit addresses the development of conceptual, formal and aesthetic approaches in making. The class will take place in both the ceramics and jewellery studios.
CAEL5041 Flung Ink Painting

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x3-hour studio class/week Assessment: group activities and discussion (10%) and self-directed project (90%) Campus: Rozelle
'Flung Ink' is a traditional form of Chinese painting. The goal of this practice is the unity of mind, body and field embodied in gestural mark. Flung ink is regarded as a form of calligraphy and its influence still persists in recent and contemporary art practices including the Japanese Gutai movement. You will explore the relationship between action, energy, mark and residue through the use of both traditional and non-traditional painting materials. You will be required to establish a regular meditation practice for the duration of this unit as this is the primary method of investigating states of non-duality and will be key to the structure of the unit of study.
CAEL5042 Upcycled Glass: Introducing Warm Glass

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1,Semester 2 Classes: 1x3-hour studio class/week Assessment: research project and presentation (20%) and surface and form exercises (40%) and environmental sculpture project (40%) Campus: Rozelle
This unit of study examines conceptual and practical applications of up-cycled and found glass through contemporary art and design. Your understanding of the ubiquity of glass and its reuse in various guises will be developed through a self directed research projects and presentation of your findings. Technical introductions using found and recycled glass allow you to traverse a raft of reductive and manipulative processes, including: diamond cutting, polishing, lathe-working, engraving and joining. Your projects will combine critical and practical skills learned to the development and realisation of artistic works. You may decide to work exclusively within the medium of glass or in conjunction with other media and processes as required.
MFDI9303 Digital Effects for Film and Video

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1,Semester 2 Classes: 1x3-hour studio class/week Assessment: project proposal (25%) and class presentation (15%) and project (60%) Campus: Rozelle
The aim of this unit of study is to equip you with a conceptual understanding and technical expertise in the use of digital effects for film and video projects. You will be introduced to the use of software programs such as Adobe After Effects to explain how moving images can be transformed over time in combination with text, masks, animation, filters, effects and sound. You will learn how to author in After Effects through an intensive series of tutorials film/video screenings and practical studio workshops. This will culminate in the production of a studio project. The project is to be developed in consultation with an academic adviser.
MFDI9313 Digital Editing for Film and Video

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1,Semester 2 Classes: 1x3-hour studio class/week Assessment: project proposal (25%) and class presentation (15%) and project (60%) Campus: Rozelle
The aim of this unit of study is to equip you with a conceptual understanding and technical expertise in the use of digital editing for film and video projects. You will be introduced to the use of software programs such as Final Cut Pro HD to explain how edit moving images in to a project and how moving images can be transformed over time in combination with text, masks, filters, effects and sound. You will learn how to edit and master in Final Cut Pro HD through an intensive series of tutorials film/video screenings and practical studio workshops. This will culminate in the production of a studio project. The project is to be developed in consultation with an academic adviser.
MFDI9333 Experimental Film

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1,Semester 2 Classes: 1x3-hour studio class/week Assessment: production planning (20%) and presentation of independent research (20%) and project (60%) Campus: Rozelle
The aim of this unit of study is to encourage students to imaginatively explore the potential of working with film as a tactile, creative medium. The unit will explore key processes and issues related to the production and exhibition of experimental film works. This unit will include discussions, readings and screenings of relevant historical and contemporary film works. Some of the practical techniques that will be explored are: drawing, scratching and painting on emulsion, drawing an optical soundtrack, creating installed film work and film-loops, montage editing utilising found footage and coloured leader and Flatbed editing techniques. Bolex camera workshop will also be as an integral part of this unit of study. You will produce one self-initiated film project of 3 to 5 minutes in length. The project is to be developed in consultation with an academic adviser.
MMDE6101 Animation for Interactive Media & Video

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1,Semester 2 Classes: 1x1-hour lecture and 1x2-hour tutorial/week Assessment: 1x15min oral examination of presentation of major studio project (60%) and pre-production documentation (20%) and participation in class exercises (20%) Campus: Rozelle
Note: Special permission is required for cross-faculty enrolments. Please contact unit of study co-oridinator.
The aim of this unit of study is to give you a comprehensive understanding of techniques and approaches to enable you to create animated sequences for use in interactive media and video. Through a combination of film/video screenings, tutorials, practical studio seminars and class critiques you will be provided with an understanding of the creative potential of animation. A range of digital techniques will be explored, including the use of software programs such as Adobe Flash. You will learn techniques such as rotoscoping, and frame-by-frame animation while being introduced to fundamental approaches for producing 2D animated sequences in the digital environment. In addition, a range of other techniques such as stop-motion animation will be examined in the context of contemporary production. During the semester you will complete a short animation project that will be developed, along with supporting paper-based designs, in consultation with an academic advisor.
RMAP5003 Research Methodology in Art Practice

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2-hour seminar/week Assessment: basic research skills assessment (20%) and research writing and presentation (30%) and research proposal (50%) Campus: Rozelle
Research Methodology in Art Practice (RMAP) investigates traditional research skills, literature reviews and statistical testing/analysis as well as emergent and interdisciplinary methodologies drawn from intuitive reflective practice in the studio. RMAP explores the pursuit of knowledge and realization of singular perspectives through practice-led visual arts research, emphasizing the interaction between creative practice and the discursive component.

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences electives

The following units of study are available to MFDI students only.
ARHT6925 Cinematographic Performance

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2-hr seminar/week Assessment: 1x4000wd essay (100%) Campus: Camperdown/Darlington
Taking its cue from the etymology of the word Cinematography (writing with movement), this unit of study addresses the idea of performance. This includes the persona (mask) of the actor, but is not restricted to the organic human body. The vitality of 'non-organic' performance of cinematic elements and forces will receive equal attention. Conceptual tools for the analysis of a range of films will be drawn from an interdisciplinary field including theories of culture, fashion, gender, theatre, and neuroscience and philosophy.
ARHT6930 Film Theory: Art, Industry, Culture

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2-hr seminar/week Assessment: 2x2000wd essays (100%) Campus: Camperdown/Darlington
The relation of film to industrial modernity is an ongoing issue for film theorists. With the advent of digital image processes and production the relation of art and industry has re-emerged with a new set of problems. How do we conceptualise the new forms? What theoretical and aesthetic language(s) do we draw on? And how best to rethink film in the face of rapid technological, formal and cultural change? These issues will be investigated via an examination of the history of film theory's attempts to formulate concepts adequate to the age of industrial modernity.
ENGL6903 Creative Writing: Screenwriting Workshop

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2-hr seminar/week Assessment: 1x6000wd original written work by the end of the semester (100%) Campus: Camperdown/Darlington
This is a unit in writing film, television and/or theatre scripts taught by an established script writer. Students are required to produce their own work or works throughout the semester. These works will provide the basis for discussion in class.
The following units of study are available to MIDM students only.
ARIN6901 Network Society

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2-hr seminar/week Assessment: 1x1500wd online themed presentation (20%), 1x1000wd weblog (20%), 1x2500wd essay (40%), participation (20%) Campus: Camperdown/Darlington
Is the network the distinctive mode of organisation for the 21st century? The Internet is the paradigmatic mode of decentralised many-to-many communication that interconnects with the century-old telecommunications and broadcasting networks. Geopolitical networks have displaced left/right Cold War oppositions. Social and professional networks extend influence beyond traditional institutional and family allegiances. Network models have challenged rationalist rule-governed models of thought and practice. The interdisciplinary critical analysis of current research, theory and debates will allow students to understand and evaluate the significance of networks in the contemporary world.
ARIN6902 Internet Cultures and Governance

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1,Summer Main Classes: 1x2-hr seminar/week Assessment: 1x1500wd report to government (25%), 1x1000wd editorial article (25%), 1x2500wd essay (35%), tutorial exercises and participation (15%) Campus: Camperdown/Darlington
The Internet is playing an increasingly important role in all aspects of social and economic life. This unit of study gives students an understanding of the underlying standards and regulations that impose constraints and open up opportunities for individuals and organisations to make strategic use of the global Internet infrastructure. The Internet provides a case study of how politics manifest not only in public rhetoric and policy, but also in the design of information architectures and interactive systems.

Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies electives

These units of study are available to MIDM students only.
COMP5028 Object-Oriented Design

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: One 2 hour lecture and one 1 hour tutorial per week. Assessment: Through semester assessment (50%), Final Exam (50%) Campus: Camperdown/Darlington
This unit introduces essential object-oriented design methods and language mechanisms, especially the principles of modelling through Rational Unified Process and agile processes using Unified Modeling Language (UML) and Java or C++, both of which are industry standard. Students work in small groups to experience the process of object-oriented analysis, object-oriented design, implementation and testing by building a real-world application. Java or C++ is used as the implementation language and a special emphasis is placed on those features of Java or C++ that are important for solving real-world problems. Advanced software engineering features, including exceptions and name spaces are thoroughly covered.
COMP5114 Digital Media Fundamentals

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1,Semester 2 Classes: One 2 hour lecture and one 1 hour tutorial per week. Assessment: Through semester assessment (50%), Final Exam (50%) Campus: Camperdown/Darlington
Digital media has become indispensable our heterogeneous computing and communication environment. This unit provides an overview of creating, processing, manipulating, and compressing digital media which mainly include image, audio and video. It introduces principles and current techniques such as multimedia data acquisition, analysis, processing and compression and management. It also elaborates different multimedia coding standards, various multimedia systems and cutting-edge multimedia applications such as web media.
COMP5116 Internet Protocols

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1,Semester 2 Classes: One 2 hour lecture and one 1 hour tutorial per week. Assessment: Through semester assessment (40%), Final Exam (60%) Campus: Camperdown/Darlington
The unit covers general foundations of communication systems and a detailed walk through of the implementation of the TCP/IP protocol stack, which forms the basis of the Internet. The unit also covers the basic knowledge of how to analyse, design and implement simple communication protocols.
Objectives: On completion of this unit students will have developed an understanding of the principles and practice of the layered model of communications architecture, the TCP/IP protocol stack and its component protocols, and various common techniques and tools for protocol analysis and design.
COMP5206 Introduction to Information Systems

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1,Semester 2 Classes: One 2 hour lecture and one 1 hour tutorial per week. Assessment: Through semester assessment (50%), Final Exam (50%) Campus: Camperdown/Darlington
This unit will provide a comprehensive introduction to the field of information systems from an organisational perspective. The critical role of information and knowledge management will be emphasised from both conceptual and practical standpoints. Methods and techniques for analysing systems and eliciting user requirements will be discussed. Key topics covered will include:
* Basic Information Systems Concepts
* Systems approach and systems thinking
* E-Business and E-Commerce
* Data and Knowledge Management
* Systems Analysis and Development Methodologies
* Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects of Information technologies
* Web 2.0 and Social Computing
Objectives: Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
1. Develop a good understanding of important information concepts,
2. Deep understanding of the systems approach and its applicability.
3. Develop skills to perform systems analysis in contemporary systems environments
4. Understanding of major conceptual and technological developments in Information Systems
COMP5211 Algorithms

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1,Semester 2 Classes: One 2 hour lectures and one 1 hour tutorial per week. Assessment: Through semester assessment (40%), Final Exam (60%) Campus: Camperdown/Darlington
The study of algorithms is a fundamental aspect of computing. This unit of study covers data structures, algorithms, and gives an overview of the main ways of computational thinking from simple list manipulation and data format conversion, up to shortest paths and cycle detection in graphs. Students will gain essential knowledge in computer science, including basic concepts in data structures, algorithms, and intractability, using paradigms such as dynamic programming, divide and conquer, greed, local search, and randomisation, as well NP-hardness.
COMP5212 Software Construction

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: One 2 hour lecture and one 2 hour tutorial per week. Assessment: Through semester assessments (100%) Campus: Camperdown/Darlington
Note: Department permission required for enrolment
This is a programming unit of study that is designed to enable students, coming from any background, to learn to program in the C language, with emphasis on the individual producing code that works correctly. as a gentler start to C itself, the unit starts with Python, introducing the same core ideas. Once students have mastered this, we move to C, tackling the same deep ideas in the context of the much more difficult programming in C.
Topics include: coding simple dynamic data structures (linked lists); debugging; use of Unix tools for managing programming activities such as testing; learning from manual entries for standard library functions and Unix commands.
On completion of this unit, students will have acquired programming skills and techniques applicable to the development of software used in areas such as networking, computer engineering, language translation, and operating systems.
COMP5213 Computer and Network Organisation

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: One 2 hour lecture and one 1 hour tutorial per week. Assessment: Through semester assessment (40%), Final Exam (60%) Campus: Camperdown/Darlington
This unit of study provides an overview of hardware and system software infrastructure including: compilers, operating systems, device drivers, network protocols, etc. It also includes user-level Unix skills and network usability. The objectives are to ensure that on completion of this unit students will have developed an understanding of compilers, operating systems, device drivers, network protocols, Unix skills and network usability.
COMP5214 Software Development in Java

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1,Semester 2 Classes: One 2 hour lecture and one 1 hour tutorial per week. Assessment: Through semester assessment (40%), Final Exam (60%) Campus: Camperdown/Darlington
Programming in a legible, maintainable, reusable way is essential to solve complex problems in the pervasive computing environments. This unit will equip students with foundation of programming concepts that are common to widely used programming languages. Students will be progressively guided in this introductory unit from necessary and important building blocks of programming to the object-oriented approach. Java, one of the most popular programming languages, is used in this unit. It provides interdisciplinary approaches, applications and examples to support students from broad backgrounds such as science, engineering, and mathematics.
PMGT5887 Computer Applications in PM

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1,Semester 2 Classes: Session 1: On-line; Session 2: Block-mode Assessment: Through semester assessment(50%), Final Exam (50%) Campus: Camperdown/Darlington
Computer-Aided Project Management builds a bridge from the genesis of project management principles through today`s software, developing a postmodern project management systems paradigm for the twenty-first century. Adopting a unique systems perspective that emphasises project coding--an essential skill in project database management--this course demonstrates what fundamental project management principles are, what they do, and how they work in the software environment. Addressing all phases of a project, it illustrates and expands theories through the use of realistic case studies and extensive exercises running on PCs. An important feature of systems project management, the use of ``scope`` and ``quality,`` is also discussed.
By the end of this unit of study, students should be able to:
- Understand application-based introduction to effective systems and methods for project planning and control
- Understand essential knowledge to manage successfully and to create, use, and communicate PC-, Server-, Web-, and Internet-based project management information.
- Understand the use of structures such as PDS (Project Definition Structure), WBS (Work Breakdown Structure), OBS (Organizational Breakdown Structure), and Masterformat project coding for areas, functions, elements, phases, stages, packages, purchase orders, contracts, and human resources planning and scheduling by CPM (Critical Path Method) and PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) communicating with Gantt and bar charts and graphics such as S curves relating estimating and cost control from order-of-magnitude numbers to appropriation grade budgets.