Two worlds collide to create new digital media program
March 27, 2008
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Jennifer Brown
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Moiz Syed secretly wishes he had been born about four years later – at least from an academic perspective.
The 21-year-old Mississauga student has been studying toward a bachelor of fine arts degree at York University. Although design was his major, he also took computer science courses – managing to transcend traditional academic barriers and keep a foot in both faculties.
As it turns out, Syed wasn't the only one who saw a future for combining the two realms. Next year, York will offer a B.A. in digital media – the first of its kind in the GTA – offered jointly by York's faculty of fine arts and the faculty of science and engineering.
"It's a hybrid degree that is almost a studio degree, in a sense," explains Don Sinclair, co-ordinator of the digital media program and associate professor of the fine arts and cultural studies program at York.
"This is the kind of degree I would have wanted to take as an undergraduate student," says Sinclair, whose own background is in computer science, music and math.
Graduates will be qualified to work as programmers or managers in many media-based fields, such as computer gaming, film effects, television and Web-based applications, the creation of installation art and even wearable computer devices.
Course options will include game engine development, building interactive systems, programming for digital media and designing interactive objects.
In an age of digital media that increasingly touch everyday life, the demand for those who can effectively combine engineering and fine arts skills is on the rise, Sinclair says.
Syed is a textbook example. In his last year of high school, he was accepted in computer science programs at the University of Waterloo, the University of Toronto and Queen's, but instead chose graphic design at York. "I didn't want to be stuck in a small room just typing code all day," he explains.
However, by the end of his first year in the design program, he felt it wasn't a perfect fit, either. "There was too much design and not enough computer work," he says.
So after first year, Syed added computer science elective courses to his design portfolio wherever possible.
Allana Mayer also wanted to add technical skills to her fine arts studies. Mayer is enrolled in the fine arts and cultural studies program and is completing a course with Sinclair called "designing interactive physical environments."
For Mayer, who has an interest in music criticism and other fine arts but had no real desire to do computer programming, the course has helped bridge the two worlds.
"I've always been good at math, so it's been nice to discover, with some of the programs we use in the new media classes, that a lot of artistic control is founded in just being able to understand and manipulate data," she says.
"When we conceived of this degree, we decided we had to push the fact you could enrol in this degree either from the faculty of science and engineering, or the faculty of fine arts," Sinclair says.
About 80 per cent of applicants have come through the fine arts faculty, 20 per cent through science and engineering.
The prerequisites for entry are fairly open but high school students applying are required to have some Grade 12 or university-level math, and a background in fine arts.
"It's difficult to require a fine arts course because many schools don't offer them," Sinclair says.
There are 120 applicants to the degree program for next fall, with just 25 to 30 spots available.
Toronto Star