The web (and networked media in general) is transforming what it means to do interaction design. Sites that co-evolve based on user participation present new kinds of design challenges. The designer's role shifts from designing interfaces to designing the "clay" for the users to shape their own (also co-evolving) experiences. Then "ecosystems" are formed at the point where networked media meets organic substance and content is dynamically generated, on the fly, driven by participant's interaction with their environment and each other. This course seeks to answer the questions—What are these environments like? How can participants sustain a viable information ecosystem? What does it mean to design for dynamic (towards more animate) interaction environments?

The course will be divided into three areas:
1) Three dimensions of change
new narrative structures
new senses of self, identity, and community
new kinds of places

2) Issues at the intersection
foundational architecture
vivifying design and speciation of objects
experiences

3) Designing for dynamic interaction
design languages, meta design, new genres

The discussion in the course will be guided by readings in the three areas. In addition, students will participate primarily via networked media-providing first hand experience with new communication conventions and issues of community building that arise as a result from mediated networked communication and collaboration. Outside speakers will also participate remotely.

What are the expected outcomes from the course?
The course is specifically designed to understand the nature of dynamic environments through experience in immersive dynamic environments. We believe that we will learn to make better environments by living in a variety of different ones and understanding their strengths and weaknesses.

In addition, we will develop a deep understanding of what it means to have resources at your fingertips (since much of the course will be reference work on the web) and how that availability can influence individual and group contributions. One initial hypothesis is that if the technology readily supports this "at hand" experience, the quality of the conversations we will have, and work we can accomplish should increase accordingly.

Session overview
Classes will meet on-line Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:30 to 11:50am. Check the timeline for the topics we'll discuss at each session.

Books and readings
The following books will be used for the course:
Hamlet on the Holodeck by Janet H. Murray
At Home in the Universe by Stuart Kauffman
City of Bits by William J. Mitchell
Life on the Screen by Sherry Turkle
Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
Bringing Design to Software by Terry Winnograd
Mechanization Takes Command by Siegfried Giedion

Other readings may be included in the scene as they are relevant..

Assignments
Each week students will be expected to email/post a brief statement (~600 words or less) responding to a topic of the week, or describing a site that illustrates the ideas that have been presented in the readings. These assignments should be contributed to the scene no less than 24 hours before the Tuesday class session.

Each student will undertake a final project:
a 10-15 page paper or a demonstration project with documentation. Most of the classes will be conducted on-line. Participation in the on-line discussion is required.

Instructors
Shelley Evenson & John Rheinfrank
TA: Jack Leon Moffet
Observer: Bridget L. Johnson-Heckbert
Visiting lecturers: Janet H. Murrary 29 January session Others participants will be announced.

The nature of the interactions
When the class meets face-to-face students will review the readings and present their responses. It will be conducted as any other seminar course. On-line sessions will be conducted via an on-line chat application. Some chat applications/sites we will be working with are: Microsoft chat (with net meeting) iChat, Placeware, SneakerChat,OnLive, VPlaces, The Palace and Electric Minds

Some of the sessions will be designed to allow all students to participate whenever they want to participate. In other sessions, the students will be assigned to 1 of 4 communication teams. Each team will have a designated spokesperson for that particular session. Other team members will be present and required to "lurk" during the class. If a non-spokesperson needs to communicate during the session, the moderator/ wizard will grant permission. We will take advantage of the technology by using it to point to examples that relate to the readings during the class sessions. In addition students will be encouraged to actively find additional "references" as we engage in discussion.