This course explores the ways in which technological tools and activities can transform how we think, what we think about, and who we think with.
For the spring 1997 semester, the course will have a more project-oriented and "experimental" flavor than in the past. The themes and activities of the course will revolve around a project known as the Virtual Fishtank.
The Virtual Fishtank (a joint project of the Media Lab and the Computer Museum) is a museum exhibit in which visitors will design the behaviors of artificial fish, then observe the patterns that form as their fish interact with one another and with the environment. The over-arching goal is to help visitors gain a better understanding of complex systems and emergent phenomena.
In the course, students will work in groups on design projects related to the Fishtank exhibit -- and also use the Fishtank as a case study in investigating how new computational tools can encourage new ways of thinking. In particular, we will use the Fishtank as an opportunity to explore the idea of ecological thinking. That is, we will examine how an ecologically-inspired, systems-oriented perspective can help people in understanding not only fish and ecosystems but also many other phenomena in the world (including social systems, economic systems, and even thinking itself).
Here is a tentative schedule.
Here are links to other related Web sites (including sample software).
Here is a description of the final project.
Course administrator:
Florence Williams
(daria@media.mit.edu)
E15-318, 253-0330