Admission requirements
Media Technology MSc students
Description
In this course students gain experience with communicating scientific insights by means of a designed experience instead of the written format that is common in science communication. After conceptualizing and materializing an experience, the works are presented as a public exhibition hosted by the students, and spanning multiple days.
The process is structured in the following way:
I. Students search for a scientific insight that is challenging to be translated into an experience. For example a theoretical or abstract scientific insight could be translated into a concrete experience. The term ‘translation’ is important in the sense that we do not want students to copy or repeat an experience that is already part of the scientific research itself, or create simply a demonstration of an insight — students must create the translation themselves.
II. After choosing the scientific insight it is reformulated in the form of a compelling statement. The statement describes the insight that students wish to convey to the audience, via a designed experience. The statement does not need to reflect the scientific insight directly; it may also contradict it, extrapolate it, re-appropriate it, or question it (in which case the statement takes the form of a question). The statement should be compelling to the audience in that it is engaging, captivating, challenging, exciting, or infuriating.
III. Next, students develop a concept for the translation of the statement into a captivating experience that will be part of, and functions in the context of, the exhibition. The concept describes how you are going to achieve the experience of your statement: what is it that you will build or do. After developing the concept, it is important to test it in the simplest way possible, test if the key elements of your concept work. This is particularly relevant if the concept relies on assumptions of how people function/react.
IV. Finally, students realize the concept into its actual form. A popular form is that of an interactive installation, but we pose no limits on the form, other than that it must provide an experience to a general audience in an exhibition context. Alternative forms may include film, dance, performance, game, non-interactive exhibits, sensory or olfactory experiences, and so forth.
Students work in groups, generally containing three students plus a coach from the lecturer team.
Course objectives
After completing the course students are able to:
analyse a scientific insight in terms of its potential impact on a general audience;
translate this insight into a statement and subsequently an experience;
design and realise the experience for exhibition in a public space;
understand how scientific insights can be translated into experiences;
host their work in a public exhibition context.
Timetable
In MyTimetable, you can find all course and programme schedules, allowing you to create your personal timetable. Activities for which you have enrolled via MyStudyMap will automatically appear in your timetable.
Additionally, you can easily link MyTimetable to a calendar app on your phone, and schedule changes will be automatically updated in your calendar. You can also choose to receive email notifications about schedule changes. You can enable notifications in Settings after logging in.
Questions? Watch the video, read the instructions, or contact the ISSC helpdesk.
Note: Joint Degree students from Leiden/Delft need to combine information from both the Leiden and Delft MyTimetables to see a complete schedule. This video explains how to do it.
Mode of instruction
Lecture, Seminar, Excursion/Exhibition. Students are required to attend all plenary events (kick-off, site-visits, invited lectures, plus all other plenary meetings) and to host their work at the final public exhibition.
Assessment method
Evaluation of group works takes place based on the careful assessment of four criteria by the collective teaching staff involved in the course:
1) General process (16,666%)
This grade represents the quality of the done work (not to be confused with the realized work). This includes the quality of the exploration towards finding the insight (How extensive was the search? What directions were explored? Etc.), the quality of the statement development process, the quality of the concept development process, and the quality of realization process. The term quality includes motivation, dedication, collaboration, playfulness, out-of-the-box thinking, analysis, reflection.
2) Quality of the statement (16,666%)
Is the chosen scientific insight challenging to be translated into an experience, or is it obvious? How was the statement derived from the insight? What is the relation between the theme, the exploration process and the statement? Does the statement explain itself? Is it original and compelling? How “interesting” is the statement for the public?
3) Concept (16,666%)
Does the concept suit the statement? What alternative concepts were explored? Does the concept convey the statement, and was this validated through prototype (bubblegum and sticky tape) testing?
4) Final work (50%)
Does it work? When experiencing the work, is the statement conveyed? Does the work explain itself or does it require further explanation? Is the work original and compelling? Does the work use the exhibition format in an interesting and meaningful way? What is the implementation quality? Optional: does the interaction work well?
A paper that describes the group process must be written by the students. It may affect assessment of the work, but is not separately graded.
Reading list
Not appropriate.
Registration
As a student, you are responsible for enrolling on time through MyStudyMap.
In this short video, you can see step-by-step how to enrol for courses in MyStudyMap.
Extensive information about the operation of MyStudyMap can be found here.
There are two enrolment periods per year:
Enrolment for the fall opens in July
Enrolment for the spring opens in December
See this page for more information about deadlines and enrolling for courses and exams.
Note:
It is mandatory to enrol for all activities of a course that you are going to follow.
Your enrolment is only complete when you submit your course planning in the ‘Ready for enrolment’ tab by clicking ‘Send’.
Not being enrolled for an exam/resit means that you are not allowed to participate in the exam/resit.
Contact
Contact the lecturer(s) for course specific questions, and the programme's coordinator for questions regarding admission and/or registration.
Remarks
The exact exhibition time schedule can only be determined as the course progresses, since it is dependent on variable factors such as number of groups and exhibition space availability and features.
Exchange students (other than Media Technology students) need to be admitted to the course before registration due to limited capacity. Contact the programme's coordinator to request admission; include a short description of your course interest and state your current study programme in your correspondence.
This course substitutes Exhibition: Statement to Experience (Level 500, 12 EC), and therefore it is not available to students who completed the previous version before 1 September 2020.
Software
Starting from the 2024/2025 academic year, the Faculty of Science will use the software distribution platform Academic Software. Through this platform, you can access the software needed for specific courses in your studies. For some software, your laptop must meet certain system requirements, which will be specified with the software. It is important to install the software before the start of the course. More information about the laptop requirements can be found on the student website.