Admission requirements
Bachelor degree (completed)
Description
The Sound, Space and Interaction course focuses on created and existing interrelations between Sound, Space and Interaction. It addresses sound-based interaction, structuring interaction in space and structuring sound in space.
Part of the interrelations between Sound, Space and Interaction are determined by the physical world around us while we can shape, structure and create new relationships that build upon or even contradict the physical world.
Key concepts developed in the course are:
The concept of sonic language, including representational and non-representational forms.
The concept of interactive dialog, including aspects of control, meaning and surprise.
The concepts of sonic and spatial interaction as opposed to, for example, screen-based interaction.
It could be said that the course aims to extrapolate the abstract nature of music into interactive and spatial directions.
The course form is a combination of lectures and labs that converge towards the final project. The lectures are given over the full period of the course and are used to transmit knowledge regarding the course topic. The corresponding labs are structured in two phases. During the first phase the labs have assignments that aim to develop the student’s skills, challenge their creativity in specific ways and prepare them for the final assignment. In the second phase of the course the students use the lab to experiment and get support with the development of their final assignments.
The Sound, Space and Interaction course uses Pure Data, an open-source visual programming language for multimedia, as development platform. However, students are not restricted to this and can create combinations with other platforms.
As final assignment the students make their own interactive sound environment.
Course objectives
Develop a substantial level of understanding of the field of Sound, Space and Interaction.
Enable the students to (learn how to) make their own work.
Challenge the creativity of the students to develop new forms of sonic language, interactive dialog and spatial interaction with the aim to demonstrate their understanding of the field and make a possible contribution to the field.
Timetable
You will find the timetables for all courses and degree programmes of Leiden University in the tool MyTimetable (login). Any teaching activities that you have sucessfully registered for in MyStudyMap will automatically be displayed in MyTimeTable. Any timetables that you add manually, will be saved and automatically displayed the next time you sign in.
MyTimetable allows you to integrate your timetable with your calendar apps such as Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and other calendar apps on your smartphone. Any timetable changes will be automatically synced with your calendar. If you wish, you can also receive an email notification of the change. You can turn notifications on in ‘Settings’ (after login).
For more information, watch the video or go the the 'help-page' in MyTimetable. Please note: Joint Degree students Leiden/Delft have to merge their two different timetables into one. This video explains how to do this.
Mode of instruction
Lecture, Seminar
Assessment method
In order to complete the course, the students have to successfully execute the final project, successfully complete the lab assignments, actively engage in the course and adhere to the compulsory attendance.
The project grade is based on the quality, ambition and originality of the final project. The final project is judged from the perspectives of sonic language, spatial interaction and interactive dialog. The final project consists of a presentation of the work, a written report regarding the development and execution of the work, submission of all the related material including source code, sound samples, etc.
The final course grade is determined by the grade of the project and the successful completion of several lab assignments, as follows: the final course grade equals the project grade minus one full point for each lab assignment that was not completed successfully.
There is a possibility to do a retake for the project when the project grade is lower than 5.5. This normally includes the development and realization of a fully new work. The deadlines for this can be discussed with the lecturer on an individual basis.
Reading list
The course uses a combination of articles that will be communicated during the course. The deadlines regarding the reading material will be communicated through the course website as well.
Registration
From the academic year 2022-2023 on every student has to register for courses with the new enrollment tool MyStudyMap. There are two registration periods per year: registration for the fall semester opens in July and registration for the spring semester opens in December. Please see this page for more information.
Please note that it is compulsory to both preregister and confirm your participation for every exam and retake. Not being registered for a course means that you are not allowed to participate in the final exam of the course. Confirming your exam participation is possible until ten days before the exam.
Extensive FAQ's on MyStudymap can be found here.
Contact
Contact the lecturer(s) for course specific questions, and the programme's coordinator for questions regarding admission and/or registration.
Remarks
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.