Interdisciplinary and International Study Programs in Digital Media Design and Engineering

1. Interdisciplinary and International Study Programs in Digital Media Design and Engineering Martin Šperka, Alena Kovárová Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies Slovak University of Technology, Bratislava, Slovakia

2. CONTENT • Motivation • Real Situation • Definitions of Digital Media Design • IT versus ART • Projects • Recommendation • 1. project - questionaries and evaluations • 2. project • Conclusions Interdisciplinary and International Study Programs in Digital Media Design and Engineering Šperka, Kovárová: FIIT STU, Bratislava

3. MOTIVATION • Developing new products containing digital media interfaces and systems: • 1. Integrating interactive media text, image, animation, video, sound, virtualreality such as computer network applications, interactive CD/DVD ROM, mobile devices, information kiosks and objects • 2. Requires specific knowledge and skills • in electronic engineering • information technology • media design – user interface design  Interdisciplinary and International Study Programs in Digital Media Design and Engineering Šperka, Kovárová: FIIT STU, Bratislava

4. REAL SITUATION 1/2 • Companies There are many companies where engineers and designers work together, but in many there are only engineers or designers. The need to find a common language for communication and the knowledge of fundamentals in other field is very valuable. • Education In many countries exist schools providing a combined education in IT and art design. In Slovakia there exists no such educational institution. • Goal The goal is to createcomprehensive curriculum to overcome the gap between the world of media engineering and art design Interdisciplinary and International Study Programs in Digital Media Design and Engineering Šperka, Kovárová: FIIT STU, Bratislava

5. REAL SITUATION 2/2 • The main idea • To create such study program, which graduates would cover the lack of experts in our market area. • Problems • Existing subjects should be modified to meet existing knowledge for both groups of students. • Traditional border between world of science and engineering on one side and the art and design on the other. Interdisciplinary and International Study Programs in Digital Media Design and Engineering Šperka, Kovárová: FIIT STU, Bratislava

6. DEFINITIONS OF DIGITAL MEDIA DESIGN • Digital media belongs to a group together with multimedia, intermedia, cross-media, new media and interactive media • Design is understood differently is art emphasizing creativity and attraction has standardizedrules, necessary to learn and respect • Same field – different groups each group has own vocabulary => don’t understand each other Interdisciplinary and International Study Programs in Digital Media Design and Engineering Šperka, Kovárová: FIIT STU, Bratislava

7. focus: improve and invent new theories, techniques and technologies of digital media education: + functional principles + working with multimedia information - aesthetics focus: creativity and visual aesthetics education: + multimedia creation + authoring tool – principles of functionality IT versus ART Interdisciplinary and International Study Programs in Digital Media Design and Engineering Šperka, Kovárová: FIIT STU, Bratislava

8. PROJECTS • 1. Interdisciplinary study program in design of interactive digital media • FA SUT + FIIT SUT (Slovakia) • 2. Joint Degree in Media Development Engineering [JDMDE] • Denmark + Belgium + Finland + Poland + Slovakia + Spain • 3. Artistic forms in communication design FA SUT (Slovakia) Interdisciplinary and International Study Programs in Digital Media Design and Engineering Šperka, Kovárová: FIIT STU, Bratislava

9. RECOMMENDATION • of EADIM = European Academy of Digital Media knowledge and skills in multimedia technologies legislative, business and media production management 30% 30% media design and aesthetics 30% Interdisciplinary and International Study Programs in Digital Media Design and Engineering Šperka, Kovárová: FIIT STU, Bratislava

10. 1. projectInterdisciplinary study program in design of interactive digital media Interdisciplinary and International Study Programs in Digital Media Design and Engineering Šperka, Kovárová: FIIT STU, Bratislava

11. QUESTIONNAIRES 1/2 • To answer these and other important questions, we prepared 3 types of special questionnaires. 1. Companies associated with software, hardware and digital media development 2. Students of FIIT STU 3. Students of FA STU (Institute of Design) • Questionnaires should help devise a student profile and create a suitable curriculum of the current studying program Interdisciplinary and International Study Programs in Digital Media Design and Engineering Šperka, Kovárová: FIIT STU, Bratislava

12. QUESTIONNAIRES 2/2 • Companies • To find out what kinds of profession/knowledge they would require from their employees provided that they would be graduates of Digital Media Design program. • Students FIIT STU • To find out in which of the FA existing courses these students would be interested, if they had the chance to make the choice. • Students FA STU • To find out in which of the FIIT existing courses these students would be interested, if they had the chance to make the choice. Interdisciplinary and International Study Programs in Digital Media Design and Engineering Šperka, Kovárová: FIIT STU, Bratislava

13. EVALUATION 1/2Students of FIIT STU Interdisciplinary and International Study Programs in Digital Media Design and Engineering Šperka, Kovárová: FIIT STU, Bratislava

14. EVALUATION 2/2Students of FA STU Interdisciplinary and International Study Programs in Digital Media Design and Engineering Šperka, Kovárová: FIIT STU, Bratislava

15. 2. project: JDMDE as bachelor degree level • Joint Degree in Media Development Engineering • Belgium - Advanced network technologies • Denmark - Interactive systems design • Finland - 3D Visualization Techniques • Poland - Management and Industrial Engineering • Slovakia - Interactive systems • Spain - Advanced Audiovisual Information Processing Systems & Techniques Interdisciplinary and International Study Programs in Digital Media Design and Engineering Šperka, Kovárová: FIIT STU, Bratislava

16. CONCLUSIONS • The need for specialist in digital interactive media on the labor marked is big. • => New study programs and institutions, which cover this field, are created. • Because this engineering and design area is interdisciplinary, it is useful to integrate existing resources as well as we did in projects. Interdisciplinary and International Study Programs in Digital Media Design and Engineering Šperka, Kovárová: FIIT STU, Bratislava

17. Acknowledgements • This work was partially supported by the Slovak Cultural Grant Agency (KEGA) under the contract No. 3/3206/05 - Study in Design of Interactive Digital Media and No. 3/3253/05 Artistic Forms in Communication Design. • We would like to thank Ľubomír Horník, associate professor at the FA STU, who helped us to collect data at the FA SUT. Interdisciplinary and International Study Programs in Digital Media Design and Engineering Šperka, Kovárová: FIIT STU, Bratislava

18. Thank you for your attention. Martin Šperkasperka@fiit.stuba.sk Alena Kovárová kovarova@fiit.stuba.sk Interdisciplinary and International Study Programs in Digital Media Design and Engineering Šperka, Kovárová: FIIT STU, Bratislava