SIAM committee

Science Math and IAM oh my

todo create logons for

crasinariu@colum.edu

nquyen@colum.edu

mshannon@colum.edu

plichty@colum.edu

abarbier@colum.edu

Khoi Nquyen

Professor - Science & Math

and

Constantin Rasinariu, PhD

Professor of Physics & Acting Chair

Department of Science and Mathematics

statement:

SIAM Vision Statement: The SIAM Working Group (Science/Interactive Art&/[Media/Mathematics]) is an ad hoc group concerned with the creation of projects and curricula which integrate applied science and technological media arts in order to create greater technical knowledge and to develop advanced intuitive understanding in all areas of research.

This collegial dialogue is a logical extension of the expanding role of qualitative methods in robotics and data visualization (Sci->Art), and the increasing role of applied sciences in HCI, “Serious Gaming”, Simulations, and Virtual Reality (Art->Sci). These principles are already expressed in the curriculum, such as in the Math & Science courses for the Game Design major. Therefore, the SIAM Working Group is interested in closer cooperation between the IAM and Sci/Math Departments as an expression of the expanding convergence between the applied sciences and technological arts, its goal being creative expression using scientific principles and methods.

Our goal is to make development and research methods, processes and media part of the academic environment. Our function is not the creation of Computer-Based Training, or educational New Media. While these are worthy goals, they are being addressed in other areas of the College.

The SIAM group seeks closer cooperation between the Interactive Arts and Media and Science and Mathematics in order to promote literacy in the scientific method and its application to the arts, and in order to educate students in art forms that ask questions about science and how we are using it. Further, we believe that artists working at the technological vanguard should be equipped with the skills and understanding of scientific methods and concepts, and that artists should bring visual and media literacies to scientific concepts, creating greater understanding and new insights in these areas. Members of our combined faculty are already working in this interdisciplinary method of expression, and we feel it is of great benefit to ourselves and our institution to acknowledge this shift in sensibilities, as it represents great opportunities for the coming years. In doing so, we hope to allow our students and faculty to work in a more interdisciplinary fashion so that our respective, increasingly parallel traditions of applied science and technological art can develop in a logical synergy, with rigor, creativity and a sound methodological foundation.

However, although technology is currently part of our core interests, we do not wish to be limited to the constraints of the contemporary perception that technology assumes computer technology. We believe that although digital media are currently tightly linked to our goals, we also want to state firmly that the SIAM Group’s mission is also interested in all relevant areas of research related to art and science, including history, biology, space, social sciences, geoscience, and all other areas of inquiry necessary to fostering greater understanding of our methods, creating meaningful insights, and developing ourselves and our students as interdisciplinary practitioners. We believe that this multiplicity of approaches will be necessary in the coming years, and SIAM embraces this disciplinary pluralism with great enthusiasm.

Associated Research: Relevant articles by Stephen Wilson: Art as Research http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~swilson/papers/artist.researcher.html Info on Information Arts (his book) http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~swilson/emerging/wilson.newtech.html The Relationship of Cultural Theory to Art That Uses Emerging Technologies http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~swilson/papers/postmodern.pap.html