Swerdloff Dot Com

I have had a lot of people ask me – “Swerdloff” they say, because that’s what people call me, “Swerdloff, what the hell are you doing?” And I say “I’m at ITP!” and they say “um OMG WTF ITP?” or they say “What’s that” depending on whether it’s an IM or an in-person thing. Invariably, I point them to the ITP website and then describe a project or two or three if they still don’t get it. Maybe a fourth if they ask “what do you plan to do with this degree, exactly?”

I try metaphor – “It’s art for technologists” “technology for artists” “We’re building the future” “Second wave technologies built on things we tear up” “Hogwarts for hackers” or as Clay described it to me yesterday, “the center for the recently possible” which I like.

It’s very difficult going to a not-product-based incubator, a space that’s not art school but aims at artists, that’s not engineering but aims at engineers, and that’s not really definable. Particularly when you are studying identity! Also when your friends are lawyers, writers, bankers, bloggers, and other -ers that are easily defined.

I’ve copied and pasted the Wikipedia entry on ITP, strangely listed within the Tisch School page. I say strangely because despite having space there and sharing elevators (hello ladies of the drama department…) we really don’t interact with them much. Doubly ironic, since we’re the Interactive telecommunications program, and we don’t interact. Get it? Not in the 10,000 spoons way… ok shut up.

So, I reproduce this here for your pleasure. With luck, it’ll start to give you a sense of what I’m doing. And as you can see, after many years away – I’m back.

Tisch School of the Arts – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

The Interactive Telecommunications Program is a pioneering graduate department focused on the study and design of new media, computational media and embedded computing under the umbrella of interactivity.

Founded in 1979, the origins of the program date back to 1971 when George Stoney and Red Burns created the Alternate Media Center (AMC). ITP grew out of the work of the AMC, and set the stage for the experimentation which would follow as well as the informing spirit of collaboration, and the ongoing emphasis on crafting social applications and putting the needs of the user first. A pioneering center for application development and field trials, the AMC initially focused on exploring the then-new tool of portable video made possible by Sony’s introduction of the Portapak video camera.

Red Burns and her colleagues at the AMC came from backgrounds in documentary film and traditional media — they shared a vision for a freely accessible, grass-roots technology which would enable users to create their own documentaries and distribute them widely. Their efforts led to many significant developments in the field, including lobbying Congress for the creation of what is now public-access television and significant field trials for two-way television in community settings, the use of teletext in major urban centers and communications technologies for the developmentally disabled.

Burns believed that a graduate course of study was needed to train creative, forward thinking, ethical new media developers for what she saw would be a new and growing field. The first 20 graduate students entered the program in 1979 — and it grew quickly from there. In 1983 Burns turned her full attention from AMC to ITP and was appointed Chair of the department, a position she holds today. In 1996, she was awarded the Tokyo Broadcasting Systems Chair. Under her leadership the department has become an internationally renowned center for scholars and practitioners who are eager to engage the newest technologies and put them in the hands of media-makers.

Michael Mills, former full-time faculty member of ITP, went on to Apple Computer. His group developed the original prototypes that later became QuickTime. Current ITP professor Dan O’Sullivan, during his student years, served as an intern at Apple and created the prototype for the first navigable interactive movies. O’Sullivan also introduced the first widely used interactive television application in NYC, produced and broadcast directly from ITP by way of Manhattan Cable Public Access.

Industry leaders, artists and visionaries who have lectured at ITP over the years include Academy-Award winner, Chairman and CEO of R/Greenberg Associates Digital Studios Robert M. Greenberg, musician and pioneer of immersive virtual reality Jaron Lanier, multimedia artist Vito Acconci, multimedia artist & musician Laurie Anderson, Ethernet creator Bob Metcalfe, CEO of New York Times Digital Martin Nisenholtz, artist Toshio Iwai, and Masamichi Udagawa and Sigi Moeslinger of Antenna Design, to name but a few.

Current ITP faculty members are known for their contributions to the new media field — Daniel Rozin, Chrysler Design Award-Winning Artist in Residence, has had his work shown in major museums around the world, most recently at the Israel Museum; Dan O’Sullivan and Tom Igoe have just published the authoritative text on physical computing; Jean-Marc Gauthier is the author of several books on interactive 3D applications, and his art installations have been seen internationally; Douglas Rushkoff and Clay Shirky are widely published critics, authors and journalists; Marianne Petit is an artist well known for her interactive stories as well as her work in assistive technologies and social applications; Red Burns has served on many boards and is regularly an invited speaker at industry events — she is also the recipient of a Chrysler Design Award, for “Design Champion,” a leadership award from the New York Hall of Science, the educator award from the Art Directors Club, Crain’s All Star Award, the NYC Mayor’s Award for science and technology and was the first recipient of the Matrix Award.

The online magazine Digital Performance describes ITP as

“An oversized Greenwich Village loft houses the computer labs, rotating exhibitions, and production workshops that are ITP — the Interactive Telecommunications Program. Founded in 1979 as the first graduate education program in alternative media, ITP has grown into a living community of technologists, theorists, engineers, designers, and artists uniquely dedicated to pushing the boundaries of interactivity in the real and digital worlds. A hands-on approach to experimentation, production and risk-taking make this hi-tech fun house a creative home not only to its 230 students, but also to an extended network of the technology industry’s most daring and prolific practitioners.”