Question: Can new media development work truly find a home as part of an English department when the course and the students deal with such a wide range of theoretical concerns and with such a wide range of technological practices?

Yes, if English is open to the special needs and requirements of true interdisciplinary teaching and course design. This can be asking a lot, however, from any specific field of study since interdisciplinary teaching can be quite difficult to successfully integrate into any curriculum.

The concern at the heart of any interdisciplinary, media-centered approach to teaching new media is how much foreknowledge of media study and practice instructors can expect from their students. Interdisciplinary study is, by nature, fairly anarchic, drawing students from all parts of a university, bringing with them a wide range of academic, social, and technological backgrounds.

     
  Image of festival parade cast against the side of the CompuObscura. Taken by Cal Poly Architecture class students using class-created model and slide projector, Spring 2004.  
     
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