Q1WalterMahfuz

Document Q1WalterMahfuz

1. Your Name

Walter Mahfuz

2. Your field of study?

Comp Sci/Physics/Math

3. In which semester of study are you?

5th Semester Senior

4. Why are you interested in taking this course?

Because the concept of mixing "objective technology" with "subjective design or creativity" is very appealing and would be a good addition to my curriculum.

5. What courses / work activities / background knowledge do you have which might be relevant to this course?

Not a lot. I'm starting with a clean slate.

6. Indicate your own digital literacy / fluency:
6.1. Describe your programming experience (languages, projects)

C++, Java, Python, Action Script. I have a little bit of Data Bases knowledge as well.

6.2. What applications are you familiar with (e.g. Photoshop, Canvas, Dreamweaver,...)?

Some Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, Flex 3, and also working with GUI's using the NetBeans IDE.

7. Give a brief description of the most important book / article which you have read with respect to the topic of the course.

Unfortunately I haven't read any books on the topic. Any background that I might have comes from reading magazine articles or blogs throughout the years. Wired Magazine can sometimes come out with really interesting articles about the use of new media, or trends that are taking place. Art galleries and museums are also places to discover how the electronic media is being used in groundbreaking ways.

8. What do you hope and expect to learn from this course?

I'm very interested in learning the process behind creating something uniquely and usefully appealing from bits and bytes. I'm also hoping that our interactive environment will allow me to learn more about my peers' thoughts and ideas, which is always a great tool to help put things into perspective.