Overview

As for a general overview of the labs, the syllabus states the following: " Each lecture will be followed by a lab session where the class works ** ‘hands on’ ** on related creative and technical exercises. Students will be expected to not only utilize, but engage various means of production to demonstrate their perspective on (and experience with) the urban environment." 'Hands-on' is the optimal phrase in that sentence, in CCT335 you will be expected to synthesize the readings and get out into the city (or edge city, or suburb – where ever you call home or want to explore) and observe and critically engage it. The lab assignments will be slightly open ended, so it is ** expected ** that you will take ownership of them and execute them in a way that speaks to your skills and interests. We will show examples of how you // might, //carry these assignments out but the onus is on you to breath life into them.


 * Questions and Discussion**: Please use the 'discussion' tab on the wiki page for each lab to ask questions. Alternatively, voice your comments or concerns in your lab session.

10/10 – Outstanding! Beautifully executed, brilliant and above and beyond the assignment requirements, work that we will still talk about and remember in five years. 9/10 – Very strong work where the student has clearly invested significant time in the planning and execution of the project. 8/10 – Strong work, well-executed and imaginative 7/10 – Exactly what we've asked for, competent execution but some room for improvement. 6/10 – Weak or rushed work, the student has not followed all of the guidelines and/or not engaged the assignment critically. 5/10 – Underwhelming work, assignment has missed the mark conceptually and/or is poorly executed 4/10 – Fail
 * Marking**: The first three lab assignments will be marked out of 10. Each assignment will have specific information about what we are looking for and evaluating but in general the below marking scheme will apply:


 * What you will need for the labs**:


 * A camera:** This doesn't have to be high end digital SLR, the smartphone on a camera or a point-and-click is just fine.
 * An audio recording device**: This can be a smartphone, a minidisk or MP3 recorder or a more professional audio recording device. Obviously less of you will have audio recording devices than cameras so make arrangements to borrow one in advance of lab #2 (assigned Jan. 25th, due Feb. 8th). If you are interested in audio and would consider investing in an inexpensive audio recorder we'd **highly** recommend the [|Zoom H1] which is a steal at $100.
 * A team**: Ok, collaborators are not technology but keep in mind the final lab (the mapping assignment) will be carried out in groups of five. You should choose people who are in your lab session so that you can work with them during the class time allotted for technical production. The sooner you start thinking about who you might like to work with, the better.

Also: please contact Hetty Urie in the [|CCIT Pro Shop] regarding signing out media devices for these assignments.

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 * Software Accounts you will need for the labs**:

[|Google] – which of course needs no introduction. Presumably most of you have a Google account. Specifically, we will be using a service called 'My Maps' within Google Maps. See above video for a basic overview and rest assured that we'll be talking through 'My Maps' functionality later in the semester.

[|SoundCloud] – Presumably most of you DON'T know this service. It is a music sharing service that is primarily used by musicians to shuttle tracks, demos and singles around. It is an easy way for us to submit audio content without having to rely on FTP. All of you will need to sign up for SoundCloud to submit these assignments, and for those of you with an iPhone you can actually record directly to your phone with the related [|app]. When you've completed lab #2 and tentatively lab #3 you will upload your tracks to SoundCloud and then 'share' them with the [|CCT335 SoundCloud Account].