Monday, September 1, 2014

[Yasmin_discussions] So what does STEAM have to do with it ?

Herve


actually i disagree somewhat with joel's statement and your comment-
i of course agree in demystification and high creative processes of
computer art

you said

I fully agree with William Joel's experienced and meaningful comments.
Together demystification and recognition of the high creative process of
computer art.
Hervé Fischer

i think William's comments fall into the trap of some familiar but
false dichotomies

for instance william states
Programming, in my very humble opinion, is both an art and a science.
Yes, there is a mathematical logic to any computer program, but the
act of writing a good, readable, comprehendable program is an act of
creativity

but i think that both art and science, as well as other human fields
require creativity- you imply the false dichotomy of art-creative
science-un creative

it seems to me that there is a spectrum of activities that span art
and science and that one of the important things is the
'intention' of the creator whether in art or in science

as a scientist i try and construct explanations of how the world
functions, relying on techniques within the scientific method and
looking
for matches between the explanation and observations of the world or
experiments on pieces of the world

as an engineer, i use my scientific understanding to develop tools
that function the way i design in the world

artists it seems to me develop artefacts that affect people , and
themselves, psychologically, aethetically

spanning all these intents we use creativity, elegance,

your statement
Then again, true science, not an engineering approximation, is a
discipline that often leads to elegant, creative, artistic solutions
to problems. But are not artists scientists as well? Are not potters
material scientists? Are not composers physicists?

seems to me conflates intention of the creation with methods used in
validating the creation

see for instance robert root bernsteins tools of creative people in
"sparks of genius"
http://www.amazon.com/Sparks-Genius-Thirteen-Thinking-Creative/dp/0618127453


the challenge in the stem to steam movement is to build integrated
ways of connecting the various intentions and interests
of the students that dont create artificial boundaries between ways of
knowing and practices of creativity

you state

Then again, true science, not an engineering approximation, is a
discipline that often leads to elegant, creative, artistic solutions
to problems. But are not artists scientists as well? Are not potters
material scientists? Are not composers physicists?

i think that there are different ways of knowing - that art and
science embody different basic intentions of the creators-
i think its useful to consider art and science as differing human
activities but that there are bridging and transdiscplinary
approaches that can make both artists and scientists succeed at
achieving their intentions

if i want to build the most amazing simulated world for a computer
game, i will rely on a number of sciences
( perception and cognition, computer science, social science) a number
of technical skills ( programming)
and design and arts expertise ( graphics, modelling, animation, story telling, )

often stem subjects are taught divorced from the problems and
interests that motivate people and we dont
make explicit the bridging and trans-disciplinary ideas and techniques

i am all for deymystification and encourage complex forms of creativity in both
the arts and sciences

roger


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: William Joel <joelw@wcsu.edu>
Date: Sun, Aug 31, 2014 at 9:41 PM
Subject: [Yasmin_discussions] Programming is a creative activity
To: YASMIN DISCUSSIONS <yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr>


(Before I continue, much if what I'll be sharing is my opinion, fed by
thirty years of teaching computer science, and let's say about
forty-five years of programming and working in the arts.)

Programming, in my very humble opinion, is both an art and a science.
Yes, there is a mathematical logic to any computer program, but the
act of writing a good, readable, comprehendable program is an act of
creativity. Some have even dared compare it to creative writing, but
I'll step around that idea for the present.

It's a true shame that software engineers have tried to make people
believe that the development of computer programs can be automated,
and that there is no creativity in the process. Funny, but it reminds
me if the argument that music "written" by a computer program is not a
work of art. But I s

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