Media Arts, Society and Technology Minor

Offered at: San Luis Obispo Campus

The Media Arts, Society and Technology (MAST) minor encourages students to explore the ways in which the media arts are enabled and shaped by progress in science and technology while also being uniquely situated to promote engagement with and critical reflection about the meanings of scientific, technical, and social progress. Throughout the MAST minor, students are provided with the opportunity to develop and refine their expertise in the creative, visual, communicative, and performing arts, such as film, video, still photography, sound design, stage and lighting design, computer graphics, and interactive entertainment. Through hands-on projects and explorations of media history and theory, students completing the MAST minor will develop and apply knowledge and skills in conceptual and critical thinking, media literacy, teamwork, leadership, interdisciplinary collaboration, and project management, and will be prepared to function as both cultural commentators and creators positioned to address and respond to the profound challenges and choices we face in the 21st century. The MAST minor is not open to students who have declared a minor in one of the other STS minors: Ethics, Public Policy, Science and Technology (EPPST); Gender, Race, Culture, Science and Technology (GRCST); and Science Communication (SC).

Program Learning Objectives

1. Understand and evaluate the interconnectedness between science, technology and the social, political, cultural and environmental dimensions of our world with an emphasis on the relationships between media arts, society, and technology.
2. Exhibit media and technological literacy skills allowing students to identify, develop, and analyze methods, problems, tools, and applications of media arts and technology in research, commercial, critical, and/or creative contexts.
3. Develop, evaluate, and use effective formal and/or narrative techniques in media arts and technology, with a primary focus on the ways in which media arts and technology shape and are shaped by scientific, technological, social, cultural, political, and economic factors and institutions.
4. Explain key concepts, terms, and frameworks from research on the complex relationships between media arts and technology, and apply these concepts, terms, and frameworks to conduct interdisciplinary research and/or engage in creative activities in individual and group settings.
5. Recognize emergent scientific and technological challenges, promote more socially responsible and critically informed media arts and technology practices; and work, collaborate, and interact more responsibly and effectively in an increasingly diverse and globalized workplace and world.

Minor Requirements and Curriculum

• At least half of the units must be from upper-division courses (3000-4000 level).
• At least half of the units must be taken at Cal Poly (in residence).
• No more than one-third of the units will be taken with credit-no credit grading (CR/NC), not counting courses with mandatory CR/NC. Departments may further limit CR/NC grading if desired.
• A minimum 2.0 GPA is required in all units counted for completion of the minor.

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ISLA 4411/LAES 4411 must be taken twice to meet requirement.