University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Art & Cultural Informatics

ART & CULTURAL Informatics is an area of informatics dealing with information as medium and content for art production, experience, and dissemination. The Art and Cultural PhD addresses these needs explicitly in its design; it makes technological knowledge (theoretical and practical) an intrinsic part of the curriculum.

RESEARCH THEMES

  • Human behavior and Design
  • Machine Learning
  • Scientific Visualization
  • Performance Psychology
  • Bioinformation
  • Analysis of Movement
  • Community
  • Art and Cultural Informatics is an area of informatics dealing with information as medium and content for art production, experience, and dissemination.

    The Informatics PhD, with an Art and Cultural Informatics Area, addresses these needs explicitly in its design: it makes technological knowledge (theoretical and practical) an intrinsic part of the curriculum; it draws on a wide base of disciplinary courses to establish interdisciplinary breadth; it emphasizes innovative interdisciplinary, collaborative research aimed specifically at meeting the challenges of creating art in collaborative, interdisciplinary, technologically enabled settings.

    Cultural Informatics is a broad term encompassing all areas in which the application of new information technologies will and might impact human culture: we see it playing an increasingly central role in culture production, experience, dissemination, and comprehension. It is inherently boundary breaking, fundamentally inter- multi- and trans-disciplinary. Informatics, broadly speaking, is impacting all branches of knowledge, all human exploration, experience, and understandings of the world.

    “Cultural Informatics” is that part of informatics that emphasizes understanding of the human world, that which is made or influenced by humanity: from history, social science, cultural studies, to written, visual, sonic, and kinetic communication, technology is transforming all aspects of human endeavor, all culture, all societies and communities.

    The Arts are an important part of Cultural Informatics. New technology and associated new modes of creative cultural expression and communication will radically transform the arts of the 21st Century. The impact of new technologies will be felt in four key areas: it will change the practice, the experience, and the dissemination of the arts, and through these it will change the role of the arts in culture and society.

    People

    Area LeadsFaculty AffiliatesPhD Students
    Name Email Department
    Name Email Department
    Chang-Dae Ham cdham317@illinois.edu Advertising
    John Stallmeyer stallmyr@illinois.edu Architecture
    Thérèse Tierney tierney@illinois.edu Architecture
    Molly Catherine Briggs mbriggs@illinois.edu Art & Design
    Ben Grosser grosser@illinois.edu Art & Design
    Stan Ruecker sruecker@illinois.edu Art & Design
    Harsh Taneja harsht@illinois.edu College of Media
    Karrie Karahalios kkarahal@illinois.edu Computer Science
    Paris Smaragdis paris@illinois.edu Computer Science
    Mark Dressman mdressma@illinois.edu Curriculum & Instruction
    Robb Lindgren robblind@illinois.edu Curriculum & Instruction
    John Toenjes jtoenjes@illinois.edu Dance
    John Randolph jwr@illinois.edu History
    Carlos Aguiar chaa@illinois.edu Industrial Design
    Deana McDonagh mcdonagh@illinois.edu Industrial Design
    Rachel F. Adler radler@illinois.edu iSchool
    Anita Chan achan@illinois.edu iSchool
    J. Stephen Downie jdownie@illinois.edu iSchool
    Emily Knox knox@illinois.edu iSchool
    Kyungwon Koh kkoh@illinois.edu iSchool
    Kathryn LaBarre klabarre@illinois.edu iSchool
    Zoe LeBlanc zleblanc@illinois.edu iSchool
    Bonnie Mak bmak@illinois.edu iSchool
    Kate McDowell kmcdowel@illinois.edu iSchool
    Melissa Ocepek mgocepek@illinois.edu iSchool
    Judith Pintar jpintar@illinois.edu iSchool
    Jodi Schneider jodi@illinois.edu iSchool
    JooYoung Seo jseo1005@illinois.edu iSchool
    Michael Twidale twidale@illinois.edu iSchool
    Karen Wickett wickett2@illinois.edu iSchool
    Ryan Cordell rcordell@illinois.edu iSchool and English
    Christopher Ball drball@illinois.edu Journalism
    Caitlin Vitosky Clarke vitosky@illinois.edu Kinesiology and Community Health
    Synthia Sydnor syndy@illinois.edu Kinesiology and Community Health
    Jenny Oyallon-Koloski joyallon@illinois.edu Media and Cinema Studies
    Eli Fieldsteel eli@illinois.edu Music
    Heinrich Taube taube@illinois.edu Music
    Stephen Taylor staylor7@illinois.edu Music
    Name Email Area
    Jake Metz jmetz2@illinois.edu Art and Cultural Informatics
    Mahira Narwari mahira2@illinois.edu Art and Cultural Informatics
    Design, Technology and Society
    Emmy Tither mtither2@illinois.edu Art and Cultural Informatics
    Design, Technology and Society
    Spatial Informatics
    Colter Wehmeier wehmeie2@illinois.edu Art and Cultural Informatics
    Design, Technology and Society
    Yiting Xia yitingx3@illinois.edu Art and Cultural Informatics

    Courses

    Application CoursesFoundation Courses