Academic year 2014-15
Virtual Communication Environments
| Degree: | Code: | Type: |
| Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science | 23105 | Optional subject |
| Bachelor's Degree in Telematics Engineering | 23109 | Optional subject |
| Bachelor's Degree in Audiovisual Systems Engineering | 23113 | Optional subject |
| ECTS credits: | 4 | Workload: | 100 hours | Trimester: | 3rd |
| Department: | Dept. of Information and Communication Technologies |
| Coordinator: | Alun Evans |
| Teaching staff: | Alun Evans Javi Agenjo |
| Language: | English (Theory) Spanish (Practicals)
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| Timetable: | |
| Building: |
The subject will introduce new approaches for interactive communication on the web, where 3D may be a key technological component.
Applications for communication will be studied, such as:
- Video games as tools for communication, for example, the gamification of news and current affairs, both to transmit information and enhance user interest in a subject
- Creation of 3D web environments for virtual communication
- Connectivity: mobile and web communication provide the perfect ground to connect people through interactive applications, and how to get two users connected and share the application to play or create together will be studied.
Students should understand the difficulties of communicating and coordinating through virtual environments, and be able create solutions to overcome those difficulties, from the technological point of view but also from a social aspect too.
The course will focus on web-technologies and videogame sandboxes as a context for demostrating relevant issues and developing skills.
While the students learn a universal programming language as Javascript, they will have the chance to progressively use those skills to enhance the environments where they have to complete different tasks.
This course assumes that students know the basics of algorithms and structured programming, and thus are able to write programs and solve problems using high-level imperative languages.
| Cross-disciplinary competences | Specific competences |
|---|---|
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Fundamentals G1. Analysis and Synthesis G2. Abiliity to plan and organize G3. Ability to apply knowledge to analyze situations and solve problems G4. Ability to search and manage information G5. Ability to make decisions G6. Ability to communicate, both orally and in writing, in Catalan and Spanish, to expert to amateur audiences. Interpersonal G8. Ability to work in a team Systemic G14. Ability and motivation to achieve quality
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Specific Professional Abilities H2. Have the mathematical, physical, economic and sociological foundations necessary to interpret, select, evaluate, and create new concepts, theories, applications and technological developments related to computer science and its application. H4. Independently learn new knowledge and techniques suitable for the conception, development and operation of computer systems. Specific Skills in Computer Engineering IN6 Knowledge and application of basic computer algorithmic procedures to design solutions to problems technologies, analyzing the suitability and complexity of the proposed algorithms . IN11 Knowledge and application of features, functionality and structure Distributed Systems, Computer Networks and Internet design, and implement applications based on them. |
Assessment: Practical (100% weighting, not recoverable).
The minimum pass mark for the course is 5.
Practicals are done in teams of 2 people and evaluated by installments (report and commented code) and an oral presentation (individual questions).
T1 The internet and virtual environments
Intro to course
How does the internet work?
What is a virtual environment
Examples of VE for work and play
T2 Javascript
Introduction to Javascript for web development
Syntax
Javascript Object Orientated Programming
T3 Javascript
Interacting with the DOM
Callback functions
Design patterns
T4 Creating Collaborative Environment
Requirements for collaboration
Maintaining state
Real-time vs non-real-time interaction
Asynchronous data transfer and processing of large files
T5 3D Web - practical
Introduction to the 3D web and WebGL
T6 3D Web for communication
Building 3D web apps for Virtual Environments
T7 Virtual Representation and Avatars
T8 Case Studies: World of Warcraft and Second Life
T9 Summary: Revision
Methodology for the lectures
Lectures with practical examples
Methodology for practical classes
Implementation of applications. All practicals will be done using Javascript.
Methodology for seminar classes
In each seminar the students will present their practical work
| In-class activity | Out-of-class activity | Assessment activity | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Topic | Full group | Medium group | Small group | |||
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Theory |
18h |
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|
10h |
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|
Practicals |
|
10h |
|
40h |
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|
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Seminars |
8h |
14h |
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Total: |
18h |
18h |
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64h |
|
Total:100h |
Nicholas C. Zakas - JavaScript para desarrolladores web
Brockford - Javascript, The Good Parts