A new signal processing course for digital culture

Signal processing algorithms, software, and hardware are being used in several fields including non-engineering areas such as arts and media. Students in these fields and particularly in the new Digital Culture major at Arizona State University (ASU) use signal processing tools in several of their projects and artistic endeavors. Yet the blind use of these DSP tools in other disciplines, without understanding their properties has been a long-standing problem. In fact, the broader issue is the disconnect between engineers that develop tools and artists that use them to design the next generation digital art applications. In that context, ASU has formed the Arts Media and Engineering (AME) School and more recently, the multidisciplinary undergraduate Digital Culture degree granting program. In order to provide formal training in signal processing to students that are non-Electrical Engineering majors, we piloted a new course titled Signal Processing for Digital Culture. This course, which is being offered online, teaches non-majors some of the basics of signal processing and covers several applications. The only prerequisite to the course is general sophomore calculus. This new online course contains several topics and is focused on an approach that teaches concepts by connecting theory to compelling applications. Future plans include introducing this course at Clarkson University as a Knowledge Area course open to students from all majors.