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Media Computation Teachers Website

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Media Computation (nicknamed "MediaComp") is a contextualized approach to introducing computing using a ubiquitous theme of manipulating media. The critical characteristic of MediaComp is that students create expressive media by manipulating computational materials (like arrays and linked lists) at a lower-level of abstraction. Students manipulate images by changing pixels, create sounds by iterating over samples, render linked lists into music, and create artifacts like collages, music, and digital video special effects. In so doing, the students learn computation.

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A TEDxGeorgiaTech video on Media Computation:



Creative Commons License


The source code, power point slides, and our media (pictures, movies, sounds) are licensed under the Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.


Book Resources
Quick Navigation: (Click on the book of interest for download links.)


General Information for Teachers and Researchers: Examples of CS1 activities and CS2 activities. Research Reports, Mailing list, Talks on Media Computation, Project Ideas and Resources, More Resources & Links, Counts for how often JES has been downloaded
New: (Beta) Media Computation with Spreadsheets
Related links: Institute for Computing EducationGeorgia Tech, "Georgia Computes!", Workshops in Media Computation

Other Media Computation Resources:



Python Book Resources

Introduction to Computing and Programming in Python: A Multimedia Approach by Mark Guzdial and Barbara Ericson. On Amazon. At Pearson site

Resources that all students and teachers need:
Latest version of JES Stable (v5.02)
Or download one of these (you will only need one of these):

If you are using Mac OS X Sierra or later and have more than one version of Java installed, you need this Mac OS X (Sierra or later) Workaround version of JES


For Teachers:

Support for older Versions of Python Media Computation

JES Version 4.3 as used in the 3ed of the Python MediaComputation book
2ed/3ed: mediasources.zip (updated November 2011, to include ajc-weather.html that was mistakenly left out) which contain all media used in the book except for the painting folders ("PAINT1" and "PAINT2") for the light-drawing movies in Chapter 13 which are available in ZIP files. (MediaSources for first edition are only slightly different but are available here.)
3ed: Python 3ed Errata, Python 3ed Slides
2ed: Python 2ed Errata, Python Second edition slides


Java Book Resources
Introduction to Computing and Programming in Java: A Multimedia Approach by Mark Guzdial and Barbara Ericson.
Pearson site
All Java Book Resources Page



Alice and Media Computation Book Resources
Exploring Wonderland: Java with Alice and Media Computation by Barbara Ericson, Wanda Dann, and Steve Cooper.
Pearson site
Wonderland Project Website

Data Structures Book Resources
. Problem Solving with Data Structures: A Multimedia Approach by Mark Guzdial and Barbara Ericson.


Other books are including Media Computation in their themes and exercises.
Python Programming in Context by Brad Miller and David Ranum
Practical Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science Using Python by Jennifer Campbell, Paul Gries, Jason Montojo, and Greg Wilson



Other Links and Resources

More Resources and Project Ideas

High School Resources:

ParsonsGenerator.zip