Overview

The Collaborative Specialization in Knowledge Media Design (KMD) was launched in 2002 as the teaching arm of the Knowledge Media Design Institute (KMDI). The Collaborative Specialization provides graduate students with a variety of academic backgrounds to engage in the design, prototyping, evaluation, and use of knowledge media. In keeping with KMDI’s human-centred approach, students explore the design and use of new media in the context of real-world practices of individuals and communities. Access to an intensely collaborative and cross-disciplinary faculty encourages students to take a broader view of technological and social change and to be constructively critical of technological utopian and dystopian visions alike. The goal is for students to take into account heritage and history, to understand the realities of today, and to design for tomorrow.

Students have access to a community of scholars and the network of relationships that the institute coordinates. They gain first-hand experience of a living network of innovation, an environment in which the resources are people and knowledge, and the social capital and value that are generated through collaboration.

The Collaborative Specialization is open to master’s and PhD students in the collaborating graduate programs listed below. Upon successful completion of the degree requirements of the participating home department and the Collaborative Specialization, students receive the notation “Completed Collaborative Specialization in Knowledge Media Design” on their transcript and parchment.

Participating Degree Programs

Architecture—MArch
Computer Science—MSc, PhD
Curriculum, Teaching and Learning—MA, MEd, PhD
Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies—MA, PhD
Information—MI, PhD
Landscape Architecture—MLA
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering—MASc, MEng, PhD
Medical Science—MSc, PhD
Museum Studies—MMSt
Religion—MA, PhD
Urban Design—MUD