| Making sense of the extensive disciplines and sub-topics within computer
graphics and multimedia is a lifelong challenge. No one can be versed in
all areas at once due to the vast amounts of information that exists on all the
subject areas and due to the dynamic nature of technology. Inevitably, we
specialize. Programmers create programs and artists create art. Computer
scientists are programmers and artists use computers to paint digitally and
perform graphic design. That’s the way it is today, is that not accurate? Nothing
could be further from the truth. In 1919, Bauhaus pioneer Wassily Kandinsky
stated, “And so the arts are encroaching upon one another, and from a proper
use of this encroachment will rise the art that is truly monumental” (Packer, xv,
2001). The emergence art that is truly monumental has not yet been seen. The
same can be said of technology and science. Of course, time is marked by
influential events that shape the history of the discipline, but one monumental
event ultimately replaces another. Looking back is essential to growth, but
looking forward to “the next big thing” is the prominent response to success.
What has emerged on a superficial level is an artistic and technical society that
has ingrained disciplinary boundaries that often characterize researchers, scholars,
and artists as one-dimensional practitioners that do not stray from their
grass roots. This notion has been changed with the growth of digital technology.
Technology has promoted interdisciplinary collaboration to become an
integral part of mainstream educational practice. Academic programs that institute
interdisciplinary projects and exploration have begun to nurture a movement
in collaboration that is genuine, exciting, and boundless. This can be
seen in distance education trends, interdisciplinary degree programs growth,
and the transformation of working individually on a project or being part of a
specialized team. In academia, this collaborative approach is born from the
need for every scholar to define new applications for development within their
specialization. Secondly, the interdisciplinary approach fosters a new multitude
of problems that incite exploration of multidimensional and often multidisciplinary
solutions. |
