Carruth, Christopher M

Research

research overview

I’m an artist, educator, and technologist. At its core, my work is an investigation into society and technology’s mutual influence. As a practice, I'm interested in how data, text, imagery, and the body serve as critical mediators towards understanding the social, emotional, and existential impacts of technology on contemporary life. The complexities which emerge from our material and technologized landscapes are research subjects, while the methods of interaction, exploration, and engagement collapse into a research-based practice that itself formally resolves as time-based media, creative coding, poetics, performance, and new media. Ultimately, my work is about subverting the algorithm, and algorithmic thinking, about working against rigid structures so as to reimagine future potential.

keywords

Information science, information systems, digital cultures, new media art, digital art, disruptive design, critical making, creative coding, contemplative art, embodied experience, media studies

Teaching

courses taught

APRD 3001 - Visual Design 1
Primary Instructor - Spring 2020 / Summer 2020
Students are introduced to design elements and principles, research and visual storytelling. They are challenged to communicate intellectual, sensory and emotional concepts by learning a visual vocabulary of type, color, and form expressed in a variety of mediums and dimensions.
ATLS 2000 - The Meaning of Information Technology
Primary Instructor - Spring 2018 / Summer 2018 / Fall 2018 / Summer 2019
A survey of the mutual influence of technology, media, and society. Equips students with an understanding of technological transformations in interpersonal, organizational, and mass communication. Emphasis is on the technological, social and political changes that underlie the movement toward a digital society. As such, the class acts as a survey of various technologies and their relationship to socio-political issues. We not only address �how does it work� and �where does this come from� but �why is it here� and �how does it impact us as individuals and as a society�.
ATLS 2100 - Image
Primary Instructor - Summer 2018 / Fall 2018 / Spring 2019
Introduces techniques, technologies and concepts of digital image making and manipulation through lectures, projects and critiques. Focuses on digital photography, digital animation and digital video as a means to formal and expressive ends. This course also contextualizes practices and methodologies of digital imaging with historical and critical perspectives.
ATLS 3519 - Special Topics
Primary Instructor - Spring 2018
Analyzes special interest areas of multidisciplinary creative technology and design research and practice. May be repeated up to 21 total credit hours for different topics.
ATLS 4519 - Advanced Special Topics
Primary Instructor - Spring 2019
Analyzes special interest areas of multidisciplinary creative technology and design research and practice. May be repeated up to 32 total credit hours.

COEN 1830 - Special Topics
Primary Instructor - Fall 2019
Explores topics of interest in engineering. Content varies by instructor and semester. May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours.

FYSM 1000 - First Year Seminar
Primary Instructor - Fall 2018 / Fall 2020
Provide first year students with an immersive experience in an interdisciplinary topic that addresses current issues including social, technical and global topics. Taught by faculty from across campus, the course provides students with an opportunity to interact in small classes, have project based learning experiences and gain valuable communication skills. Seminar style classes focused on discussion and projects.

FYSM 1100 - First Year Interest Group Seminar
Primary Instructor - Fall 2019
Creates a First Year Interest Group by linking a small first-year seminar with an existing introductory course on a related topic. Each seminar section will be linked to a different course and students in that FYSM 1100 section must be registered for that course. There will be a different co-requisite course for each seminar section.

INFO 1101 - Computation in Society
Primary Instructor - Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2022 / Fall 2022 / Spring 2023 / Fall 2023 / Spring 2024 / Fall 2024
Introduces students to modern information and communication technology, the basic principles of software and programming, the fundamental role of algorithms in modern society, computational reasoning, the major organizations in the information sector and fundamental interactions between humans and information technology. Appropriate for students with limited prior experience with computing. Fulfills the CMCI computing requirement.

INFO 1201 - Computational Reasoning
Primary Instructor - Fall 2022 / Spring 2023 / Fall 2023 / Spring 2024 / Fall 2024
Introduces principles of computational thinking through the manipulation, transformation, and creation of media artifacts, such as images, sounds, and web pages. Students will be exposed to a high-level overview of algorithms, functions, data structures, recursion, and object-oriented computer programming through a series of assignments that emphasize the use of computation as a means of creative expression.

INFO 2001 - Information Science Portfolio and Professional Development
Primary Instructor - Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2022
Facilitates career development through the disciplined reflection about and presentation of one's work using a variety of modalities across a variety of media. Students will be introduced to individuals and organizations representing a diversity of career paths in information science.

INFO 4001 - Information Science Portfolio and Professional Development
Primary Instructor - Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2022
Facilitates career development through the disciplined reflection about and presentation of one's work using a variety of modalities across a variety of media. Students will be introduced to individuals and organizations representing a diversity of career paths in information science.

INFO 4601 - Ethical and Policy Dimensions of Information and Technology
Primary Instructor - Fall 2022 / Fall 2023 / Fall 2024
Explores ethical and legal complexities of information and communication technology. By combining real-world inquiry with creative speculation, students will probe everyday ethical dilemmas they face as digital consumers, creators and coders, as well as relevant policy. Explores themes such as privacy, intellectual property, social justice, free speech, artificial intelligence, social media and ethical lessons from science fiction. Same as INFO 5601.

INFO 4700 - Senior Capstone
Primary Instructor - Spring 2023 / Fall 2024
Provides senior level INFO students an opportunity to demonstrate the culmination of their learning in the major by designing and implementing a significant information system or developing a research question, typically in response to a problem of personal interest related to or informed by their secondary area of specialization. Reinforces project planning, public presentation and ethic skills.

INFO 5601 - Information Ethics and Policy
Primary Instructor - Fall 2023
Explores ethical and legal complexities of information and communication technology. By combining real-world inquiry with creative speculation, students will probe everyday ethical dilemmas they face as digital consumers, creators and coders, as well as relevant policy. Explores themes such as privacy, intellectual property, social justice, free speech, artificial intelligence, social media and ethical lessons from science fiction. Same as INFO 4601.

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Background

education and training

M.S., University of Colorado Boulder 2013
B.S., University of Colorado Boulder 2006

International Activities

geographic focus

Canada Country
North America Continent
Peru Country
South America Continent

VIVO

Positions

Research Areas