"A program that provides the theory of design and practical experience in building products/services that are not screen-dependent"

Increasingly, Digital Media is being experienced through objects and interfaces that are not necessarily bound by the screen. The next generation of content products and services will have distributed and diverse modes of interaction where websites and mobile content will be only one aspect of the user's experience. In order to take advantage of this shift, Ontario digital media and content companies need to leverage the wealth of technology, manufacturing, research, and design expertise available in this area and build capacity in designing digital media for the Internet of Things.

Bruce Sterling has famously announced the next shift in digital media; a movement from an 'Internet of screens' to an 'Internet of Things (IoT).' In this vision, physical objects, in addition to desktop, laptop, or mobile computers, become sources of digital information as well as the forms and interfaces through which we interact with a digital, distributed world. A quick glance at our current media environment demonstrates that this shift is already underway.

Since 2009, ThingTank (formerly DDiMIT) has been offering workshops and roundtable events aimed at fostering and supporting activity in this exciting area. Building upon this expertise, ThingTank will now offer professional learning courses. Upon completion of the core courses and portfolio requirement, participants will be given an official certificate on Designing for the Internet of Things.

The Certificate starts from the idea that understanding and innovating in the Internet of Things requires both ideational and technical skills. Therefore the curriculum includes both conceptual and hands-on coursework, and explores the various skills necessary to innovate within the Internet of Things. Current real-life applications of the Internet of Things will also be explored by the various courses.

By the end of the certificate program students will have built a fully functioning Internet of Things project, which will be introduced at the beginning of the course.

The program will produce graduates who:

• understand the context of the Internet of Things, and are conscious of the types of skills and expertise necessary to innovate in this emerging field.
  
  
• are familiar with the design process (from ideation to prototyping) and can use their recently acquired skills to bring to life their ideas in a variety of formats
  
  
• are familiar with the tools and technologies required to create a fully functional Internet of Things device.
  
  
• can define, use and manipulate data acquired via an Internet-enabled device in different ways, and
  
  
• have the communication, project management, and leadership skills to act as liaison between the developers and users of Internet of Things devices.