About the IML

Founded in 1998 by the University of Southern California's Dean of the School of Cinematic Arts Elizabeth Daley in conversation with filmmaker George Lucas, the Institute for Multimedia Literacy (IML) is an organized research unit within the School of Cinematic Arts. The IML is dedicated to sustaining and developing models of teaching and scholarship based on the use and development of new digital media technologies and applications.

The IML has developed two undergraduate programs to date: the Honors in Multimedia Scholarship program and the Minor in Digital Studies. These programs and their corresponding courses are designed to combine digital media authoring and scholarly practice, whether for research, collaborative learning or production. Depending on the course, students may encounter exercises with still images, video, audio, interactivity, virtual worlds and web design, and may create projects as diverse as digital stories, sonic arguments, or immersive visualizations. All hands-on labs are fully integrated into individual courses, and assignments build on each other so that students develop increasingly sophisticated digital skills.

Overall, the goal of the IML courses and programs is to build fluency in scholarly digital media with the recognition that students increasingly need these skills to be competitive in our global, media-based culture.