Multimedia
1
Multimedia
Multimedia refers to content that uses a combination of different content forms. This contrasts with media that use
only rudimentary computer displays such as text-only or traditional forms of printed or hand-produced material.
Multimedia includes a combination of text, audio, still images, animation, video, or interactivity content forms.
Multimedia is usually recorded and played, displayed, or accessed by information content processing devices, such
as computerized and electronic devices, but can also be part of a live performance. Multimedia devices are electronic
media devices used to store and experience multimedia content. Multimedia is distinguished from mixed media in
fine art; by including audio, for example, it has a broader scope. The term "rich media" is synonymous for interactive
multimedia. Hypermedia can be considered one particular multimedia application.
Examples of individual content forms combined in multimedia
Text
Audio
Still Images
Animation
Video Footage
Interactivity
Categorization of multimedia
Multimedia may be broadly divided into linear and non-linear categories. Linear active content progresses often
without any navigational control for the viewer such as a cinema presentation. Non-linear uses interactivity to
control progress as with a video game or self-paced computer based training. Hypermedia is an example of
non-linear content.
Multimedia presentations can be live or recorded. A recorded presentation may allow interactivity via a navigation
system. A live multimedia presentation may allow interactivity via an interaction with the presenter or performer.
Multimedia
Major characteristics of multimedia
Multimedia presentations may be viewed by person on stage, projected, transmitted, or played locally with a media
player. A broadcast may be a live or recorded multimedia presentation. Broadcasts and recordings can be either
analog or digital electronic media technology. Digital online multimedia may be downloaded or streamed. Streaming
multimedia may be live or on-demand.
Multimedia games and simulations may be used in a physical environment with special effects, with multiple users
in an online network, or locally with an offline computer, game system, or simulator.
The various formats of technological or digital multimedia may be intended to enhance the users' experience, for
example to make it easier and faster to convey information. Or in entertainment or art, to transcend everyday
experience.
Enhanced levels of interactivity are made possible by combining
multiple forms of media content. Online multimedia is
increasingly becoming object-oriented and data-driven, enabling
applications with collaborative end-user innovation and
personalization on multiple forms of content over time. Examples
of these range from multiple forms of content on Web sites like
photo galleries with both images (pictures) and title (text)
user-updated, to simulations whose co-efficients, events,
illustrations, animations or videos are modifiable, allowing the
A lasershow is a live multimedia performance.
multimedia "experience" to be altered without reprogramming. In
addition to seeing and hearing, Haptic technology enables virtual
objects to be felt. Emerging technology involving illusions of taste and smell may also enhance the multimedia
experience.
Terminology
History of the term
The term multimedia was coined by singer and artist Bob Goldstein (later 'Bobb Goldsteinn') to promote the July
1966 opening of his "LightWorks at L'Oursin" show at Southampton, Long Island. Goldstein was perhaps aware of a
British artist named Dick Higgins, who had two years previously discussed a new approach to art-making he called
"intermedia."
On August 10, 1966, Richard Albarino of Variety borrowed the terminology, reporting: “Brainchild of
songscribe-comic Bob (‘Washington Square’) Goldstein, the ‘Lightworks’ is the latest multi-media
music-cum-visuals to debut as discothèque fare.”[1] Two years later, in 1968, the term "multimedia" was
re-appropriated to describe the work of a political consultant, David Sawyer, the husband of Iris Sawyer—one of
Goldstein’s producers at L’Oursin.
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Multimedia
3
In the intervening forty years, the word has taken on different
meanings. In the late 1970s, the term referred to presentations
consisting of multi-projector slide shows timed to an audio track.
However, by the 1990s 'multimedia' took on its current meaning.
Multimedia (multi-image) setup for the 1988
Ford New Car Announcement Show, August
1987, Detroit, MI
In the 1993 first edition of McGraw-Hill’s Multimedia: Making It
Work, Tay Vaughan declared “Multimedia is any combination of text,
graphic art, sound, animation, and video that is delivered by computer.
When you allow the user – the viewer of the project – to control what
and when these elements are delivered, it is interactive multimedia.
When you provide a structure of linked elements through which the
user can navigate, interactive multimedia becomes hypermedia.” [2]
The German language society, Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache, decided to recognize the word's significance and
ubiquitousness in the 1990s by awarding it the title of 'Word of the Year' in 1995. The institute summed up its
rationale by stating "[Multimedia] has become a central word in the wonderful new media world"[3]
In common usage, multimedia refers to an electronically delivered combination of media including video, still
images, audio, text in such a way that can be accessed interactively. Much of the content on the web today falls
within this definition as understood by millions. Some computers which were marketed in the 1990s were called
"multimedia" computers because they incorporated a CD-ROM drive, which allowed for the delivery of several
hundred megabytes of video, picture, and audio data. That era saw also a boost in the production of educational
multimedia CD-ROMs.
Word usage and context
Since media is the plural of medium, the term "multimedia" is used to describe multiple occurrences of only one
form of media such as a collection of audio CDs. This is why it's important that the word "multimedia" is used
exclusively to describe multiple forms of media and content.
The term "multimedia" is also ambiguous. Static content (such as a paper book) may be considered multimedia if it
contains both pictures and text or may be considered interactive if the user interacts by turning pages at will. Books
may also be considered non-linear if the pages are accessed non-sequentially. The term "video", if not used
exclusively to describe motion photography, is ambiguous in multimedia terminology. Video is often used to
describe the file format, delivery format, or presentation format instead of "footage" which is used to distinguish
motion photography from "animation" of rendered motion imagery. Multiple forms of information content are often
not considered modern forms of presentation such as audio or video. Likewise, single forms of information content
with single methods of information processing (e.g. non-interactive audio) are often called multimedia, perhaps to
distinguish static media from active media. In the Fine arts, for example, Leda Luss Luyken's ModulArt brings two
key elements of musical composition and film into the world of painting: variation of a theme and movement of and
within a picture, making ModulArt an interactive multimedia form of art. Performing arts may also be considered
multimedia considering that performers and props are multiple forms of both content and media.
The Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache chose Multimedia as German Word of the Year 1995.[4]
Multimedia
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Usage / Application
Multimedia finds its application in various areas including, but not
limited to, advertisements, art, education, entertainment, engineering,
medicine, mathematics, business, scientific research and spatial
temporal applications. Several examples are as follows:
Creative industries
Creative industries use multimedia for a variety of purposes ranging
from fine arts, to entertainment, to commercial art, to journalism, to
media and software services provided for any of the industries listed
below. An individual multimedia designer may cover the spectrum
throughout their career. Request for their skills range from technical, to
analytical, to creative.
A presentation using Powerpoint. Corporate
presentations may combine all forms of media
content.
Commercial uses
Much of the electronic old and new media used by commercial artists
is multimedia. Exciting presentations are used to grab and keep
attention in advertising. Business to business, and interoffice
communications are often developed by creative services firms for
advanced multimedia presentations beyond simple slide shows to sell
ideas or liven-up training. Commercial multimedia developers may be
hired to design for governmental services and nonprofit services
applications as well.
Entertainment and fine arts
Virtual reality uses multimedia content.
Applications and delivery platforms of
multimedia are virtually limitless.
In addition, multimedia is heavily used in the entertainment industry,
especially to develop special effects in movies and animations(VFX,
3D animation, etc.). Multimedia games are a popular pastime and are
software programs available either as CD-ROMs or online. Some
video games also use multimedia features. Multimedia applications
that allow users to actively participate instead of just sitting by as
passive recipients of information are called Interactive Multimedia. In
the Arts there are multimedia artists, whose minds are able to blend
techniques using different media that in some way incorporates
interaction with the viewer. One of the most relevant could be Peter
Greenaway who is melding Cinema with Opera and all sorts of digital
media. Another approach entails the creation of multimedia that can be
displayed in a traditional fine arts arena, such as an art gallery.
Although multimedia display material may be volatile, the
survivability of the content is as strong as any traditional media.
Digital recording material may be just as durable and infinitely
reproducible with perfect copies every time.
VVO Multimedia-Terminal in Dresden WTC
(Germany)
Multimedia
Education
In Education, multimedia is used to produce computer-based training courses (popularly called CBTs) and reference
books like encyclopedia and almanacs. A CBT lets the user go through a series of presentations, text about a
particular topic, and associated illustrations in various information formats. Edutainment is the combination of
education with entertainment, especially multimedia entertainment.
Learning theory in the past decade has expanded dramatically because of the introduction of multimedia. Several
lines of research have evolved (e.g. Cognitive load, Multimedia learning, and the list goes on). The possibilities for
learning and instruction are nearly endless.
The idea of media convergence is also becoming a major factor in education, particularly higher education. Defined
as separate technologies such as voice (and telephony features), data (and productivity applications) and video that
now share resources and interact with each other, synergistically creating new efficiencies, media convergence is
rapidly changing the curriculum in universities all over the world. Likewise, it is changing the availability, or lack
thereof, of jobs requiring this savvy technological skill.
The English education in middle school in China is well invested and assisted with various equipments. In contrast,
the original objective has not been achieved at the desired effect. The government, schools, families, and students
spend a lot of time working on improving scores, but hardly gain practical skills. English education today has gone
into the vicious circle. Educators need to consider how to perfect the education system to improve students’ practical
ability of English. Therefore an efficient way should be used to make the class vivid. Multimedia teaching will bring
students into a class where they can interact with the teacher and the subject. Multimedia teaching is more intuitive
than old ways; teachers can simulate situations in real life. In many circumstances teachers don’t have to be there,
students will learn by themselves in the class. More importantly, teachers will have more approaches to stimulating
students’ passion of learning
Journalism
Newspaper companies all over are also trying to embrace the new phenomenon by implementing its practices in their
work. While some have been slow to come around, other major newspapers like The New York Times, USA Today
and The Washington Post are setting the precedent for the positioning of the newspaper industry in a globalized
world.
News reporting is not limited to traditional media outlets. Freelance journalists can make use of different new media
to produce multimedia pieces for their news stories. It engages global audiences and tells stories with technology,
which develops new communication techniques for both media producers and consumers. Common Language
Project is an example of this type of multimedia journalism production.
Multimedia reporters who are mobile (usually driving around a community with cameras, audio and video recorders,
and wifi-equipped laptop computers) are often referred to as Mojos, from mobile journalist.
Engineering
Software engineers may use multimedia in Computer Simulations for anything from entertainment to training such
as military or industrial training. Multimedia for software interfaces are often done as a collaboration between
creative professionals and software engineers.
Industry
In the Industrial sector, multimedia is used as a way to help present information to shareholders, superiors and
coworkers. Multimedia is also helpful for providing employee training, advertising and selling products all over the
world via virtually unlimited web-based technology
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Multimedia
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Mathematical and scientific research
In mathematical and scientific research, multimedia is mainly used for modeling and simulation. For example, a
scientist can look at a molecular model of a particular substance and manipulate it to arrive at a new substance.
Representative research can be found in journals such as the Journal of Multimedia.
Medicine
In Medicine, doctors can get trained by looking at a virtual surgery or they can simulate how the human body is
affected by diseases spread by viruses and bacteria and then develop techniques to prevent it.
Document imaging
Document imaging is a technique that takes hard copy of an image/document and converts it into a digital format
(for example, scanners).
Disabilities
Ability Media allows those with disabilities to gain qualifications in the multimedia field so they can pursue careers
that give them access to a wide array of powerful communication forms.
Miscellaneous
In Europe, the reference organisation for Multimedia industry is the European Multimedia Associations Convention
(EMMAC).
Structuring information in a multimedia form
Multimedia represents the convergence of text, pictures, video and sound into a single form. The power of
multimedia and the Internet lies in the way in which information is linked.
Multimedia and the Internet require a completely new approach to writing. The style of writing that is appropriate for
the 'on-line world' is highly optimized and designed to be able to be quickly scanned by readers.[5]
A good site must be made with a specific purpose in mind and a site with good interactivity and new technology can
also be useful for attracting visitors. The site must be attractive and innovative in its design, function in terms of its
purpose, easy to navigate, frequently updated and fast to download.[6]
When users view a page, they can only view one page at a time. As a result, multimedia users must create a ‘mental
model of information structure’.[7]
Conferences
There is a large number of multimedia conferences
[8]
, the two main scholarly scientific conferences being:[citation
needed]
• ACM Multimedia;
• IEEE ICME, International Conference on Multimedia & Expo.
References
[1] Richard Albarino, "Goldstein's LightWorks at Southhampton," Variety, August 10, 1966. Vol. 213, No. 12.
[2] Vaughan, Tay, 1993, Multimedia: Making It Work (first edition, ISBN 0-07-881869-9), Osborne/McGraw-Hill, Berkeley, pg. 3.
[3] Variety, January 1–7, 1996.
[4] [[Spiegel Online (http:/ / einestages. spiegel. de/ external/ ShowTopicAlbumBackground/ a23795/ l23/ l0/ F. html#featuredEntry)]: Ein Jahr,
ein (Un-)Wort! (in German).]
[5] Stewart, C and Kowaltzke, A. 1997, Media: New Ways and Meanings (second edition), JACARANDA, Milton, Queensland, Australia.
pp.102.
Multimedia
[6] Jennifer Story, from Next Online,2002.
[7] Lynch P., Yale University Web Style Manual (http:/ / info. med. yale. edu/ caim/ manual/ sites/ site_structure. html)
[8] http:/ / confsearch. org/ confsearch/ faces/ pages/ topic. jsp;jsessionid=A625E1DF2282482FAEAC04D5A0A556F2?topic=Multimedia&
sortMode=1& graphicView=1
External links
• History of Multimedia from the University of Calgary (http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~edtech/688/hist.htm)
• Multimedia in Answers.com (http://www.answers.com/topic/multimedia)
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Article Sources and Contributors
Article Sources and Contributors
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Capricorn42, Carnildo, Cbibas, Ceranthor, Cethegus, Chiklit, Cholmes75, Chris the speller, Chrisch, Christian75, Cirtap7777, Cmelater, Colin, Colipon, Cometstyles, CommonsDelinker,
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