Everything about Multimedia totally explained
Multimedia is
media that utilizes a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun (a medium with multiple content forms) or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which only utilize traditional forms of printed or hand-produced text and still graphics. In general, multimedia includes a combination of
text,
audio,
still images,
animation,
video, and
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 (as an adjective) also describes
electronic media devices used to store and experience multimedia content. Multimedia is similar to traditional
mixed media in
fine art, but with a broader scope. The term "rich media" is synonymous for
interactive multimedia.
Hypermedia can be considered one particular multimedia application.
Categorization
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Linear
Presentation |
Non-linear
Interactive |
Multimedia may be broadly divided into
linear and
non-linear categories. Linear active content progresses without any navigation control for the viewer such as a
cinema presentation. Non-linear content offers user
interactivity to control progress as used with a
computer game or used in self-paced
computer based training. Non-linear content is also known as
hypermedia 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.
Features
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Local
Recorded |
Online
Streaming |
Multimedia presentations may be viewed in 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 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
In
1965 the term Multi-media was used to describe the
Exploding Plastic Inevitable, a performance that combined live
rock music,
cinema, experimental lighting and
performance art.
In the intervening forty years the word has taken on different meanings. In the late 1970s the term was used to describe presentations consisting of multi-projector slide shows timed to an audio track. In the 1990s it took on its current meaning. In common usage the term 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.
Word usage and context
Since media is the plural of medium, the term "multimedia" is a
pleonasm if "multi" 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.
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", motion illustrations. Multiple forms of information content are often not considered multimedia if they don't contain modern forms of presentation such as audio or video. Likewise, single forms of information content with single methods of information processing (for example non-interactive audio) are often called multimedia, perhaps to distinguish media from media.
Usage
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.
Commercial
Much of the electronic
old and
new media utilized by commercial artists is multimedia. Exciting presentations are used to grab and keep attention in
advertising. Industrial, 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
In addition, multimedia is heavily used in the entertainment industry, especially to develop
special effects in movies and animations. 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.
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 an informal term used to describe combining 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 (for example
Cognitive load,
Multimedia learning, and the list goes on). The possibilities for learning and instruction are nearly endless.
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 technologies.
Mathematical and Scientific Research
In
Mathematical and
Scientific Research, multimedia are mainly used for modelling 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.
Miscellaneous
In Europe, the reference organization for Multimedia industry is the
European Multimedia Associations Convention (EMMAC).
An observatory for jobs in the multimedia industry provides surveys and analysis about multimedia and ITC jobs.
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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's appropriate for the 'on-line world' is highly optimized and designed to be able to be quickly scanned by readers.
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.
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’.
Patrick Lynch, author of the Yale University Web Style Manual, states that users need predictability and structure, with clear functional and graphical continuity between the various components and subsections of the multimedia production. In this way, the home page of any multimedia production should always be a landmark, able to be accessed from anywhere within a multimedia piece.
Conferences
There are a large number of multimedia conferences, the two main scholarly scientific conferences being:
References, Sources, and Notes
Multimedia Making it Work, by Tay Vaughan. Osborne McGraw Hill, 1993. ISBN 0-07-881869.Further Information
Get more info on 'Multimedia'.
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