Multimedia (2032 words) Essay Example For Students

Multimedia (2032 words) Essay MultimediaThe term media refers to the storage, transmission, interchange, presentation,representation and perception of different information types (data types) suchas text, graphics, voice, audio and video. The term multimedia is used to denotethe property of handling a variety of representation media in an integratedmanner. The phrase representation media is used because it is believed themost fundamental aspect of multimedia systems is the support for differentrepresentation types. It is necessary for a multimedia system to support avariety of representation media types. It is also important that the varioussources of media types are integrated into a single system framework. Multimediais more than multiple media. Multimedia adds interactivity to the combination oftext, graphics, images, audio and video. Creating your own media is moreinteractive than is using existing content, and collaborating with others in thecreation of media is still more interactive. Multimedia systems use a number ofdifferent media to communicate supplementary, additional or redundantinformation. Often this may take the form of using multiple sensory channels,but it may also take the form of different types of visual input textual,graphical, iconic, animation and video. Multimedia the combination of text,animated graphics, video, and soundpresents information in a way that is moreinteresting and easier to grasp than text alone. It has been used for educationat all levels, job training, and games and by the entertainment industry. It isbecoming more readily available as the price of personal computers and theiraccessories declines. Multimedia as a human-computer interface was made possiblesome half-dozen years ago by the rise of affordable digital technology. Previously, multimedia effects were produced by computer-controlled analoguedevices, like videocassette recorders, projectors, and tape recorders. Digitaltechnologys exponential decline in price and increase in capacity has enabledit to overtake analogue technology. The Internet is the breeding ground formultimedia ideas and the delivery vehicle of multimedia objects to a hugeaudience. While we have treated various output media in isolation, it is clearthat interesting issues emerge as they are combined in what is termedmultimedia. In this sense, any computer application that employs a video disk,images from a CD-ROM, uses high quality sound, or uses high quality video imageson screen may be termed a multimedia application. Such interfaces are oftenaesthetically appealing and, where high capacity storage devices such as CD-ROMare used, can provide effective interactions for the user by acting as verylarge databases or storehouses of information with dense but easy-to-usecross-referen cing and indexing. Multimedia is all things to all people. The namecan convey a highly specific meaning or less then nothing, depending on youraudience. In fact, multimedia is a singular mix of disparate technologies withoverlapping application in pursuit of a market and an identity. We can describeit as the seamless integration of data, text, images and sound within a singledigital information environment. Multimedia finds its worth in the field ofpresenting information in a manner that is intuitive and more natural thentraditional means. A multimedia user interface must provide a wide variety ofeasily understood and usable media control tools. In addition, information viewsneed to be integrated with structural views, since the viewing of informationwill often alternate moving through the structure by one means or another. Interactive Multimedia (IMM) is about empowering the user to explore new realmsby a variety of pathways. It is an umbrella term for a range of videodisc,compact disc and computer-based systems that allow the creation, integration andmanipulation of text, graphics, still and moving video images and sound. Thecomputer elements of an IMM system have the capacity to: ? Store, manipulateand present a range of information forms ? Allow various forms ofcomputer-based information to be accessed in linear and non-linear ways. ?Provide graphics overlay and print out screen material. ? Enable learners towork independently. ? Provide feedback to the learner Interactive multimediaprovides a powerful means of enhancing learning and information provision. Thereare however some cautions which need to be heeded if the full potential of IMMis to be realised. These can be seen listed below: ? Lack of world standards ?Technical problems ? Platforms ? Building successful teams ? Developmentalcosts Intera ctivity means that the user receives appropriate and expectedfeedback in response to actions taken. It is a two-way human-machinecommunication involving an end-user and a computer-based instructional system. Horse EssayTwo types of speech are available for use by multimedia developers: digitisedand synthesised. Digitised speech provides high quality natural speech whilesynthesised speech may not sound as natural as human speech. Even with improvedtechniques for generating speech, it is not incorporated into multimediaprograms as often as it could be. This may be due to a lack of understanding ofhow high quality speech is produced. Multimedia interface designers havetypically used a navigation/map metaphor, a menu/hierarchy metaphor or a journal(sequence) metaphor. An example of the first strategy is the Virtual Museum,produced by Apple Computer. Here the user accesses the multimedia information bynavigating through the virtual museum, moving from room to room by selectingdirections of movement. Examples of the second strategy include on-lineencyclopaedias and electronic books where a table of contents is used toorganise the material. It is helpful to view multimedia applications as aco nvergence of todays content and titles, such as movies and books of todayscomputer application programs, such as word processors and of todays networkservices. As an example a multimedia book should have the following features. Besides text, the book has other media that the author created, including notonly text, graphics and images but also audio and video to make the bookscontent clearer or more enjoyable. Programs should be built-in to help a usernavigate through the authors media. Multimedias driving technologies, mainlydigital electronics and fiberoptic communications are making more and morefunctions sufficiently economical for consumers to use. Example applicationsinclude: Desktop Video Conferences with collaboration MultimediaStore-and-Forward mail Consumer Edutainment, Infotainmnet, Sociotainment DigitalLibraries Video on demand Hybrid Applications IMM has many applications inlibraries. IMM can bring knowledge in its entire media formats into condensed,accessible forms capable of being used for reference and educationalapplications. On the whole, within the library sector IMM is currently regardedwith some ambivalence. Many library professionals look upon it as an interestingtechnology, but one th at will require significant investment and change if itspotential is to be fully realised. Possible barriers to the effective adoptionof IMM by librarians may be cited as financial constraints and a lack ofrequisite resources resulting in a lack of opportunity to become familiar withthe new and emergent systems; ingrained traditional resistance to change; adegree of uncertainty regarding the appropriateness of the technology to variousapplications; an inability to grasp the significance of IMM and a lack ofexperience, knowledge and skills in regard to IMM among library professionals. Example applications include the Book House a library system using hypertexttechniques to help users find books without the limitations of traditionalinformation retrieval. The user interface of the Book House is based on abuilding like a real library with the user being able to enter rooms filled withchildrens books, adult books etc. The system supports four basic searchstrategies, using icons and pictures to enable location of the books or topicsought. Voice response and voice recognition technologies could be used in alibrary situation, this could mean that merely speaking a unique book identifieror name could trigger the system into automatically filling in the remainder ofthe bibliographic or personal details relating to that item or person. Increasingly, multimedia systems will be developed with the aim of allowingnon-textual information to be used directly, in a demonstrational manner. Evenwhen text is present other media provide different additional information. Also,when dealing with multimedia, users are naturally disposed to interact in waysother than those developed for text. A first step to giving the user theimpression that he/she is dealing directly with non-textual material allowsdatabase search on the basis of identifying images that best suit the userspurposes. An initial query that turns up a large number of images can be refinedby allowing the user to point a few images out of the set that contain items ofinterest. The system can then use the text descriptions attached to the chosenimages to form a new query and offer a further set of possibly more relevantimages. My conclusion is that design could benefit tremendously from open andcollaborative multimedia research not from relatively closed multimediapac kages.