CS245 - CS II Chapter 12 - Multimedia

• Multimedia - use of more than one medium or means to communicate information
• Passive multimedia - one way communication from the medium to the viewer
• Interactive multimedia - two way communications which requires interaction from the human observer
  • multimedia vs. multiple media
  • low-bandwidth medium - text-only book (300 bps)
  • high-bandwidth medium - TV/video (50 Mbps)
• Multimedia hardware - PC, CD-ROM, speakers, soundcard, etc.

Vehicles for Multimedia

• Video games
• Hard disk installation: presentation software
• CD-ROM
• Videodiscs
• Information Kiosks
• Internet (gopher --> WWW)

• Text & Hypertext
  • Vannevar Bush - 1945 essay "As We May Think"
  • Douglas Englebart - 1950-1968: WIMPs
  • Ted Nelson - 1965: Xanadu hypertext project
  • Hypercard - Apple (1987) actually hypermedia (nonsequential links to documents) includes authoring system -tool for building interactive hypermedia documents (Authorware Model, Linkway)
  • Tim Berners-Lee - 1993
• Imagery
• Sound
• Hypermedia
• Compression of Files
  • 1 24-bit color full-screen image = 1 M
  • JPEG - Joint Photographers Expert Group
  • MPEG - Motion Picture Experts Group
• CD-ROM for multiple platforms

problems:

1. disorienting
2. what is missed by jumping around?
3. not always links where you want them
4. can't scribble notes
5. computers "hard" use for reading

Animation: Graphics in Time

• visual effect tools (dissolves, wipes, etc.)
• path animation tools (Authorware Model)
• tweening tools (smooths movement between frames)

Desktop Video: Computers and TV

• Interactive videodiscs
• digital video - easy to edit, store and play back without loss of quality
• video digitizers ( multimedia lab - Communications Arts Department)
• data compression software
• Video Editing

Synthetic Musician: Computers and Audio

• Digitized sounds as computer data - "Soundblaster" programs
• CD audio
• Electronic musical instruments
• synthesizier - creates sounds (FM Organ)
• sampler - samples (digitizes) real-world sounds and plays through a synthesizer
• MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)
• "clip music"

Rules of Thumb

1. Be consistent
2. Make it intuitive
3. Keep it lively
4. message is more important that the media
5. put the user in the driver's seat
6. let real people test your presentation

Interactive Media: Visions of the Future

• self-paced interactive "classroom"
• multmedia e-mail
• interactive TV
• electronic town meetings & voting

• Electronic Books: ex. Just Grandma and Me; Living Books
• Interactive Learning: ex. "A Brief History of Time"
• Interactive Arts and Entertainment: ex. Peter Gabriel's Xplora 1
• Internet Multimedia: ex. ByDesign Garmet Stores