Multimedia is media and 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.
The use of computers to present text, graphics, video,
animation, and sound in an integrated way. Long touted as the future revolution
in computing, multimedia applications were, until the mid-90s, uncommon due to
the expensive hardware required. With increases in performance and decreases in
price, however, multimedia is now commonplace. Nearly all PCs are capable of
displaying video, though the resolution available depends on the power of the
computer's video adapter and CPU.
Multimedia can include a range of formats from a simple PowerPoint
slide show to a complex interactive simulation (Learning Circuits) and in most
cases is believed to enhance user experience and result in easier and faster
understanding of the information presented. The concept of presenting
information in various formats is not a new phenomenon, however when reviewing
this concept in terms of multimedia it generally implies presenting information
in various ‘digital’ formats.
According to Dave Marshall 11/5/1999, Multimedia can have a
many definitions these include:
Multimedia means that computer information can be
represented through audio, video, and animation in addition to traditional
media (i.e., text, graphics drawings, images). A good general definition is:
Multimedia is the field concerned with the computer-controlled integration of
text, graphics, drawings, still and moving images (Video), animation, audio,
and any other media where every type of information can be represented, stored,
transmitted and processed digitally. A Multimedia Application is an Application
which uses a collection of multiple media sources e.g. text, graphics, images,
sound/audio, animation and/or video. Hypermedia can be considered as one of the
multimedia applications.
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.
Major characteristics of multimedia is:
- 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 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.
References :-
- http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/multimedia.html
- http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/Dave/MM/OLD_BSC/node10.html
- http://searchsoa.techtarget.com/definition/multimedia
- http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_media.asp
- http://learningtechnology.wikispaces.com/What+is+Multimedia
By Sharifah Nursabrina binti Wan Mahlar (2010381017)
