Introduction to Multimedia

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Introduction to Multimedia

• Dr. Kenneth Hoffman

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What we will be covering

• Interactive computing--Brief history
• Why use multimedia?
• Where do we use multimedia?
• Where and how is it created?
• How is it evaluated?
• Multimedia vs. the Web

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What is multimedia?

• Multimedia is any combination of text, graphic
  art, sound, animation, and video delivered to you
  by computer or electronic means.

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Multimedia is

• Text

• Graphics

• Sound

• Animation

• Video

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• When you allow an end user or the viewer of a
  multimedia project to control what elements are
  delivered and when, it is interactive multimedia.
  When you provide a structure of linked elements
  through which the user can navigate, interactive
  multimedia becomes hypermedia. (Vaughn)

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Multimedia takes many forms

• Greeting cards
• Conferencing
• Movies
• Photo albums
• Image catalogs

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Multimedia Requirements

• Creative skills
• Technology tools
• Organization and business talent

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Types of Multimedia

• Interactive multimedia
• Hyperactive multimedia
• Linear multimedia

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Delivering and Using Multimedia

• Multimedia demands bandwidth
• CD-ROMs hold 650-700 MB

• DVD-ROMs hold 4.7-17 GB
• Multimedia can be delivered online

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• Multimedia can be delivered online

• Online uses include

• Books and magazines
• Movies
• News and weather
• Education
• Maps
• Entertainment

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Delivering and Using Multimedia

• Where to use multimedia

• Business

• School

• Home

• Public

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Convergence in the home

• The combining of computer-based multimedia with
  entertainment game-based media.
• The home entertainment system of the future
  will use traditional TV content, computer games
  and information retrieval
• Will this be better than watching TV?

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Delivering and using multimedia

• Virtual Reality
• http//spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/vtour/index.ht
  ml

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• Multimedia is the convergence of computers with
  video, film, sound, graphics, and text on the
  computer desktop. It has the potential to be one
  of the most powerful forms for communicating
  ideas, searching for information, and
  experiencing new concepts of any communication
  media ever developed.

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Convergence depends on being digital

• Using numbers (traditional definition)
• Digit or finger
• Discrete units
• Today digital is synonymous with computer

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Analog

• Analogous
• Representation resembles the original
• Camera negative looks like the original scene
• Sound travels in wavesWater example

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Digital

• The use of numbers or depicting something in
  discrete units (digital clock vs. Sweep hand
  clock.

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Digital pictures

• Picture or scene is broken up into discrete units
  called pixels
• Pixel colors stored in memory as numbers

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Digital sound

• Pitch
• Volume

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Digital video

• CODEC (Compression)
• AVI, MOV, MPG

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Digital domain

• All media elements are digitized.
• 1s and 0s
• Everything is computer compatible

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• When something is done in the digital domain, it
  implies that the original data (images, sounds,
  video, etc.) have been converted into a digital
  format and is manipulated inside the computer's
  memory

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Digital convergence of traditional media

• The integration of computers, communications and
  consumer electronics.
• With the advent of audio CDs and now DVDs, all
  forms of information, both for business and
  entertainment can be managed and distributed
  together.

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Digital media elements

• Edited together in authoring software
• Played back on CD-ROM, Web, or Network

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Creation and editing software

• Text
• Sound
• Images
• Animation
• Video

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Textword processing

• MS Word
• HTML text editors like Notepad and BBedit

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Sound

• Analog to digital conversion
• Editing
• Filtering
• Sound Forge

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Images

• PhotoShop

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Animation

• 3D Studio Max
• Maya
• Softimage
• Lightwave
• Flash

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Video

• Adobe Premiere
• Final-Cut Pro

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• Using cable TV, satellite dish, optical fiber or
  even the telephone line (POTS), music, movies,
  video games and other interactive programs can be
  distributed quickly to the user.

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Why should corporations use multimedia?

• Easier access to customers and employees using
  Web /or CD
• May include video, animation, music and sound for
  greater impact

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Marshall McLuhan

• Medium is the MessageIt is the medium that
  shapes and controls the scale and form of human
  associations and action. For instance, the
  influence of the automobile on our urban and
  suburban centers, which is separate from the fact
  that automobiles carry goods and people.
  Computer games develop skills that promote
  different ways of thinking, that involve the
  integration of multiple variables and overlapping
  lines of simultaneous actions. It is conceivable
  that the video game wizards will grow up to find
  a complex cure for cancer.

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• "Our conventional response to all media, namely
  that it is how they are used that counts, is the
  numb stance of the technological idiot, For the
  'content' of a medium is like the juicy piece of
  meat carried by the burglar to distract the
  watchdog of the mind." (Air port lounges with
  long rows of fiberglass chairs bolted to the
  floor obviously foster different types of
  interactions than do other lounges with soft
  armchairs loosely arranged in a circle.)
• Bias of media forms 1. Written text fosters
  linear thinking and logic2. The oral world is a
  world of all-at-oneness (acoustical space, i.e..,
  space without boundaries)3. Electronic media
  foster a simultaneous approach to presenting
  information. From dial switching your home
  television to retrieving information from
  computer random access memory (hypermedia
  applications).

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• Global Village--Electronic media are space
  binding and unite cultures into what he calls the
  "global village. While his vision of a global
  village has become a reality in the age of
  instantaneous world news and communication,
  electronic technology may actually increase the
  homogenization of world culturesi.e.., reduce
  diversity. Ex. Pepsi ad where Geishas in Japan
  and tribesmen in Africa sing along with Ray
  Charles in a global chorus of Ah Ha.
• Does this demonstrate the imperialist nature of
  American marketing and imagination. Will the Web
  contribute the spread of American culture?

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• Hybrid media formsRelease new force and energy
  and foster change Silent film radio sound
  motion picturesTypewriter computers word
  processingBallet silent film Chaplins
  expressive comic mime.The hybrid of the meeting
  of two media is a moment of truth and revelation
  from which new media form is born. The joining
  of two media forms a synergy which is greater
  than the two separately. Multimedia is more than
  just text with pictures, video and sound. It is
  a new media of expression with its own
  distinguishing properties. When you add
  interactivity is becomes even more powerful.

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Where do corporations use multimedia?

• Promotion
• Advertising
• Training
• Product demos
• Databases
• Catalogues

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Promotion and Advertising

• Who are you?
• Why should we do business with you?
• How do we know you can do what you say you can
  do?
• Whats so great about your company?
• Why is you company different?
• What makes you an expert?
• How do we know we can rely on you?
• (See CD-ROM business card, floppy promo)

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Training

• CBT one-on-one (Understanding Exposure)
• Simulations
• Multimedia in combination with lecturer

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Databases

• Outside sales force

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Catalogues

• Media rich content that demonstrates your product
  using video, graphics and sound
• (See 2 Market CD-ROM)

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Why CD-ROM

• Digital video is still higher quality and more
  reliable delivered on CD-ROM than over the
  Internet.
• CD-ROM can be handed out at meetings and left
  with clients (CD-ROM and floppy business cards)

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• A well-packaged CD-ROM is even advertising its
  message while sitting around your potential
  clients office.
• Web address can easily be forgotten
• Interactive CD-ROM is better than a linear
  videotape, because the user can quickly access
  just the information he or she wants. No hunting
  around for a video tape player.

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• CD-ROM drives are standard in todays business
  computers
• CD-ROMs can link to the web. You can have both
  benefits of high quality fast video on CD-ROM
  together with the dynamic content of the web.

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Why use the web for business communications?

• Quickly distributed over existing client links to
  your Web site
• Quickly updated
• Rich media is getting better (quality and
  download speed) over the Web

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• Addresses can be easily bookmarked
• Your company or product can be searched for
  quickly when the customer needs your product or
  service.

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How is multimedia created?

• Multimedia production team
• Authoring tools
• Stages of development
• Interactivity (Vannevar Bush)

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Multimedia production team

• Project Manager
• Multimedia Designer
• Interface Designer
• Writer
• Video Specialist
• Audio Specialist
• Multimedia Programmer
• Producer, Multimedia for the Web

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Project manager

• Responsible for overall development and
  implementation of a project
• Day-to-day operations budgets, schedules,
  creative sessions, time sheets, budgets,
  schedules, team dynamics
• The producer

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Multimedia designer

• Responsible for the look and feel of the
  project. Should be pleasing and aesthetically
  inviting and engaging.
• Supervises the graphic designers, illustrators,
  and animators
• The director

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Interface designer

• The interface provides control to the viewer.
• Interface provides access to the media of
  multimediatext, graphics, animation, audio, and
  video
• Human Interface Guidelines--http//developer.apple
  .com/techpubs/macosx/Essentials/AquaHIGuidelines/
  AHIGMenus/index.html
• Experience as a graphic designer
• Experience with software such as PhotoShop,
  Illustrator, Flash, Premiere

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Writer

• Creates the script which is a blueprint
  describing the interactivity of the project.
  Skilled in multithreaded narrative.
• Writes the voice-overs and actor narrations
• Text screens
• Develops characters in narrative presentations

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Video specialist

• Traditional video production skills
• Skilled at shooting, lighting, working with
  actors and editing
• Understands limitations of bandwidth and how to
  get the best image for the smallest file size.

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Audio specialist

• Responsible for finding and/or recording and
  mixing music, voice-over narrations and sound
  effects.

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Multimedia programmer

• Integrates the multimedia element into a seamless
  whole using an authoring system or programming
  language.
• Coaxes extra performance from multimedia
  authoring and programming systems
• Programming languages include JavaScript,
  Lingo, Authorware, Java and C

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Producer, multimedia for the web

• Similar to Project Manager but experienced in
  creating and maintaining complex corporate
  Websites.
• Familiar with all of the jobs required to produce
  a site.

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Creating Instant Media

• Spreadsheets

• Lotus 1-2-3
• Microsoft Excel

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Creating Instant Media

• Databases

• Claris FileMaker Pro
• Microsoft Access

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Paperback computer

• User Illusion
• Universal Machine
• Ivan Sutherland
• Sketch Pad
• Xerox PARC
• Doug Engelbart

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Authoring tools

• Card and Page-Based Tools
• Icon-Based Authoring Tools
• Time-Based Authoring Tools

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Types of Authoring Tools

• Page- or card-based tools

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Card and page-based tools

• Media elements grouped onto screens like pages in
  a book
• Pages contain buttons, text fields, graphic
  objects, backgrounds
• Buttons may contain scripts to perform specific
  functions or go to a specific page. If a user
  selects the wrong answer to a question, a script
  will direct him to a prior page for review.
• HyperCard, ToolBook

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Types of Authoring Tools

• Page- or card-based tools
• Icon-based tools

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Icon-based authoring tools

• Programming done visually, without scripting
• AuthorWare (See example)

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Types of Authoring Tools

• Page- or card-based tools
• Icon-based tools
• Time-based tools

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Time-based authoring tools

• Best used when message has a beginning, middle
  end
• Uses movie metaphor
• Macromedia Director (See example)

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Macromedia Director is a popular time-based tool.
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Evaluating Tools

• Editing Features
• Organizing Features

• Programming Features

• Visual programming
• Scripting
• Advanced programming languages
• Document development tools

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Evaluating Tools

• Editing Features
• Organizing Features
• Programming Features

• Interactivity Features

• Performance Tuning Features
• Playback Features

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Evaluating Tools

• Delivery Features

• Cross-Platform Support

• Fonts
• Colors

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Evaluating Tools

• Delivery Features
• Cross-Platform Support
• Internet Playability

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Developing a multimedia title

• Detailed Approach Contains firm and detailed
  blueprint (script)
• Good with large diverse team
• Many aspects of the project can be in production
  simultaneously
• Disadvantage is that much of the detail is locked
  in very early and difficult to make changes
• Favored by clients who want tight control

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Rough outline approach

• Good for projects that involve a great deal of
  negotiations for content licensing
• Good for projects that must remain in flux until
  very end
• Disadvantage is that making changes late in
  production is expensive.

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Production phases

• Preproduction
• Production
• Postproduction

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Preproduction

• Idea/Brainstorming
• Goals Objectives Statement
• Treatment
• Content Outline
• Script
• Storyboard
• Prototypes
• Navigation Map

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Idea/brainstorming

• Free association phase
• No ideas are rejected
• Write down everything
• Prioritize

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Goals objectives statement

• What do you want the user to learn, find out,
  etc
• GoalUltimate message of the project. The user
  will
• Objectives are the specific steps user must reach
  to achieve the goal. Write as specifically as
  possible.
• Include in Treatment

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Treatment

• Summary of project
• Present-tense, narrative version of the program
• Determines how script will be written how user
  moves from one point to another

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Treatment should include

• Cover Page (Title, Writer, Date)
• The project type (CD-ROM, Web page, etc.)
• Intended audience
• Description of project look and feel
• Technical requirements of project
• Synopsis of content

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Content outline

• Specific list of what will be included in the
  project
• Blueprint from which script is written

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Storyboard

• Visualization of the graphic screens/look and
  feel
• A way of testing how project will work
• Indicates where text, music, and voice-over will
  be used
• Indicates navigation
• Shows others how project will operatewhether
  navigation makes sense to others

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Prototypes

• Purpose is to test your idea before it goes into
  production. Sketch prototypes show the team what
  the screens will look like.
• Fixedsingle page, graphic, or menu
• Sequential--Show one path through program
• Interactive--Can tell if users will interact well
  with the program. Do they understand certain
  tasks.

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Navigation map

• Site map
• Table of Contents in chart form
• Tree structure

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Navigation types

• Linear
• Hierarchical
• Nonlinear
• Composite

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Buttons

• TextHypertext link
• Graphica small photograph or realistic
  representation. Ex., Thumbnail picture
• IconGraphic object symbolic of an activity or
  entity. Ex., Apple trashcan
• Image Map with hot spots

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Interactivity

• Simple branchinguser makes a choice while
  navigating
• Conditional branchingIf user answers question
  wrong then go to more detailed explanation

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Production

• Prototyping
• Content acquisition
• Secure content rights
• Create, prepare (edit) media elements
• Authoring
• Testing

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Postproduction

• Package design
• Stamping
• Distribution

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Vannevar Bush
AS We May Think--The Atlantic Monthly, 1945

• Notes information explosion and calls
  formechanically linked information-retrieval
  machines.
• Current systems of indexing are artificial
• Human minds work by association. With one fact
  or idea in its grasp, the mind snaps instantly to
  the next that is suggested by the association of
  thoughts.
• Memex--would mechanize a more efficient, human,
  mode of manipulating and remembering facts.
  Stores books, records, and communications, and
  may be consulted with speed and flexibility--a
  supplement to our memory.

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• Associative indexing-- whereby any item may be
  caused at will to select immediately and
  automatically another.
• Links are remembered by the Memex and form
  trails which can be sent to other users of the
  Memex.
• Wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear,
  ready-made with a mesh of associative trails
  running through them.
• A device that could put the entirety of human
  knowledge at your fingertips, linked and
  cross-linked into an ever-expanding web of
  associations.

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Douglas Engelbart

• Credits Bush for much of his thinking regarding
  the augmenting of mans intellect with machines.
• 1968--Fall Joint Computer Conference in San
  Francisco demonstration of NLS (on Line System)

• Engelbart demonstrated attributes of what would
  later be called a word-processing program
  full-screen text editing, with automatic word
  wrap, cutting pasting, corrections, and
  insertions automatic formatting and printing.
• NLS included an outliner, email system and what
  would come to be known as hyperlinks. (Waldrop,
  p215, 242, 288)

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Internet History

• ARPANET

• Created in 1969
• ARPANET networked universities, military sites,
  and government agencies
• NSF began using ARPANET in 1985
• NSF took over management in 1989
• Commercial use began in 1992

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Networking Basics

• Network An arrangement of objects that are
  interconnected
• A local network is a LAN
• A distributed network is a WAN
• LANs, WANs, and individuals can connect to the
  Internet
• Intranet

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Internet Addresses

• Address syntax

protocol//domain name/path/file
name Protocol Rules governing transmitting and
receiving of data. Domain name On the
Internet, a registration category. (See CDE,
Internet domain names.)
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Internet Addresses

• Top-level domains

.com .net .gov .mil .au
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Internet Addresses

• Top-level domains
• IP addresses and data packets (p335)

• Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) Ensures that
  the total amount of bytes sent is received
  correctly at the other end.
• Internet Protocol (IP) Routing mechanism and
  address www.shu.edu 149.150.209.29 using DNS
  server (Domain Name System)
• (See CDE, IP address)

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Connections

• To connect to the Internet a computer needs

• A data connection to a server
• TCP/IP software
• Internet software

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Connections

• The bandwidth bottleneck

• Compress data when possible
• Take advantage of browser cache
• Design for download efficiency
• Design alternate low- and high-bandwidth sites
• Use streaming technology

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• Common services include

• HTTP
• FTP
• Usenet - network of user newsgroups
• SMTP - e-mail protocol on the Internet
• Gopher - program that searches for resources on
  the Internet. Similar to an index, database or
  catalog. See Veronica, Archie, Jughead

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MIME-types (See Vaughan p341)
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions. A common
method for transmitting non-text files via
Internet email, which was originally designed
for ASCII text. Web servers send the MIME type to
the requesting browserso that it can launch the
appropriate helper application or plug-in.
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Web Browsers

• Netscape Navigator

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Web Browsers

• Internet Explorer

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Plug-ins and delivery vehicles

• Plug-ins

• Plug-ins add capabilities to the Web browser
• If content requires a plug-in, users must have
  the plug-in installed

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Plug-ins and delivery vehicles

• Types of plug-ins

• Text
• Images
• Sound
• Animation, video, and presentation

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Beyond HTML

• Programming technologies

• CGI(Common Gateway Interface script) A small
  program written in a script language such as Perl
  that functions as the glue between HTML pages and
  other programs on the Web server.
• PerlProgramming language for writing Web server
  programs
• JavaProgramming language for Internet (WWW) and
  intranet applications.

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Beyond HTML

• Programming technologies
• Online conferencing

• 3-D worlds

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Web Page Makers

• Learn HTML

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Web Page Makers

• Learn HTML
• Site building tools

• Adobe GoLive
• Macromedia Dreamweaver
• Microsoft FrontPage
• Myrmidon
• Netscape Composer

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The World Wide Web

• Web history

• Tim Berners-Lee of CERN developed the Webs
  hypertext system in 1989
• HTTP
• HTML
• Cross-platform compatibility was a design goal

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Using Text in Multimedia

• Type terminology

• Typeface--A family of graphic characters

Arial Courier Times
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Using Text in Multimedia

• Type terminology

• Typeface

• Font--Collection of characters of a single size
  and style belonging to a particular typeface
  family

• Style--boldface, italic, and underline

Italic Bold Underline
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Using Text in Multimedia

• Type terminology

• Typeface
• Font
• Style

• Point--1/72 of an inch

Leading

• Leading

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Using Text in Multimedia

• Type terminology

• Typeface
• Font
• Style

• Point

• Leading

• Kerning

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Using Text in Multimedia

• Type terminology

• Character metrics--General measurements applied
  to individual characters

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Using Text in Multimedia

• Type terminology

• Character metrics

• Case--upper or lower

• Serif versus sans serif

Serif--the little decoration at the end of a
letter stroke sans serif
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Using Text in Multimedia

• Designing with text

• Strike a density balance
• Consider legibility when choosing fonts
• Avoid too many different faces
• Adjust leading and kerning for readability
• Explore colors and backgrounds
• Use anti-aliasing

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Using Text in Multimedia

• Designing with text

• Use drop caps and initial caps

• Minimize lines of centered text
• Use distorted layouts to grab attention
• Surround headlines with white space
• Distinguish text links with colors and
  underlining
• Make efficient use of screen real estate

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Using Text in Multimedia

• Designing with text
• Menus for navigation

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Using Text in Multimedia

• Designing with text
• Menus for navigation
• Buttons for interaction

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Using Text in Multimedia

• Designing with text
• Menus for navigation
• Buttons for interaction
• Fields for reading--Index page should be no more
  than one screen in depth, other pages no more
  than two screens.

Portrait
Landscape
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Using Text in Multimedia

• Designing with text
• Menus for navigation
• Buttons for interaction
• Fields for reading
• HTML documents

Can specify typefaces, sizes and colors but
youdont know what font the reader will use to
viewyour document. DHTML attaches cascading
style sheets which set the users browser to
page mark-up specs
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Computers and Text

• Macintosh screen resolution 72 pixels per inch
• The font wars

• Adobe PostScript
• Adobe Type Manager (ATM)

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Computers and Text

• Macintosh screen resolution 72 pixels per inch
• The font wars

• Adobe PostScript
• Adobe Type Manager (ATM)

• TrueType (TT)

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Creating Your Own Type

• ResEdit

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Creating Your Own Type

• ResEdit
• Fontographer

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Creating Your Own Type

• ResEdit
• Fontographer
• Making pretty text

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Hypertext and Hypermedia

• Hypermedia provides a structure of links
• Hypertext words are linked to other elements
• Hypertext is usually searchable

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Hypertext and Hypermedia

• Hypermedia structures

• Hypermedia elements are called nodes
• Nodes are connected using links
• A linked point is called an anchor

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DVD--Digital Versatile Disc

• DVD-Video. Read only. Provides approximately
  133 minutes of LaserDisc-quality video per side.
  4.7 GB per side. 720 horizontal line resolution
• DVD-ROM. Like a large CD-ROM for storing data.

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Rewritable DVD

• DVD-RAM (Panasonic, Hitachi Toshiba)
• Rewritable DVD disk. Video and data.
• Expected to replace videotapes entirely and
  provide a single medium for home theater,
  multimedia distribution, and computer data
  storage.
• DVDR/W (Pioneer)

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Bibliography

• Korolenko, Michael. Writing for Multimedia.
  Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1997.
• Vaughan, Tay. Multimedia Making It Work, 5th
  Edition. Osborne/McGraw-Hill. 2002.