Multimedia 3

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Multimedia 3

• Design Considerations for Multimedia
• Tannenbaum - Chapter 7

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Development

• Multimedia development products are complex,
  multifaceted, and multidisciplinary, requiring
  the blending of skills and techniques from many
  different fields.
• The design of multimedia productions employs many
  of the same methods as design in other
  disciplines, in addition to consideration unique
  to designing for interactivity.

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Design

• Design is defined as creative process that draws
  upon elements, experience, and knowledge from
  many different sources (Tannenbaum, 1998, p
  388).
• Blum (cited in Tannenbaum) defines design as a
  complex human process, subjected to continuing
  change (which often is controlled artificially),
  and deeply dependent on experience and knowledge.

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Architectural Design

• Group considerations of objectives and potential
  solutions by architects, engineers, and clients,
  and solitary thinking and drawing by an
  individual architect.
• Have to have flexibility between architect and
  client and a merging of visions.

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Cuff (1991)

• Described six problems inherent in architectural
  design with may also appear in multimedia design
• design in the balance
• countless voices
• professional uncertainty
• perpetual discovery
• surprise endings
• a matter of consequence.

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Engineering Design...

• Builds much more on past designs than does
  architecture.
• Concerned more with failure - predicting,
  identifying, and preventing errors in a design
  that may have serious consequences.
• Replete with individual decision points and
  choices.

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Graphics and Creative Arts

• A long process entailing many versions of the
  same work, each slightly altered and improved
  until the designer is satisfied with the product.
• Cannot be merely the uncritical application of
  design rules which include those
• governing lighting or arranging a scene,
  organizing or structuring a paragraph or chapter,
  or applying or avoiding certain color
  combinations.
• Must include creativity and occasionally breaking
  the rules when that produces a better outcome.

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Software Engineering Design

• The careful creation of objectives and
  specifications for the software to be written.
• The choice of algorithms and data structures
  follows from these specifications, as does the
  design of the user interface.
• Structures for the design phase can be any or
  none of the following
• process-oriented, data flow analysis, or
  data-oriented.

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How it all Begins

• Multimedia design begins with a need and an idea.
• Most frequently the idea comes from someone other
  than the designer.
• The first step in the development involves the
  definition of the specifications including
• clarifying the problem and beginning the
  iterative specification process through a number
  of revisions until a reasonable detailed
  specification is agreed upon by the stakeholders
  in the project.

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• The specification process defines what is to be
  accomplished by the multimedia production while
  the design process defines how it will be
  accomplished.
• Alternately, the specifications may call for
  evaluation of the users accomplishment of
  certain instructional objectives as the basis for
  branching to new material, in which case, the
  design phase will then involve creating the
  details of the evaluation exercises an screens.
• (Tannenbaum, 1998, 393-394)

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Multimedia design

• Shares many characteristics from each of these as
  well as having some unique to the field.
• Unlike architecture and engineering, multimedia
  productions are not intended as permanent
  creations.
• Multimedia designers need to integrate elements
  from many different disciplines such as
• graphic, video, and screen design, human-computer
  interface development, instructional and
  curriculum planning, computer science and
  software engineering, and many others.

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Multimedia as a Medium
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Interactivity (Furness and Barfield,
1995, pp. 5-6, cited in Tannenbaum, 1998)

• The interface between the human and the machine
  can be thought to exist in direct and indirect
  paths.
• Direct paths are those which are physical or
  involve the transfer of signals in the form of
  light, sound or mechanical energy between the
  human and the machine.
• We usually think of the direct pathways as the
  information medium.

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Interactivity cont

• The indirect pathways deal with the organization
  of symbols according to internal models which are
  shared by the human and the machine. These
  models cause the data elements conveyed on the
  display to have meaning or semantic content.
• We can think of the indirect pathways as the
  message that is transmitted through the medium.
  Our ability to input control actions into the
  machine makes the medium interactive, in that
  messages can be sent in two directions.

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• In order to achieve smooth, effective
  interactivity between a user and a multimedia
  production, many different elements must be
  considered.
• Multimedia designers must always consider the
  user first and make the computer do what is
  necessary to achieve the desired interactivity.

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What makes things interactive?

• The four Cs
• Control,
• Consistency,
• Context, and
• Corroboration
• can be used to evaluate whether a project is
  interactive at all and, if so, whether its
  interactivity design is successful.

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Does Communication Occur Between the User and the
Computer?

• According to Cathcart and Gumpert (1985) cited in
  Tannenbaum, 1998, p. 397, human-computer
  interaction occurs in three ways
• unobtrusive functions,
• computer-facilitated functions, and
• person-computer interpersonal functions.

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The Dyadic Model

• The interaction between a person and a computer
  can only imitate dyadic interpersonal
  communication -
• a computer prompts the user for input
• the computer asks questions and the user responds
• People interface with the computer through a
  keyboard or other input device
• The computer responds via visual displays, error
  messages, or simulated speech.

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Dyadic Differences

• A computer is programmed, therefore,
  communication that occurs between the computer
  and its user is to an extent predetermined,
  predictable, structured, non-dynamic, and
  repeatable.
• The degree of control is much less ambiguous
  between computer and user than person-to-person
  interactions. The computer discards everything
  it cannot process or does not need.

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Interactivity Interface

• According to Marcus (1993) the user interface
  must achieve effective communication via the use
  of
• Metaphors,
• Mental models,
• Navigation of models,
• Look, and
• Feel.

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• A multimedia producer should attempt to achieve
  communication within the production that is as
  natural (interpersonal) as possible, but not at
  the cost of requisite precision.
• Multimedia designer needs to strive for
  interactivity that is as close as possible to
  human interactions, within the constraints of
  budget and cost-effectiveness.

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• Interactive interfaces often employ metaphors to
  help users remember and use various functions.
• Common metaphors include windows, desktops,
  and buttons.
• Interface designers are constantly employing new
  metaphors.
• A metaphor should be familiar to the user, have a
  single clear meaning or implication, be naturally
  and locally related to the function it denotes,
  and be employed only to facilitate interactivity,
  not because it is cute or clever.

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More on Metaphors

• Icons are a form of metaphor.
• Unless metaphor and icons are clear and
  understandable, with no distracting implications,
  users may be mislead by them into cognitive
  train wrecks.

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• Research in the fields of educational, gestalt,
  and applied cognitive psychology has much to
  contribute to successful design for
  interactivity.
• Many finding in Gestalt psychology are of
  consequence for interface design.
• Color associations, connotations, and preferences
  are important in interface design.

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• Educational psychologists have found that people
  learn more efficiently when more than one
  modality is employed.
• However the number and choice of modalities must
  be carefully coordinated with the subject matter
  and the users involved.
• Learning theories also stress that students
  should be active learners multimedia productions
  are clearly one effective method for providing
  the most effective reinforcement is positive and
  intermittent, or irregularly spaced.

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• Interface building tools help multimedia design
  by providing templates and code generators for
  generic forms of interfaces.
• There is a cognitive model of interface building,
  the GOMS (Goals, Operators, Methods, and
  Selection rules) model, that has been used with
  some success in the analysis of certain human
  cognitive activities and may provide a basis for
  certain interactive interface designing.

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• It is important for the multimedia interface
  designer to consider the intended users in terms
  of their culture and preferred style of
  interaction.
• The choice of style(s) to be employed should be
  dictated by the nature of the material and the
  preferences of the intended users.
• It is often considered good practice for a
  designer to include two or more styles of
  interaction simultaneously.

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• Absolute, inviolable rules for graphics and
  screen design are not possible.
• Every situation requires a designer to exercise
  creativity.
• General principles do exist and are as follows

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General Principles - 1

• The more time spent on comprehensive and detailed
  planning, the better.
• Develop clean, attractive, informative titles.
• Keep screens simple, conveying one major idea per
  screen.
• Avoid lengthy textual material, which should be
  provided in printed format rather than on-screen.

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General Principles - 2

• Keep screen design uncluttered, using adequate
  margins and sufficient white space.
• Use images carefully, avoiding distractions and
  irrelevant material
• Minimize variations in font size and style to
  avoid detracting from the message.
• Choose type fonts and sizes that are clear and
  easy to read, yet direct emphases appropriately

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General Principles - 3

• Avoid the use of excessive numbers of colors,
  using no more than two or three per screen, and
  normally only for emphasis.
• Use bright colors for the foreground, pale colors
  for the back ground.
• Avoid clashing colors.
• Charts and graphs should be carefully crafted to
  display the relevant data and clarify the salient
  points, avoiding clutter, distractions, and
  distortions.

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Schneiderman (1987)

• Eight golden rules of dialog design
• Strive for consistency
• enable frequent users to use shortcuts
• offer informative feedback
• design dialogs to yield closure
• offer simple error handling
• permit easy reversal of actions
• support internal locus of control
• reduce short-term load.
• Cited in Tannenbaum, 1998, pp. 430-431

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Users and Systems Make Errors

• Multimedia designers must plan accordingly,
  endeavoring to prevent and avoid errors, if
  possible, and providing useful error messages and
  minimally disruptive remedies.
• To the extent possible, a program should be able
  to recognize different forms of error, so that it
  can provide helpful suggestions to the user to
  correct the problem.

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• Designers should provide as much useful
  information and opportunity for error correction
  as possible for users, such as help screens and
  undo commands.
• Error messages should be written clearly, be
  specific, be constructive in helping suggest
  appropriate remedies, and always be courteous and
  not condescending.

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Intelligent Interfaces

• Four elements are needed for broad-based
  intelligent interface
• a natural language interface
• an inference engine that operates within the
  context of the current interaction to access the
  appropriate portions(s) of
• a knowledge base, and
• a knowledge-base maintenance tool.
• Such an interface is currently impractical for
  most multimedia production both in terms of
  development costs and operating resources.

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Hypermedia

• Hypermedia consists of nodes, where content is
  stored and displayed, and links, which provide
  connections among the nodes to facilitate a
  users access to the content in his or her chosen
  sequence.
• The nodes and links for a network navigation of
  which is accomplished with a program called a
  browser.

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• Under different circumstances, using different
  combinations of hardware and software, and with
  different objectives for the production,
  sometimes hypermedia is the best solution for a
  multimedia program sometimes it is not.

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• Because multimedia productions consist of several
  different media that need to be displayed for the
  user simultaneously and because the timing of the
  various media must be coordinated,
  synchronization is an important consideration in
  multimedia development.
• The perception of the synchronization of three
  elements (temporal, spatial, and content) needs
  to be flawless, not perfect in fact. (see
  Tannenbaum, 441)

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WWW

• Critics have called challenges to multimedia
  production a step back because some capabilities
  that are available for standard multimedia are
  not available on the Web.
• The basis of the limitations is the bandwidth
  available on the WWW.
• Design decisions for multimedia on the Web need
  to be made to maximize the strengths of the Web
  delivery of material and the interactivity if
  affords, rather than consideration of absolute
  fidelity of image or sound reproduction.

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• Careful attention is needed to ensure that WWW
  does not become MMM (multimedia mediocrity).

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The End
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Control

• First, users should have some level of control
  ovre an experience - where they are going, how
  they get there, and how easily they can sopt and
  start.

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Consistency

• Second, the look and feel of behavioral elements
  - whats on the screen, and audio or mucis as
  weel - should be consistent.

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Context

• Third the interactivity should have a context.
  Is it related to the information around it?

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Corroborate

• Fourth, the interactivitiy should reflect the
  nature of the content - that is, it should
  corroborate the content.
• If theres a video on a Web site or a CD-ROM, is
  the video conducive to understand the content?
• Or should that material be in the form of text?

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Unobtrusive Functions

• Occur when a computer is present in the
  interaction but not noticed
• use of a telephone,
• digital sound recordings,
• scanners in grocery and other retail outlets

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Computer-facilitated Interaction

• Occurs when a person uses a computer to expedite
  communication (i.e., people are communicating
  through or via a computer rather than with a
  computer
• e-mail,
• voice-mail,
• presentation software
• allow the control of space and time throught the
  computer and/or a network.

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Person-computer Interpersonal Functions

• Treat the computer as partner in the
  communication act or the person and the computer
  are thought of as a dyad, communicating with one
  another. No longer is the person communicating
  with another by means of the computer, but rather
  the person is interacting with the computer
• ATMs,
• automated telephone operators for directory
  assistance or credit card calls,
• working with a word processor,
• playing a computer game, or interacting with a
  multimedia production.

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Metaphors

• Fundamental terms, images, and concepts that are
  easily recognized, understood, and remembered.

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Mental Model

• Appropriate organization and representation of
  data, functions, work tasks/activities, and roles.

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Navigation of Model

• Movement among data, functions, work
  tasks/activities, and roles depicted in the model
  that provide speedy access and facilitate
  comprehension.

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Look

• Appearance characteristics that efficiently
  convey information to the user in an appealing
  manner.

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Feel

• Interaction techniques that operate efficiently
  and provide an appealing perceptual experience.