Defining Multimedia

The term multimedia can be defined by four basic

characteristics:
Combination of many media into a single piece of
work. Combining several media/modes of expression
into a single integrated program or piece of work is
one aspect of multimedia. Video, text, audio, and still
pictures are all examples of different media or modes
of expression.
Computer mediated. In multimedia, a computer is
used to mediate or make possible the interaction
between the users and the material or media being
manipulated. Computer is used here in the broadest
sense, including computers in cell phones, game con-
soles, and other devices, as well as traditional PCs.
No computer involved means no multimedia. A book
with pictures is not multimedia.
Media-Altering Interactivity. User interactivity in
multimedia is best defined as the ability of the user to
alter media he comes in contact with . . . Interactivity
is an extension of our instinct to communicate, and to
shape our environment through communication.
Customizing your brokers web page so that it pres-
ents only the financial information you want is altering
the media, as is visually creating your dream car on
an automakers site. Shopping on television does not
qualify as interactivity under this definition.
Linking. Linking allows links or connections to be
made between different media elements. This can be
the menu links connecting different sections of a web
page, or the narrative links in a computer game that
are triggered by the actions you choose for the
character.
To sum it up, multimedia is a combination of many
media into a single work where media-altering
interactivity and linking are made possible to the
user via the computer. This definition includes all
the disc- and cartridge-based (CD, DVD, Xbox,
etc.) programs and most of the web sites.
Defining Interactive Media
Interactive media has traditionally been a much
broader term than multimedia. Interactive media is
used to describe all media with interactivity.
It usually refers to computer-delivered interactive
media, including both multimedia programs and non-
multimedia interactive programs, such as click-and-
read web sites that have limited interactivity and no
animations, video, or sound.
In short, interactive media is computer-delivered media
or modes of expression (text, graphics, video, etc.) that
allows users to have some control over the manner
and/or order of the media presentation.
Types of Interactive Multimedia
The web is a growing platform for multimedia. Material
is presented on sites through multiple media, including
pictures, text, video, audio, and animation.
The user controls the flow of information and/or
performs complex tasks. Examples of Internet rich
media applications include interactive animated
presentations explaining a product; financial calculators
with opportunities to input data and see visual
presentation in charts and graphs; product searches
with text, audio, and visual elements that allow the user
to see how their search terms affect product choices;
E-learning courses with exercises, examples, and
student-teacher interactions; and online games of all
types.
In addition to the WWW, multimedia is presented on
local networks, such as corporate intranets; computer
hard drives; interactive tv, such as MSN TV; dedicated
gaming systems, such as PlayStation and Xbox; mobile
devices, such as iPods, and phones; and discs, such
as CD-ROMs and DVDs.
Interactive multimedia has dozens of uses, with the
most common being marketing, sales, product
information, entertainment, education, training, and
reference material.
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Lect.univ.dr. Daniel CIUREL English for Digital Media Course 1
Social media is todays most transparent,
engaging and interactive form of PR, combining the
true grit of real time content with the beauty of
authentic peer-to-peer communication.
Social media is not about what each one of us
does or says, but about what we do and say
together, worldwide, to communicate in all
directions at any time, by any possible (digital)
means.
Social Media is a new marketing tool that allows
you to get to know your customers and prospects
in ways that were previously not possible. This
information and knowledge must be paid for with
output of respect, trustworthiness, and honesty.
Social Media are the platforms that enable the
interactive web by engaging users to participate
in, comment on and create content as means of
communicating with their social graph, other
users and the public. Social media has the
following characteristics:
Encompasses wide variety of content formats
including text, video, photographs, audio, PDF
and PowerPoint. Many social media employ these
options by allowing many content alternative.
Allows interactions to cross one or more
platforms through social sharing, email and
feeds.
Involves different levels of engagement by
participants who can create, comment or lurk on
social media networks.
Facilitates enhanced speed and breadth of
information dissemination.
Provides for one-to-one, one-to-many and
many-to-many communications.
Enables communication to take place in real
time or asynchronously over time.
Is device indifferent. It can take place via a
computer (including laptops and netbooks),
tablets (including iPads, iTouch and others) and
mobile phones (particularly smartphones).
Extends engagement by creating real-time
online events, extending online interactions
offline, or augmenting live events online.
At first, public relations agencies characterized the
impact of the Internet on the profession as an
obstacle rather than an opportunity. Few practitioners
spoke of such opportunities as tapping into online
communities, shifting to network information flows, or
virtual communication strategies.
The PR agencies placed lower priorities on most of
the opportunities afforded by new technology. The
only categories in which agencies showed greater
interest were automated clip tracking, extranets (for
management of relationships between the agency
and its clients), and public relations campaign au-
tomation.
But times have changed. Next-generation online PR
incorporates four overarching characteristics:
1. Strategic. They are designed to affect business
outcomes.
2. Integrated. They use the Internet as an element of
a broader communication plan.
3. Targeted. They use the Internet based on its
advantages over other forms of communication to
reach specific targeted audiences.
4. Measurable. Plans include the means by which the
effectiveness of the effort can be assessed.
The Internet can play a significant role in facilitating the
relationship between an organization and its strategic
publics. A more sophisticated definition of PR
comes to the relationship optimization, in which
reputation plays a part, but which demands an
understanding of a much more complex set of factors.
The point is that at each level the core processes de-
mand the exchange of information, and the outcomes
are predicated on responses and reactions to this
information. The challenge for the PR practitioner is
to understand how this information is exchanged and
then work out how to influence such exchanges in a
way that benefits the client.
In the old, traditional, one-to-many communication
model, the organization sets the agenda and
exercises control over the nature of the information to
be published. The objective of the communication is
in the hands of the organization that pays for it. The
audience can be targeted through tried-and-true
demographic segmenting. Once identified, the
organization then selects the publications the target
audience reads, places billboards in the neighborhood
the target audience populates, and buys airtime on
the television and radio shows to which the target
audience tunes in.
Once the members of the audience receive the infor-
mation, their opportunities to engage the publishing
organization in any kind of substantive dialogue are
limited. They can write letters to the editor or call the
organizations offices. The organization has no
compelling reason to respond (although they often
aggregate the results of feedback to assess the effec-
tiveness of the communication). In fact, organizations,
even those with the budgets and staff resources to
engage in the initial communication, do not have the
ability to respond to individuals at least, not outside
the scope of day-to-day customer service activities
(and even those are being outsourced more and
more). Furthermore, audience members have limited
opportunities to engage other audience members in
a discussion of the companys message.
The introduction of computer-mediated communication
has turned the one-to-many communication model on
its head. The Internet provides a platform for
publication that anyone can afford, and helps
individuals target their audiences. The exclusive abil-
ity to publish that organizations once held has been
redistributed to the masses, representing a
fundamental redistribution of power (which, by the
way, is one of the dictionary definitions of the word
revolution); the consequences are staggering. No
matter how much money an organization spends on
its communication efforts in the wired world, they now
are merely one voice among many.
Institutions accustomed to simply blasting their
messages out to audiences should consider the
long-term repercussions the networked environment
has had on traditional business models.
The information overload that our society experiences
has led to a fundamental shift in audience require-
ments. Today, there are vastly more messages that
are considerably more complex.
The internet has added to the range of
communication interactions available to people. We
all understand communication between two people as
one-to-one communication.
More difficult is a process of communication when
many speak to many. But with the internet this is
possible. It can be achieved by using e-mail and the
writable web, notably wikis, where (in theory at least)
anyone can initiate, write, read, change and comment
on any content. The internet facilitates many-to-many
communication. However, it goes further. There is
growing use of many-to-one communication. RSS
feeds, by which immediate alerts wing through
cyberspace as soon as the author publishes an
article, and the microblogging service Twiter are two
examples.
The Internet has provided communicators with an
entire new toolbox loaded with tools that can be ap-
plied to communication challenges.
Knowing which tool to use, and when, is a strategic
matter. The indiscriminate application of tools will
rarely achieve measurable results.
The practitioner now needs to consider the
organizations internet strategy. This is a discipline in
its own right.
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Lect.univ.dr. Daniel CIUREL English for Digital Media Course 1