Multimedia Technology Course

Multimedia Technology
Course Title: MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY
Unit Credits: 3 units
Rationale:
There continues to be a rapid growth in the development and exploitation of multimedia

technology. Applications exist in many diverse areas such as commerce, communications,
education, entertainment, art, scientific research, etc. Many Computer Science and Information
Technology graduates will use and develop systems or software involving multimedia in their
later careers.
Course Description:
This course covers advanced concepts of the interactive multimedia technology through
working with state-of-the art authoring software. The authoring program used in the course may
vary from one semester or another so as to adapt the most current multimedia tools used in the
industry. The emphasis of the course is not only on the understanding of the authoring program,
but more importantly, on how various media can be used and on being able to create an
educational application using the program.
Course Objectives:
1. Understand the different capabilities and limitations of various audio/visual

communication media and be able to select media appropriate for a specific application.
2. Appreciate the basic physical, physiological and psychological issues associated with
human perception of such media.
3. Understand how the individual hardware and software elements used for the acquisition,
synthesis, communication, storage and delivery of such media operate, including the
underlying data models and processing that are involved.
4. Understand how these various individual elements are combined and co-ordinated for
multiple media.
5. Understand the design issues associated with user-interfaces for multimedia software and
the use of multimedia in user-interfaces.
6. Understand a major software library that supports multimedia.
7. Be able to apply knowledge of all the above to the design and implementation of software
involving multimedia.
8. Be aware of state-of-the-art technology and research in this rapidly evolving field.
9. Design and develop an educational application using current multimedia hardware and
software platforms.
Course Outline:
Module 1 – Introduction to Multimedia
Module 2 – Multimedia Hardware and Software
Module 3 – Multimedia Design and Development
Course Activities:
1. Evaluation and Assignment Reports
Master of Science in Information Technology Cagayan State University

Multimedia Technology 2
Answer all the evaluation and assignment components in each module. After answering all
the items for each module, you can send your answers through this e-mail:
petergvaldepenas@gmail.com
2. Project Output
Your project requirement is to design and develop an educational application using current
multimedia hardware and software platforms. Your output must be an interactive multimedia
presentation focused on business, technology or education. All the features of a multimedia
must be included and incorporated in your presentation. Refer to Project #1, Module 3.
Evaluation Criteria:
Evaluation and Assignment ………………………. 40%
Project……………………………………………...60%
Total …………………………..100%
ModuleThis project developed, offered, evaluated and is

currently disseminating a novel course in Multimedia
Systems for non-majors
Learning Objectives: After completing this module, you are expected to:
1. State and explain what multimedia is

2. Identify key concepts and terms related to multimedia
3. Explain the evolution of multimedia technology
4. Identify the assets, constraints, and advantages of multimedia
5. Explain the role and significance of multimedia to business, government, industry, and
education
In this lecture you will learn the following:
 What multimedia is
 Multimedia Technology offers great assets, constraints and benefits, but can be unreliable
 How to identify and protect against some of the risks involved in using Multimedia
Technology
 Significant Role of Multimedia to business, government, industry and education.
 Asymetrix Toolbook’s multimedia authoring environments. Generic aspects of other

development tool interfaces
Introduction
The advances in computer technology paved the way to the infrastructure for multimedia
applications. With these developments the multimedia concepts have emerged. The word
multimedia is made up of the two Latin words "multi" which means many and "media" which is

the substance through which something is transmitted. In this case, multi is the multiple data
types such as
 Text
 Graphics
 Animation
 Sound
 Video
and media is the computer environment used to transmit the information made up of the above
multiple data types.
What is Multimedia?
Multimedia involves the combination of two or more media types to effectively create a
sequence of events that will communicate an idea usually with both sound and visual support.
Typically, multimedia productions are developed and controlled by computer. In this course we
are talking specifically about electronic, computer controlled multimedia, using a variety of
media elements to produce a visual presentation.
Multimedia means that there are more than one media type involved in the communication,
e.g. text and graphics, voice, animations, video and audio. Multimedia denotes the property of
handling a variety of representation media in an integrated manner. This means that the various
sources of media types are integrated into a single system framework.
Multimedia is defined as an interactive computer-mediated presentation that includes at least two

of the following elements: text, sound, still graphic images, motion graphics, and animation.
(Tannenbaum)
Hypermedia is another term used related to multimedia. Hypermedia requires that the user is able
to interact with the presentation. The simplest form of hypermedia is hypertext where the user is
able to follow textual links. The most common provider of hypermedia content is the World
Wide Web.
A multimedia product is a presentation, a tool or an interactive program which is distributed in
some kind of a storage medium to be viewed in a suitable computer environment. To prepare
such a product special tools are also needed. These are referred to as authoring tools.
Evolution of Multimedia
Multimedia is not new; the term pre-dates the PC. The term has been used for decades to
describe slide presentation accompanied by audio tape. The combination of slide and narration
has been both a popular and successful form of business presentation.
In the 1970s the slide show format was introduced to the computer, this technology allowed the
computer to control numerous projectors, coordinating them in a manner that produced fast-
paced dissolves and effects. Taped soundtracks would contain cues that triggered the slide
projectors to do what it was programmed to do.
In the 1980s PCs were designed to "cut" a graphic element and "paste" it into another document.
Since then software and hardware developers have been scrambling to integrate various forms of
media into the personal computer.

In order to understand the history of multimedia it is helpful to consider the etiology of

each of its elements. Exhibit 1-1 traces the history of
text, images, sound, animation, video, hypertext, and a phenomena for distributing
multimedia called the World Wide Web (WWW).
Exhibit 1-1 Key Events in the History of Multimedia
Date Event text images sound animation video 3D hypertext WWW

~1,000,000 BC Spoken Words x
~ 30,000 Carving of Animals x
~ 2,600 Egyptian Scribes x
~ 1,500 Phoenician Alphabet x
~ 1,270 Syrian Encyclopedia x
~ 100 AD Reeds & Brushes x x
~ 200 Paper x x
~ 600 Quill Pens x x
~ 1654 Magic Lantern x
~ 1700 Lead Paint x x
~ 1727 Light Sensitivity of Silver Salts x
~ 1777 Silver Nitrate & Color Spectrum x
~ 1813 Printing Press x
~ 1802 Paper about producing images x
~ 1816 Heliography x
~ 1830 Typewriter x x
Date Event text images sound animation video 3D hypertext WWW

~ 1831 Phenakistoscope x
~ 1839 Photograph/Still Camera x
~ 1847 Glass Plates x
~ 1851 Wet-Plate Process x
~ 1864 Radio Wave Propagation x
~ 1877 Sound Recorded x
~ 1887 Radio Wave Transmission x
~ 1888 Eastman's Roll Film x
Phonograph x
~ 1889 Magnetic Recorder x
~ 1891 Color Film x
~ 1895 Cinematograph(Movie Camera) x
Wireless Telegraph x
~ 1905 Electron Tube x
~ 1906 Wireless Human Speech x
~ 1912 Vacuum Tube x
~ 1919 First Radio Station x
~ 1923 First 16mm Motion Picture x x
~ 1930 Miniature Camera x
~ 1931 Stereo Recordings x
~ 1933 FM Radio Theory x
~ 1935 Tweeters & Woofers x
~ 1938 Ball Point Pen x x
~ 1945 Latex Paint x x
~ 1948 LP Records x
~ 1950 Computer Graphics x
~ 1951 Computer Animation x
~ 1954 Stereo Tapes x
~ 1962 Fiber Tipped Pen x
FM Radio Broadcasts x
~ 1964 Word Processor x
Compact Cassette Tapes x
~ 1969 DoD ARPANET starts x
~ 1970 CAD/CAM Introduced x
~ 1975 First Digital Sound Recording x
~ 1977 TCP/IP Introduced x
~ 1979 Erasable Pen x
PC Introduced (Intel 8088 chip) x
~ 1980 Sony Walkman x
~ 1982 Betamovie x x x
~ 1983 CD Players x
Camcorders x x x x
~ 1984 VHF Movies/VCR popularized x x x
PC upgraded (Intel 80286 chip) x
~ 1985 Computer speech synthesis x
~ 1985 PC Soundcards x
~ 1986 NSFNET replaces ARPANET x X
Presentation Software x x x
~ 1987 PC upgraded (Intel 80386 chip) x x x
~ 1987 PC Suite Software Introduced x x x
~ 1989 PC upgraded (Intel 80486 chip) x x x x x x x
Video Accelerator Cards for x x x x x
PCs
~ 1993 PC Upgraded (Intel Pentium x x x x x x x
chip)
~ 1994 Mosaic, now Netscape formed x x

Consumer Digital Camera x x

~ 1995 PC Upgraded (Intel P6 chip) x x x x x x x x
Internet succeeds NSFNET x x x x
~ 1997 PC upgraded (Intle P5 MMX x x x x x x x
Chip + 266 MHZ Pentium II
Exhibit 1-1 leads us to the following observations:
1. Multi-sensory communication between humans is not a new concept, but is as old as

mankind. What is new is the “electronic incarnation” of multi-sensory communication that
we call multimedia.
2. The seeds of image projection were sewn as early as 1654 with the “magic lantern”, but
further progress in imaging did not occur until 177 years later with the advent of a more
‘advanced” projector called the Phenakistoscope in 1831.
3. The next significant development was the cinematograph (movie camera) developed 64 years
later in 1895.
4. In the 55 years between 1895 and 1950, radio, stereo sound and LP records were developed.
5. During the 29 years between 1950 and 1979 computer graphics, animations and digital sound
were introduced as was ARPANET which was the predecessor of today’s internet.
6. During the 10 years between 1979 and 1989 with the advent of the personal computer and the
world wide web, enhancements in multimedia hardware and software were dramatic and the
stage was set for even more rapid changes in computer hardware, software and connectivity.
7. Between 1989 and 1998 the pace of change has accelerated to the point that hardware and
software need to be upgraded every two years just to stay current.
8. Looking at the preceding observations there are 177 years between the first two evolutionary
periods, 64 years between the second and third, 55 years between the third and fourth, 29
years between the fourth and fifth, 10 years between the fifth and sixth, and two years
beyond the sixth. As you can see the pace of advancement in technologies that support
multimedia is has accelerated to a “breakneck speed” that is likely to continue for the
foreseeable future. This means that what we learn today will soon be history, and that the
key to effective long-term multimedia authoring is continuous learning.
Digital convergence
The most important trend in PCs

before multimedia was multi-
tasking, the ability to run more
than one program at a time and
you can see why PCs and
multimedia are made for each
other. The enabling force behind
multimedia is digital technology.
Multimedia today represents the

convergence of digital control and digital media - the PC as the digital control system and the
digital media being today's most advanced forms of audio and video storage and transmission.
We are in fact experiencing a mass migration from an analog world to a digital world. In an
analog world communications are accomplished via continuous signals such as those used by
telephones for sound and those recorded by VCRs for video. In a digital world text, images,
sound, and video communications are accomplished by sending a stream of digital bits
represented by various combinations of zeroes and ones, which (not coincidentally) is the very
same technique used to store and manipulate data inside computers. The illustration below
shows a schematic representation of the difference between analog and digital signals and
identifies an everyday device that uses these signals.
Multimedia involves the application of various communication channels to a communication

exercise. When the various communication channels are used in association with a computer: we
call the result computer multimedia.
The essence of the process of creating multimedia is that a number of types of information
(including text, graphics, animation, sound and video) are able to be combined through the use of
a computer.
Desktop multimedia occupies a role between traditional alternatives of cheap but ineffective
single-medium technologies, and the expensive but impressive technologies relying on
mainframes, digital editing, and customized software. The written word is still the medium used
for most of our information requirements, but it offers a limited information bandwidth.
Decorated with graphics, a document's information content and flow can be markedly improved.
Animation is an even more powerful device. Video images and synchronized sound allow the
depiction of reality and the expression of complex ideas. Considerable synergy is obtained by
combining these technologies.
The advantage of multimedia communications is that they have the capacity when properly
executed, to convey more information, more quickly, and more effectively than traditional
communications. The effectiveness of communication is an important issue that is at the heart
of most human endeavors and is particularly important in the information age where there is
frequently an overabundance of information and little time available to sort it all out. If a picture

is worth a thousand words, a moving picture is worth two thousand words, and moving pictures
combined with text, sound, and direct user involvement via hypertext is worth ten thousand
words. Multimedia can by definition carry more information, can deliver it more quickly and
can deliver it in a form that builds on what the user already knows and therefore requires less
user interpretation and less user time to understand more of the message being sent.
In its simplest terms every communication requires a sender, a message to be sent, and a
receiver. The addition of a digital component such as sound, clipart, photographs, animated
characters, video clips or interactive navigational mechanisms results in a multimedia
communication. In this day and age senders and receivers use machines to communicate.
Machines used in electronic communications include telephones, modems, computers, data
collection devices such as electronic cash registers, electronic time clocks, grocery store optical
scanners, televisions, VCRs, camcorders, digital cameras, stereo receivers and video-
teleconferencing equipment. Regardless of the nature of the communicators, the effectiveness of
the communication remains a function of the quantity of information communicated, speed of
the communication, and the degree of comprehension of the communication’s meaning.
Multimedia communications include television advertisements, computer based business and
classroom presentations using programs such as Microsoft PowerPoint, World Wide Web
(WWW) home pages, and a wide range of products including electronic games, edutainment
(programs that are both entertaining and educational such as learn to read and learn to count),
corporate training programs, flight simulators and sales presentations that are distributed via
media such as diskettes and CD ROMs.
Multimedia Assets
Effective multimedia applications depend on the most effective use of various materials –
referred to as assets or resources.
Hypertext and Hypermedia

Hypertext is usually defined as NON-LINEAR ACCESS TO TEXT using links embedded in the
text This way going through material which is not of interest is avoided. HYPERMEDIA is the
extension of this non-linearity to other media types.

Text
Text constitutes the main part of a multimedia package. It is used to provide most of the
information intended to be conveyed and it is even stated that other multimedia data types are
used to enhance text.
There are 3 major advantages generally associated with screen-based text compared with paper-
based text: the ability to spontaneously update the screen, the reactive capability, and the ability
to incorporate special effects.
However, there are also disadvantages: text is much harder to read from a screen than it is from
paper. People tend to print copies of information they are accessing from the computer. This may
be due to habits or the effect the current displays have on the eyes.
Using media other than text may require extra resources compared to text but definitely makes it
much easier to follow the material covered.
Audio
Sound is another data type used in multimedia applications. It can add a particular dimension of
reality to multimedia systems. Sound requires more space than text but is better when compared
to video clips.
People use it to express an idea in words over the computer or it can also be used to introduce
effects into a presentation. Either way it ENHANCES THE QUALITY of presentation
and INCREASES THE EFFICIENCY of information transfer.
Some sample files in different formats are provided below :

wav sample file

mp3 sample file
Images
Images improve the overall look of a presentation, and they are useful to express information text
alone cannot convey. Using IMAGES and GRAPHICS can be very useful but it has to be noted
that they also introduce extra load to the system both as storage and also as network traffic.
There are different image formats:

 GIF files
 JPEG files
 Animated GIF files
 MPEG files
 Shockwave files
 NxView files
 TIFF
 PNG
 PIXAR
Images come in different forms and resolutions i.e. the number of picture elements used to
represent them (pixels) and they are usually compressed using different techniques such as
JPEG. JPEG is a standardized image compression mechanism. It stands for Joint Photographic
Experts Group, the original name of the committee that wrote the standard.
When you are sending digital photographs as email attachments or trying to pack as many
images on a floppy disk as possible, the size of each image is important. What you want to do is
reduce the file size to as few bytes as possible without hurting the image quality.
Most web sites use the JPEG format for shrinking images. JPEG is a popular format for two
reasons:
1. It can make image files smaller. (It lets you adjust the amount of compression.)
2. It stores 24-bit-per-pixel color data instead of 8-bit-per-pixel data. (It has good
compression characteristics on photographic data.)
Sites like CNN adjust the compression ratio to shrink the file size. Most image handling
programs let you squeeze the JPEG compression ratio in one way or another. For example,
Paintshop Pro lets you adjust the compression ratio on a scale from 1 to 99, with 1 offering the
best image quality and lowest compression ratio and 99 offering the lowest quality and highest
compression.
The following images give you some sense of the effect that different compression ratios can
have on image quality. In all cases I started with the same 400x336 pixel image. The original
JPEG image at 1% compression (maximum quality) takes up 152K bytes of disk space, so it is
not even included. Besides, there is no difference between 1% compression and 20%
compression in terms of image quality even though the size of the file goes down by a factor
of 4!

JPEG format, 400x336 pixels, 20% compression, 37Kbyte image size

As you can see, there is minor degradation at 60% compression (most visible on the border of the
blue shirt). 80% and 90% compression is progressively worse, and 95% is badly pixelated. 40%

or 50% compression is probably a good value for this image, with an image size of 20 to 25K
bytes. Another way to lower the size of the file is to reduce the image size. For example, here's
the same image in a 200x168 format:

This smaller image size reduces the file size by a factor of 2! If your scanner is creating
100Kbyte files, then your scanner is probably producing images in an uncompressed or slightly
compressed JPEG format. Using a program like Paintshop Pro you can open the image and re-
save it at a different compression ratio to shrink the file size significantly.
There are various image formats. However, the most widely used formats are gif, and
jpg. Both of these formats has static (as opposed to animated) bitmap images.
GIF JPEG
Image Image
In a bitmap image, the image file has to define the exact color of every pixel in the image.
For example, imagine a typical bitmap on the web that is 400 by 400 pixels. To define this
image, you would need 24 bits per pixel for 160,000 pixels, or 480,000 bytes. That would be a
huge image file, so both the GIF and JPG formats compress the image in different ways. In a GIF
image, the number of colors is reduced to 256 and then "runs" of same-color pixels are encoded
in a color+numberOfPixels format. For example, if there are 100 pixels on a line with the color

41, the image file stores the color (41) and the length of the run (100). This makes a GIF file
great for storing drawings that have lots of same-color pixels.
Video images
A video clip or an animation sequence can express an idea in a much better way than text or
images. Video clips used in multimedia systems are more flexible in the sense that they are
EASIER TO EDIT and also EASIER TO ACCESS.
DIGITAL VIDEO can be created from VCRs, using cameras or directly recorded from
broadcasts. Either way they are captured, stored and edited before they are used in multimedia
presentations. Portable video recorders have made it relatively easy to capture real-time video
images. Video can be incorporated into multimedia applications using two different processes.
The first involves using a video source connected to the computer via a controller card. This
technology has been referred to as interactive video. A more integrated process converts video
from analogue into digital format that can be manipulated by the desktop computer. This
approach (called digital video) allows all video operations — including editing and special
effects — to be carried out on the computer.
Video is usually played at 25 or 30 frames per second and will have to be COMPRESSED in
order to reduce it to acceptable sizes. Different compression techniques are used and MPEG is
one of these methods.
ANIMATION is similar to video, in that it uses the display of moving pictures to convey
information. The pictures are constructed artificially, however, and they can be very useful to
explain abstract concepts. They also require huge storage space and packages used to produce
them are usually difficult to learn.
Video files are perhaps the most exciting and attractive features of multimedia systems. The
potential to include complex graphics and video images in multimedia programs is a great
strength of multimedia technology. Words are almost useless for conveying information from
those who understand to those who don't, although words are an excellent means of exchange
between people who understand equally well. A word has a unique meaning; pictures, however,
transcend language codes and people extract their own meanings from pictures.
Multimedia software allows developers to organize and direct the combination of text, graphics,
animation, audio and video images to produce multimedia programs. The ability to apply the best
communication tools for each component of a communications problem, and to do so in a
cohesive way, is really the essential strength of any multimedia presentation.
Here are some examples of various types of video files. In order to view these you may need
some PLUG-IN's.
avi file example

mpg file example
Multimedia Applications
Multimedia can be used to inform, to sell, to teach, to persuade and/or to entertain. Beyond these
general purposes, digital multimedia enables the application of technology to a wide range of
specific things for business and pleasure. These include electronic brochures, marketable games,
orientation and training programs, distance learning, information kiosks, electronic resumes,
membership recruiting, electronic business presentations, web site creation, and “small-screen”
productions including advertisements and movies.

Electronic brochures can be used for advertising and selling products, ideas and events; for
presenting policies, procedures and techniques; for teaching everything from automotive repair
to computer software and music. These brochures can be distributed over the web and/or can be
burned (copied) onto a compact disk and distributed personally as in an automobile showroom
or in the mail.
As businesses have the need to communicate with the outside world, multimedia processes offer
a wide variety of options for business presentations, marketing and sales. Multimedia can be
used at trade shows or to produce electronic catalogues. The marketing of new products can be
greatly enhanced by using multimedia, these products can be marketed in a manner that will
provide more detailed and stimulating information than printed media.
Auto manufacturers like Nissan provide interactive test drives of new vehicles on the web or on
CD. Macromedia now present their annual report, vision statement and product overview in
print, on the Internet, and in CD ROM form.
Marketable games created with multimedia can provide everything from entertainment to
edutainment and can be created for the young, the not so young, and everyone in between.
Games can be created to pit a single or multiple players against each other, a computer, or some
combination of these. Games can be classified into six primary categories which include 3D
simulations, card games, board games, survival games, mind games, and educational games.
Three D simulations are represented by well known programs such as Microsoft Flight Simulator
and Jane’s US Navy Fighters. Solitaire and poker are classic examples of card games.
Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit are board games. Doom, Pac Man, and Duke Nukem are survival
games. Minesweeper and Reversi are mind games. Count With Me and Mega Math Blaster
are educational games
Multimedia means interaction, and to many interactive entertainment means games. Game
developers were the pioneers in the use of multimedia and still provide the most innovative and
interactive applications of multimedia. In order to attract, engage, captivate and challenge the
user multimedia provides the fast action, vivid colors, 3D animations and elaborate sound effects
that are essential to entertainment. It can also provide the rewards, recognition and sense
of accomplishment that are often part of entertainment titles.
Many games have moved from the physical (hand/eye coordination) to the mental (solving the
mystery, overcoming evil, outwitting the opponent). Myst is just one of many such very
successful multimedia games. It effectively uses exploration as a way for the player to
experience the mysteries of the island.
On the other hand, hobbies and sports are examples of multimedia titles that provide the user
with a vicarious experience such as being able to play the best golf courses in the world or
simulate flying over 3D cityscapes.
Distance learning is another frontier that lends itself to the application of digital multimedia.
The idea of a classroom without walls where course content is broadcast over the Web along
with home works and readings opens opportunities both for learners and for educational
institutions and businesses. Distance learning can support continuity of learning even when the
learner and teacher are physically removed from each other. Multimedia can be used to create,
package and distribute course content. In this environment the design and execution of
multimedia elements has direct impact on the quality of programs delivered.
The goal of the educator is to facilitate learning - to help the student gain a body of knowledge,
acquire specific skills and function successfully in society. But one of the greatest challenges to
educators is the diversity of students, especially in the different ways they learn. Some students
learn better through association, others by experimentation, some are more visually oriented,
others are more auditory.

Multimedia has the ability to accommodate different learning styles and can present material in a
non linear manner. It is motivating, it can be highly interactive, it can provide feedback and
evaluate skills. And it can make learning fun.
Investigating Lake Iluka is based around a simulated lake environment designed to support
secondary studies in ecology, biology and geography by developing the students’ investigation
and problem solving skills. Students investigate the various ecosystems of the lake, make
physical, chemical and biological measurements, collect information about individual animal and
plant species and receive media reports. Investigating Lake Iluka and Exploring the Nardoo are
excellent Australian examples of interactive multimedia learning products.
Orientation & Training titles can be used for everything from introducing workers to their new
employer’s facilities and people, to training highly experienced jet engine mechanics on how to
fix a newly designed engine component. The combination of video, sound, animation, and
hypertext can expedite the learning process and leverage the time of instructors. “Virtual” or
cyberspace learning can also have significant cost and safety advantages. Jet pilots, for example,
can “practice” flying in a multimedia training simulation without risking the loss of a
multimillion dollar aircraft and many human lives.
Every company has a need to train its employees on a wide range of subjects from personnel
policy to equipment maintenance. A number of companies are now training employees using
multimedia enhanced training materials. Sometimes this is done with off the shelf multimedia
titles but many companies are producing their own in-house multimedia training products. The
Boeing company, for instance, has an entire training division dedicated to developing multimedia
titles that instruct mechanics and pilots on new aircraft systems.
With multimedia the trainee can perform a simulated job function in order to develop an
advanced level without having touched the actual unit. The integration of audio and video allows
this training technology to be a highly effective medium in areas such as flight and driving
simulators. Similarly, NASA uses multimedia extensively for flight control training for
astronauts.
Information Kiosks are becoming a mainstream vehicle for providing directions and general
information services that have traditionally been provided by signs or by people. Multimedia
Kiosks can be found in the entryways of shopping malls, in interstate highway rest areas, in
museums, in airports, in hotels, in amusement parks, in casinos and virtually everywhere that
large numbers of people seek directions or information.
Interactive multimedia kiosks can be used to give highway directions, to explain how something
is done such as how wine is made, to show the location of particular geographical points of
interest, or to provide status updates on dynamic things such as stock market activities, late
breaking news, road conditions, and the weather.
For better or for worse, multimedia kiosks are becoming effective substitutes for human guides.
They don’t take breaks and they can work 24 hours per day. In many cases where the
information being provided is particularly well suited to communication via multimedia, the
communication is faster and more effective, not to mention considerably less expensive.
Electronic resumes are a relatively new phenomena that enable both employers and prospective
workers using the Web to quickly search wider geographical areas for the perfect match. For the
student or individual seeking a position, an electronic resume uses multimedia to showcase
speaking, writing, technical and specialized skills and interests. It can provide extensive
distribution to potential employers that far exceeds the number of resumes that would normally
be photocopied and mailed by an individual or by a placement agency. From a more personal
standpoint, the electronic resume can minimize or eliminate feelings of rejection that are
frequently the outcome of in-person interviews. For the company seeking to hire someone, an
electronic resume can replace the first screening interview and can provide information to
determine whether or not the applicant has enough of the desired attributes to warrant a personal

interview. This can save time for staff in the human resources department and money that would
otherwise be spent in travel and accommodations.
Membership recruiting using digital multimedia and distributed via CD ROM or the Web is
used by governmental, religious, political, environmental, business and private organizations to
garner members, votes and ideas. Multimedia can be used to describe their specific programs
and objectives and to provide membership documents. A classic example is that of public
broadcasting stations’ solicitation of donations.
Electronic business presentations are used for communicating, selling, analyzing, and
educating. They have evolved from traditional speech delivery to speeches supported by
overhead projectors and are now speeches supported by notebook computers and portable color
projectors. The advent of powerful multimedia-capable notebook computers loaded with
presentation graphics software enables presenters to become self-contained production studios.
Their presentations are custom tailored to the particular needs of their audiences and are
presented quickly, efficiently and effectively.
Thousands of multimedia presentations are made in the business world every day. Company
CEOs give their annual report to a meeting of stockholders. Sales reps present their product line
to a group of potential customers. A conference keynote speaker tells an audience about industry
trends. From an electronic slide show to an interactive video display multimedia can enhance a
presentation.
Multimedia provides the presenter with the tools to attract and focus the audience's attention,
reinforce key concepts and enliven the presentation.
The following software programs progress from basic presentation to complete authoring
capabilities:
 Microsoft PowerPoint
 Aldus Persuasion
 Adobe Premiere or adobe Products
 Macromedia Director
 Macromedia Authorware
 Asymmetrix ToolBook II Assistant
 Etc…
Web site creation has become a prime activity for the application of multimedia. This is due in
large part to the nature of Web broadcasting or Webcasting which relies on hypertext to enable
users to navigate. Home pages can be customized to reflect the message and personality of an
individual or organization. Software to create Web-pages has evolved from hard to use plain text
editors based on HyperText Markup Language (HTML) codes to graphical based editors that can
use objects and formatted text. HoTMetal Pro, Microsoft Front Page and Netscaspe Composer
are examples of Web-Page Editors.
“Desktop” productions are emerging applications for multimedia distributed via the Web and
CD ROM. These are advertisements, movies and electronic short stories that directly combine
computer, entertainment and communications resources to replicate entertainment and
edutainment facilities that were historically the exclusive domain of movie and television
studios. This application of multimedia is in its infancy, yet it has the potential to “democratize”
an industry that is very capital intensive and therefore to open creative and financial
opportunities to anyone with a creative bent who has access to a computer, multimedia software
and the Web.
Drawing the line between education and entertainment in multimedia can be almost impossible,
hence the term 'edutainment'. Multimedia can make learning entertaining.
But multimedia also has a purely entertainment side. Anything that's possible in sound and
images is possible on a multimedia CD.

AIATSIS is an encyclopedia of the Australian Aborigine containing over 2,000 entries - 1,000
photos, 230 sound clips and 50 videos. It covers subjects ranging from art to health, from
technology to law.
World Architecture is a collection of 5 CD disks containing thousands of images of architecture

throughout the world.
Encyclopedias, census data, yellow pages, atlases and street directories are examples of CD
reference titles. In many cases they are electronic versions of reference books. The challenge for
the developer is to make it easy for the user to find the desired information and to effectively use
other multimedia elements such as sound, video and animation.
Virtual Reality simulations and the application of this technology to education, training and
entertainment are an evolving specialty area within multimedia. Virtual Reality has been defined
as consensual hallucination and can be viewed as three dimensional multimedia that can be
delivered via special devices such as electronically equipped chairs, helmets, glasses, and gloves.
Virtual reality stimulates human perceptions of touch, motion and depth.
Ten Reasons to Use Multimedia
PC World magazine (October 1993) outlined "Ten Reasons to Use Multimedia in

Education." While in many cases unproven and overstated, they also underscore the
potential of multimedia in education.
Multimedia is:
fast -- learning speed accelerates.
cheap -- the program never asks for a raise; the more you use it, the less it costs per use.
consistent -- no mood swings, yawns, or lapses.
private -- ask what you want; no one will laugh, no one will scold.
safe -- experience nuclear meltdowns without fallout; experience drunk driving accidents
or electrocution without blackouts or death.
personal -- it never tires of praising and motivating through positive feedback, any time,
day or night.
a strong foundation -- on which to build mastery.
a tool to make remembering longer, easier -- many parts of the brain are stimulated.
more information faster -- on things a school couldn't afford to teach: like space-shuttle
repair, brain surgery, black hole sailing.
fun -- like a game: yes, like Nintendo, which, with a joystick and a screen, has already
captured the brains and fingers of an entire generation.
Advantages of multimedia:
Multimedia Technology offers great benefits, but can be unreliable
You need to take on board a mindset of uncertainty and fear. You need to accept a degree of
chaos in still-evolving technology. You need to make the most of what does work and get past
what doesn’t.
A multimedia application,
1. can be used for many purposes: training, marketing, games, information transmission
2. is self paced. A user can go through it his/her own pace.
3. is available when required. Not like a TV program or a lecture for example which is set at
a specific time(on demand).
4. is portable. Can be transferred to another location.

5. is interruptible. Can be stopped or resumed at the user's will.

6. is flexible. You may learn what you want to learn.
7. requires less time to learn the same material. A research showed that learning the same
material using multimedia required 40% less time than traditional methods.
Delivering Multimedia
CD ROM
The growth of multimedia, as mentioned, is often expressed in terms of the growth of compact
disk titles. CDs are a popular medium because they can hold substantial amounts of data,
including sound and video. They are relatively inexpensive; easy to mass produce, distribute, and
transport; and they take up little retail shelf space. In addition, it is now common for computers
to be sold with CD ROM drives, sound cards and speakers.
KIOSK
A kiosk is a stand-alone or networked computer system that allows the user to access
information, perform transactions, and even play games. Examples include
 University information kiosks that students use to learn about academic programs, print
out schedules and transcripts and access campus maps;
 Retail store kiosks that allow customers to locate merchandise, print out coupons and
purchase products;
 Gallery kiosks that allow the user to locate specific works of art, view parts of a
collection not on display and obtain detailed information about artists.
Kiosks are useful in disseminating information especially in high traffic areas, providing value
added services to customers (convenience), and reducing personal costs. Kiosks can be
expensive because of the investment in hardware and the need to continually update their
contents.
ONLINE
Obviously the fastest growing area for multimedia delivery is online - which includes
telecommunications and the Internet. Telecommunications involving phone lines, satellite and
cable transmission is used by educational institutions to deliver multimedia courseware and by
companies for teleconferencing and training.
The use of the Internet is expanding in all areas. Companies are now commonly using the WWW
to allow customers to purchase products, access product information and subscribe to real time
multimedia events such as rock concerts.
Multimedia Constraints
Multimedia constraints are situations that bound what can physically be done with the creation
and distribution of multimedia. These include the following:
 Effective multimedia is not as easy to create as some would have us believe. Effective
multimedia accomplishes its stated purpose and is delivered succinctly. Creating such
multimedia takes considerable time and skills and is seldom the result of a “shot in the
dark” approach;
 Multimedia requires high powered software and hardware engines and at the same time
have kept costs down to very reasonable levels.
 The very large physical size of digital multimedia elements and titles causes significant
data capture, storage, and playback problems. The capture and storage in digital form of

a single 10 second video clip may require up to 100 Megabytes of storage space on your
computer. By extension one minute may require 600 Megabytes. Such requirements
become massive when considering a multimedia title such as a full length movie.
 Multimedia distribution channels and standards are in a state of instability. Traditionally
movies were delivered in theaters. More recently they have been released in VHS tape
format for home use on VCRs. Now, Digital Video Disks that can store a whole movie
with superior visual and sound quality. Once in digital form, given enough bandwidth,
movies and other multimedia titles are “webcast” in much the same way that television
networks “broadcast” programs. Ownership and technological aspects of things such as
digital video disks, webcasting and high definition television (HDTV) are being fought
out in the marketplace as firms indulge in “takeover mania”.
How to identify and protect against some of the risks involved in using Multimedia
Technology
You need to practice basic safety techniques - back up frequently to incrementally named files,
isolate faulty components, don’t perform lengthy tasks until simple diagnostic checks are
exhausted. You need to guard against wasting your time in many other ways. You need to keep
all media components as small as they can be possible, and to identify tasks which would stretch
a system to failure or partial misfunction.
Technical Demands
1. A multimedia system can store audio and video information and use it later as in the case
of training or transmit it
2. Live in real time. Transmitting live multimedia information imposes many constraints on
the multimedia systems.
3. The NETWORKS SHOULD BE HIGH SPEED to cope with the large amounts of data
to be transmitted synchronously over them.
4. The PROCESSORS must be powerful enough to execute the software fast enough.
5. The BUS must have enough bandwidth. Communication techniques and requirements are
also different to those commonly employed today.
6. Operating system issues have to be handled.
7. Data types are diverse and different techniques for handling these are required
eg. video compression.
8. Special tools for producing multimedia applications are required.
9. There must be sufficient and fast storage capacity. Information retrieval techniques
suitable for the new types of data need to be developed.
Inappropriate use of multimedia
As mentioned earlier, despite its obvious advantages, it is not always appropriate to use
multimedia.
Text intensive content

Reading large amounts of text on a computer screen is tedious and tiring, both physically and
mentally. Placing a book on a CD and expecting the user to read it from cover to cover is not
realistic. Developing interactive books, on the other hand, in which the user becomes an active
participant and can make choices can be effective.
Similarly, multimedia reference titles can contain a great deal of text, but by allowing the user to
control the content delivery and by adding other elements such as sound, animation and video the
drawbacks of being text intensive can be overcome.

Linear content
Soon entire full length movies will be distributed on CD. But watching a movie or any digitized
video from beginning to end is not multimedia.
Cost effective alternatives

Although the allure of multimedia is substantial, the developer must weigh the development time
and the costs of alternatives. Can the communication objectives be accomplished more
effectively and/or inexpensively using another process?
Considering the future

Multimedia is still a new, rapidly advancing, field of technology and communications. It will
generate many opportunities both for taking existing on-line services forward and creating new
ones.
At present some of the 'nice to have' features of the interface can be more hindrance than help.
An obvious example is video: its quality, the size of the window and machine speed are all
current issues.
Given the current state of technology, web sites and multimedia applications will need regular
updates.
What’s up?
You want to use multimedia technology?
You want to play with the latest and greatest toys, and you want to change the world while you're
at it. You can do it. It's all there for you.
No-one else has more opportunity than you to do something that hasn't been done before.
Within a few weeks you will be at the "bleeding edge". You will need to understand the basic
technology, know about the standards that affect the hardware, and avoid getting sucked into
being a computer technician.
Today's lecture is both an introduction to the module itself and to the theory behind it.
Protect Yourself!
1. Bleeding Edge?
It's when you have the sharpest tools in town, but it's your hands that get sliced to ribbons on
them. Let's face it. Once something works well all the time, everybody will use it. Large
companies practice risk management. They don't take on the technology until some other poor
fool has proven it. Public bodies are often even more conservative
Very quickly you create amazing things. Stuff that you've seen on TV and it cost thousands to do
there. But hold on. Nothing quite works as you'd expected.
2. Wear Gloves and Ear Protectors
In multimedia authoring environments, you are running incredibly complex programs. Not only
does the tool have to shuffle huge video, audio and graphics files in and out of memory and disk
storage, but you are given several different ways of looking at and interacting with your
application as you build it
To paraphrase Occam's rasor

"Never make anything bigger or more complicated than it needs to be

This is a layer of complexity beyond a normal software package. As a result any bugs - in the
tool, in the data (corruption), or in your logic can cause the program to hang or crash. This can
result in the loss of your data. Save early and often. Save incremental versions, and use the Save
and Compact option to maintain your file in good condition.
In a commercial environment, neither your customer nor your boss want to know if your tools
don't quite work the way you want. So protect yourself.
3. Timing - the never-ending Tweak

Multimedia is about the flow of information. This involves either User Control or System
Control of the flow. User Control is what we think of as interactivity, and this is covered
elsewhere. System flow happens in two ways - at Authoring and at Run-time
3.1 Authoring Flow
This is when you put in timing controls during the authoring process. You can let them control
the pace of delivery with "Click to Continue" but this can become irritating. It is often impressive
to create short well timed a/v sequences. These catch attention, and allow the user to relax from
constant interaction.
The key point here is to take into account that users' machines are unlikely to have the same
speed and power as your own.
Multimedia is often delivered on surprisingly primitive machines in the corporate environment.

256 colours, P100, 16M RAM, perhaps even running over a network.(If these terms are new,
don't worry, we'll explain these in week 3). In such a limited environment, it can take ten times as
long to load in a sound or graphic, or to erase or display a graphic with a special effect. This can
destroy the impact of your program.
On the other hand, in six months time, typical home users will have access to twice the power
they have now. In the workplace, you will typically be using a machine that is 6-12 months old.
What runs fine on your machine today, might zip along too quickly on a higher-powered
computer.
However you can end up tweaking the timing interminably to no good effect .You can become
obsessed with the detail and never see the big picture. A structured approach to timing, allows
you to protect against getting distracted, and allows you to vary pace in the light of user feedback
3.2 Run-time Calculation
Since multimedia is software, you have access to all the tricks of the programmers trade when it
comes to letting the computer make calculations on the fly, based upon a user's actions or their
personal profile.
In later lessons, we will see how you save yourself hundreds of lines, frames, icons of repetitive
programming by designing clever calculations based on data. Again, it comes down to "Don't
waste your time!".
Software Packages Interface Standards
Understand User Interfaces

There are many new software and hardware products appearing daily. The biggest customer for
the multimedia industry is the multimedia industry. Products and even standards die out within
months. Remember 3DO? (This was a standard for Games Computers 1993-94, widely forecast
to be the future. Nintendo and PC architectures are the emphasis now at http://www.3do.com/).
Product survival is down to two things - features and ease of use. Features are always being
added. Netscape and Microsoft play leapfrog in the browser market. Ease of use determines
whether you will do anything useful and later buy the upgrade
There is a universal piece of advice to learn how a tool works. Run the Help files and Tutorials.
The vendor has put resources into saving your time
You'll see the tutorials demonstrated at trade shows - where the idea is to impress in only a few
minutes. When you run these, you will absorb some of the vendor's culture, and you will become
familiar with the tool's interface. It is only by doing this that you begin to work intuitively.
In the module Multimedia Systems Design you will discover how to create intuitive packages.
In many cases this comes down to not “re-inventing the wheel”. Developers for Microsoft,
Apple, Macromedia, Asymetrix, Adobe all follow rulebooks regarding menu structures, buttons
etc. They usually share these with the world. Learn these interfaces, and you will cope with any
of their tools .
For now, we will look at Asymetrix Toolbook’s tools. Toolbook interface combines specific and
generic elements. Macromedia's User Interface - MUI. MUI is how Director, Dreamweaver,
Flash, Freehand all appear and function. Toolbook’s interface has some similarities and
differences. By the time you come to use Flash, Director, Fireworks and Dreamweaver, you
should find that you start to work intuitively.
Evaluation
1. Why is it that multimedia is not really new, but it is in some ways as old as mankind?
2. Multimedia applications depend on the effective use of multimedia assets. Define the
term multimedia asset and briefly describe at least three different assets.
3. How does the digital world differ from the analog world?
4. Give at least three specific advantages that multimedia communications have over more
than traditional methods.
Assignment:
1. Is there any evidence that multimedia technology is more effective for

delivering instruction than traditional methods?
2. Is there an evidence to show that the educational results justify the cost and
effort of incorporating multimedia technology into the classroom? Submit
researches devoted to assessing the effectiveness of multimedia in
education.


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Multimedia Technology Course

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Multimedia Technology

Course Title: MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY

Unit Credits: 3 units

There continues to be a rapid growth in the development and exploitation of multimedia

1. Understand the different capabilities and limitations of various audio/visual

Module 1 – Introduction to Multimedia

Module 2 – Multimedia Hardware and Software

Module 3 – Multimedia Design and Development

1. Evaluation and Assignment Reports

Master of Science in Information Technology Cagayan State University

ModuleThis project developed, offered, evaluated and is

1. State and explain what multimedia is

In this lecture you will learn the following:

 Significant Role of Multimedia to business, government, industry and education.

 Asymetrix Toolbook’s multimedia authoring environments. Generic aspects of other

Master of Science in Information Technology Cagayan State University

Multimedia is defined as an interactive computer-mediated presentation that includes at least two

Master of Science in Information Technology Cagayan State University

In order to understand the history of multimedia it is helpful to consider the etiology of

Date Event text images sound animation video 3D hypertext WWW

Date Event text images sound animation video 3D hypertext WWW

Master of Science in Information Technology Cagayan State University

Consumer Digital Camera x x

Exhibit 1-1 leads us to the following observations:

1. Multi-sensory communication between humans is not a new concept, but is as old as

The most important trend in PCs

Master of Science in Information Technology Cagayan State University

Multimedia involves the application of various communication channels to a communication

Master of Science in Information Technology Cagayan State University

Hypertext and Hypermedia

Master of Science in Information Technology Cagayan State University

mp3 sample file

There are different image formats:

Master of Science in Information Technology Cagayan State University

JPEG format, 400x336 pixels, 20% compression, 37Kbyte image size

JPEG format, 400x336 pixels, 40% compression, 25Kbyte image size

JPEG format, 400x336 pixels, 60% compression, 19Kbyte image size

Master of Science in Information Technology Cagayan State University

JPEG format, 400x336 pixels, 80% compression, 12Kbyte image size

JPEG format, 400x336 pixels, 90% compression, 7Kbyte image size

JPEG format, 400x336 pixels, 95% compression, 4Kbyte image size

Master of Science in Information Technology Cagayan State University

JPEG format, 200x168 pixels, 40% compression, 12Kbyte image size

JPEG format, 200x168 pixels, 60% compression, 9Kbyte image size

Master of Science in Information Technology Cagayan State University

avi file example

Master of Science in Information Technology Cagayan State University

Master of Science in Information Technology Cagayan State University

Master of Science in Information Technology Cagayan State University

Master of Science in Information Technology Cagayan State University

World Architecture is a collection of 5 CD disks containing thousands of images of architecture

Ten Reasons to Use Multimedia

PC World magazine (October 1993) outlined "Ten Reasons to Use Multimedia in

Multimedia Technology offers great benefits, but can be unreliable

Master of Science in Information Technology Cagayan State University

5. is interruptible. Can be stopped or resumed at the user's will.

Master of Science in Information Technology Cagayan State University

Inappropriate use of multimedia

Text intensive content

Master of Science in Information Technology Cagayan State University

Cost effective alternatives

Considering the future

You want to use multimedia technology?