1.

HISTORY OF MULTIMEDIA

NEWSPAPERS WERE PERHAPS THE FIRST MASS COMMUNICATION MEDIUM TO EMPLOY MULTIMEDIA -- THEY USED
MOSTLY TEXT, GRAPHICS, AND IMAGES.

IN 1895, GUGLIEMO MARCONI SENT HIS FIRST WIRELESS RADIO TRANSMISSION AT PONTECCHIO, ITALY. A FEW YEARS
LATER (IN 1901) HE DETECTED RADIO WAVES BEAMED ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. INITIALLY INVENTED FOR TELEGRAPH, RADIO
IS NOW A MAJOR MEDIUM FOR AUDIO BROADCASTING.

TELEVISION WAS THE NEW MEDIA FOR THE 20TH CENTURY. IT BRINGS THE VIDEO AND HAS SINCE CHANGED THE WORLD
OF MASS COMMUNICATIONS.

SOME OF THE IMPORTANT EVENTS IN RELATION TO MULTIMEDIA IN COMPUTING INCLUDE:

1945 - BUSH WROTE ABOUT MEMEX
1967 - NEGROPONTE FORMED THE ARCHITECTURE MACHINE GROUP AT MIT
1969 - NELSON & VAN DAM HYPERTEXT EDITOR AT BROWN
BIRTH OF THE INTERNET
1971 - EMAIL
1976 - ARCHITECTURE MACHINE GROUP PROPOSAL TO DARPA: MULTIPLE MEDIA
1980 - LIPPMAN & MOHL: ASPEN MOVIE MAP
1983 - BACKER: ELECTRONIC BOOK
1985 - NEGROPONTE, WIESNER: OPENED MIT MEDIA LAB
1989 - TIM BERNERS-LEE PROPOSED THE WORLD WIDE WEB TO CERN (EUROPEAN COUNCIL FOR NUCLEAR RESEARCH)
1990 - K. HOOPER WOOLSEY, APPLE MULTIMEDIA LAB, 100 PEOPLE, EDUC.
1991 - APPLE MULTIMEDIA LAB: VISUAL ALMANAC, CLASSROOM MM KIOSK
1992 - THE FIRST M-BONE AUDIO MULTICAST ON THE NET
1993 - U. ILLINOIS NATIONAL CENTER FOR SUPERCOMPUTING APPLICATIONS: NCSA MOSAIC
1994 - JIM CLARK AND MARC ANDREESEN: NETSCAPE
1995 - JAVA FOR PLATFORM-INDEPENDENT APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT. DUKE IS THE FIRST APPLET.
1996 - MICROSOFT, INTERNET EXPLORER.

HISTORY OF THE TERM

THE TERM MULTIMEDIA WAS COINED BY SINGER AND ARTIST BOB GOLDSTEIN (LATER 'BOBB GOLDSTEINN') TO
PROMOTE THE JULY 1966 OPENING OF HIS "LIGHTWORKS AT L'OURSIN" SHOW AT SOUTHAMPTON, LONG ISLAND.
GOLDSTEIN WAS PERHAPS AWARE OF A BRITISH ARTIST NAMED DICK HIGGINS, WHO HAD TWO YEARS PREVIOUSLY
DISCUSSED A NEW APPROACH TO ART-MAKING HE CALLED "INTERMEDIA."

ON AUGUST 10, 1966, RICHARD ALBARINO OF VARIETY BORROWED THE TERMINOLOGY, REPORTING:
"BRAINCHILD OF SONGSCRIBE-COMIC BOB ('WASHINGTON SQUARE') GOLDSTEIN, THE 'LIGHTWORKS' IS THE LATEST MULTI-
MEDIA MUSIC-CUM-VISUALS TO DEBUT AS DISCOTHQUE FARE." TWO YEARS LATER, IN 1968, THE TERM "MULTIMEDIA"
WAS RE-APPROPRIATED TO DESCRIBE THE WORK OF A POLITICAL CONSULTANT, DAVID SAWYER, THE HUSBAND OF IRIS
SAWYERONE OF GOLDSTEINS PRODUCERS AT LOURSIN.

IN THE INTERVENING FORTY YEARS, THE WORD HAS TAKEN ON DIFFERENT MEANINGS. IN THE LATE 1970S, THE
TERM REFERRED TO PRESENTATIONS CONSISTING OF MULTI-PROJECTOR SLIDE SHOWS TIMED TO AN AUDIO
TRACK. HOWEVER, BY THE 1990S 'MULTIMEDIA' TOOK ON ITS CURRENT MEANING.
IN THE 1993 FIRST EDITION OF MCGRAW-HILLS MULTIMEDIA: MAKING IT WORK, TAY VAUGHAN DECLARED
MULTIMEDIA IS ANY COMBINATION OF TEXT, GRAPHIC ART, SOUND, ANIMATION, AND VIDEO THAT IS DELIVERED BY
COMPUTER. WHEN YOU ALLOW THE USER THE VIEWER OF THE PROJECT TO CONTROL WHAT AND WHEN THESE
ELEMENTS ARE DELIVERED, IT IS INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA. WHEN YOU PROVIDE A STRUCTURE OF LINKED ELEMENTS
THROUGH WHICH THE USER CAN NAVIGATE, INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA BECOMES HYPERMEDIA.

THE GERMAN LANGUAGE SOCIETY, GESELLSCHAFT FR DEUTSCHE SPRACHE, DECIDED TO RECOGNIZE THE WORD'S
SIGNIFICANCE AND INIQUITOUSNESS IN THE 1990S BY AWARDING IT THE TITLE OF 'WORD OF THE YEAR' IN 1995. THE
INSTITUTE SUMMED UP ITS RATIONALE BY STATING "[MULTIMEDIA] HAS BECOME A CENTRAL WORD IN THE WONDERFUL
NEW MEDIA WORLD"

IN COMMON USAGE, MULTIMEDIA REFERS TO AN ELECTRONICALLY DELIVERED COMBINATION OF MEDIA INCLUDING
VIDEO, STILL IMAGES, AUDIO, TEXT IN SUCH A WAY THAT CAN BE ACCESSED INTERACTIVELY. MUCH OF THE CONTENT ON THE
WEB TODAY FALLS WITHIN THIS DEFINITION AS UNDERSTOOD BY MILLIONS. SOME COMPUTERS WHICH WERE MARKETED IN
THE 1990S WERE CALLED "MULTIMEDIA" COMPUTERS BECAUSE THEY INCORPORATED A CD-ROM DRIVE, WHICH ALLOWED
FOR THE DELIVERY OF SEVERAL HUNDRED MEGABYTES OF VIDEO, PICTURE, AND AUDIO DATA. THAT ERA SAW ALSO A BOOST
IN THE PRODUCTION OF EDUCATIONAL MULTIMEDIA CD-ROMS.


2. DEFINE THE CONCEPT OF MEDIA AND ITS ELEMENTS. (GIVE EXAMPLES FOR EACH)

THE WORD MEDIUM (MEDIA - PLURAL) COMES FROM THE LATIN WORD MEDIUS (MIDDLE).

THE BEGINNING OF HUMAN COMMUNICATION THROUGH DESIGNED CHANNELS, I.E. NOT VOCALIZATION OR GESTURES,
DATES BACK TO ANCIENT CAVE PAINTINGS, DRAWN MAPS, AND WRITING.


ELEMENTS OF MEDIA

1. THE SOURCE OF MASS COMMUNICATION MESSAGE GENERALLY IS A PERSON OR GROUP OPERATING WITHIN AN
ORGANIZATIONAL SETTING. EXAMPLES OF THESE SOURCES ARE NEWS REPORTERS, TELEVISION PRODUCERS AND MAGAZINE
EDITORS. LIKEWISE, THE SOURCE GENERALLY IS A MULTIPLE ENTITY, AND THE RESULTING MESSAGE IS THE WORK OF SEVERAL
PERSONS. FOR EXAMPLE, PRODUCERS, WRITERS, ACTORS, DIRECTORS AND VIDEO EDITORS ALL WORK TOGETHER TO CREATE
A TELEVISION PROGRAM. PUBLISHERS, REPORTERS, EDITORS, COPYEDITORS, TYPESETTERS, GRAPHIC DESIGNERS AND
PHOTOGRAPHERS TOGETHER PRODUCE A MAGAZINE ARTICLE.

2. MASS MEDIA MESSAGES ARE SOPHISTICATED AND COMPLEX. WHEREAS THE MESSAGE IN INTERPERSONAL
COMMUNICATION MAY BE SIMPLE WORDS AND SHORT SENTENCES, MASS MEDIA MESSAGES ARE QUITE ELABORATE.
EXAMPLES OF MASS MEDIA MESSAGE ARE A NEWS REPORT, A NOVEL, A MOVIE, A TELEVISION PROGRAM, A MAGAZINE
ARTICLE, NEWSPAPER COLUMNS, A MUSIC VIDEO, AND BILLBOARD ADVERTISEMENT.

3. CHANNELS OF MASS MEDIA, ALSO CALLED MASS VEHICLES, INVOLVE ONE OR MORE ASPECTS OF TECHNOLOGY. RADIO,
FOR EXAMPLE, INVOLVES TAPE MACHINES, MICROPHONES, AND DEVICES THAT DIGITIZE SOUND WAVES, TRANSMITTERS THAT
DISSEMINATE THEM AND RECEIVING UNITS THAT DECODE THE SOUND WAVES AND RENDER THEM BACK INTO AUDIO FORM
APPROXIMATING THE ORIGINAL. SOMETIMES, AS IN THE CASE OF MUSICAL RECORDING, THE CHANNEL OF MASS
COMMUNICATION MAY EVEN ENHANCE THE SOUND QUALITY OF THE ORIGINAL.
4. AUDIENCES GENERALLY ARE SELF-SELECTED; PEOPLE WHO TUNE IN TO A PARTICULAR TELEVISION OR WHO READ
PARTICULAR MAGAZINE. MASS AUDIENCES ALSO ARE HETEROGENEOUS, MEANING THAT THEY ARE BOTH LARGE AND
DIVERSE. THEY ACTUALLY ARE MADE UP OF GROUPS OF PEOPLE WITH DISSIMILAR BACKGROUND, DEMOGRAPHICS, AND
SOCIO-POLITICAL CHARACTERISTICS; THEY ARE SPREAD OVER A VAST GEOGRAPHIC AREA. SUCH AUDIENCES ARE BROUGHT
TOGETHER BY A SINGLE SHARED INTEREST IN THE PARTICULAR MESSAGE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE MASS MEDIUM.

MESSAGE SOURCES GENERALLY HAVE ONLY LIMITED INFORMATION ABOUT THEIR AUDIENCES. RADIO STATION MANAGERS
MAY KNOW AUDIENCE DEMOGRAPHICS SUCH AS AVERAGE AGES, INCOMES, POLITICAL INTERESTS, AND SO ON, BUT THEY
KNOW LITTLE ABOUT THE INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS OF THE AUDIENCE. INDEED, ONE CHARACTERISTIC OF MASS MEDIA IS THAT
THE AUDIENCE MEMBERS ESSENTIALLY REMAIN ANONYMOUS.

5. FEEDBACK IS MINIMAL IN MASS MEDIA AND NO REAL GIVE-AND-TAKE IS PRACTICALLY POSSIBLE. MESSAGE FLOW
TYPICALLY IS ONE-WAY, FROM SOURCE TO RECEIVER. TRADITIONALLY, FEEDBACK HAS BEEN MINIMAL AND GENERALLY
DELAYED. A NEWSPAPER READER COULD WRITE LETTER TO THE EDITOR; A TELEVISION VIEWER MIGHT RESPOND TO A
SURVEY. WITH THE INTERNET, NEW POSSIBILITIES ARE BEING FOUND TO INCREASE FEEDBACK, BUT IT REMAINS LIMITED.

6. LIKE OTHER FORMS OF MEDIATED COMMUNICATION, NOISE EXISTS IN THE MASS CONTEXT. NOISE MAY BE SEMANTIC,
ENVIRONMENTAL OR MECHANICAL.



3. DEFINE THE CONCEPT OF MULTIMEDIA AND ITS ELEMENTS. (GIVE EXAMPLES FOR EACH)

CONCEPT OF MULTIMEDIA

MULTIMEDIA IS THE TECHNOLOGY THAT USES ANY COMBINATION OF DIFFERENT MEDIA; IT MAY OR MAY NOT INVOLVE
COMPUTERS. IT MAY INCLUDE SEVERAL MEDIA LIKE TEXT, SPOKEN AUDIO, MUSIC, IMAGES, ANIMATION, AND VIDEO. FOR
EXAMPLE, A PRESENTATION INVOLVING AUDIO AND VIDEO CLIPS WOULD BE CONSIDERED A
MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATION. EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE THAT INVOLVES ANIMATIONS, SOUND AND TEST IS CALLED
MULTIMEDIA SOFTWARE. MULTIMEDIA PROGRAMS ARE OFTEN INTERACTIVE AND INCLUDE GAMES, SALES
PRESENTATIONS, ENCYCLOPEDIAS, AND MANY MORE. ANY SYSTEMS CAN BE SAID INTERACTIVE IF USERS COULD ACT OR
COMMAND THE SYSTEM AND THE SYSTEM WORKS ACCORDINGLY.

FOR EXAMPLE: IN MEDIA PLAYER A PLAYING VIDEO PAUSES IF THE USER CLICKS ON THE PAUSE BUTTON AND STARTS
AGAIN WHEN USER CLICKS ON THE PLAY BUTTON AND STARTS WHEN USER CLICKS ON ANY BUTTON. THE USERS CLICKS HERE
ARE CONSIDERED AS THE USERS INTERACTION AND THE RESPONSE MADE BY THE SYSTEM IS CALLED INTERACTIVE RESPONSE.
USERS CAN INTERACT IN MANY OTHER WAYS INSTEAD OF MOUSE. IF ANY MULTIMEDIA SUPPORTS OR RESPONSE
SPECIFICALLY ON ONE OR MORE OF THE USERS INTERACTION, THEN SUCH MULTIMEDIA IS CALLED THE
INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA. SUCH INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA HAS GAINED LOTS OF POPULARITY THESE DAYS.

MULTIMEDIA REQUIRES THE LARGE AMOUNT OF DATA TO BE STORED. HENCE, CD-ROMS AND PEN DRIVES ARE THE
GOOD OPTION FOR STORAGE OF COMPUTER MULTIMEDIA FILES. WE COULD STORE MULTIMEDIA IN OTHER HIGH CAPACITY
STORAGE DEVICES WHICH ARE ALSO FASTER AND EASY TO USE. BUT MOSTLY WE CHOOSE CD-ROM AND PEN DRIVE
AS MULTIMEDIA STORAGE DEVICES AS IT IS VERY CHEAP, IT CAN STORE LOTS OF DATA AND IT IS VERY EASY TO STORE AND
HANDLE. SUCH CD-ROMS WHICH CONTAIN MULTIMEDIA FILES ARE CALLED MULTIMEDIA CD-ROMS. NOWADAYS WE
CAN GET DIFFERENT MULTIMEDIA CDS IN THE MARKET WHICH CONTAIN THE ENTERTAINING AND EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS.

ELEMENTS OF MULTIMEDIA

TEXT
IT MAY BE AN EASY CONTENT TYPE TO FORGET WHEN CONSIDERING MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS, BUT TEXT CONTENT IS BY FAR THE
MOST COMMON MEDIA TYPE IN COMPUTING APPLICATIONS. MOST MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS USE A COMBINATION OF TEXT
AND OTHER MEDIA TO DELIVER FUNCTIONALITY. TEXT IN MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS CAN EXPRESS SPECIFIC INFORMATION, OR IT
CAN ACT AS REINFORCEMENT FOR INFORMATION CONTAINED IN OTHER MEDIA ITEMS. THIS IS A COMMON PRACTICE IN
APPLICATIONS WITH ACCESSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS. FOR EXAMPLE, WHEN WEB PAGES INCLUDE IMAGE ELEMENTS, THEY CAN
ALSO INCLUDE A SHORT AMOUNT OF TEXT FOR THE USER'S BROWSER TO INCLUDE AS AN ALTERNATIVE, IN CASE THE DIGITAL
IMAGE ITEM IS NOT AVAILABLE.

IMAGES
DIGITAL IMAGE FILES APPEAR IN MANY MULTIMEDIA APPLICATIONS. DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHS CAN DISPLAY APPLICATION
CONTENT OR CAN ALTERNATIVELY FORM PART OF A USER INTERFACE. INTERACTIVE ELEMENTS, SUCH AS BUTTONS, OFTEN
USE CUSTOM IMAGES CREATED BY THE DESIGNERS AND DEVELOPERS INVOLVED IN AN APPLICATION. DIGITAL IMAGE FILES
USE A VARIETY OF FORMATS AND FILE EXTENSIONS. AMONG THE MOST COMMON ARE JPEGS AND PNGS. BOTH OF THESE
OFTEN APPEAR ON WEBSITES, AS THE FORMATS ALLOW DEVELOPERS TO MINIMIZE ON FILE SIZE WHILE MAXIMIZING ON
PICTURE QUALITY. GRAPHIC DESIGN SOFTWARE PROGRAMS SUCH AS PHOTOSHOP AND PAINT.NET ALLOW DEVELOPERS TO
CREATE COMPLEX VISUAL EFFECTS WITH DIGITAL IMAGES.

AUDIO
AUDIO FILES AND STREAMS PLAY A MAJOR ROLE IN SOME MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS. AUDIO FILES APPEAR AS PART OF
APPLICATION CONTENT AND ALSO TO AID INTERACTION. WHEN THEY APPEAR WITHIN WEB APPLICATIONS AND SITES, AUDIO
FILES SOMETIMES NEED TO BE DEPLOYED USING PLUG-IN MEDIA PLAYERS. AUDIO FORMATS INCLUDE MP3, WMA, WAVE,
MIDI AND REALAUDIO. WHEN DEVELOPERS INCLUDE AUDIO WITHIN A WEBSITE, THEY WILL GENERALLY USE A COMPRESSED
FORMAT TO MINIMIZE ON DOWNLOAD TIMES. WEB SERVICES CAN ALSO STREAM AUDIO, SO THAT USERS CAN BEGIN
PLAYBACK BEFORE THE ENTIRE FILE IS DOWNLOADED.

VIDEO
DIGITAL VIDEO APPEARS IN MANY MULTIMEDIA APPLICATIONS, PARTICULARLY ON THE WEB. AS WITH AUDIO, WEBSITES CAN
STREAM DIGITAL VIDEO TO INCREASE THE SPEED AND AVAILABILITY OF PLAYBACK. COMMON DIGITAL VIDEO FORMATS
INCLUDE FLASH, MPEG, AVI, WMV AND QUICKTIME. MOST DIGITAL VIDEO REQUIRES USE OF BROWSER PLUG-INS TO PLAY
WITHIN WEB PAGES, BUT IN MANY CASES THE USER'S BROWSER WILL ALREADY HAVE THE REQUIRED RESOURCES INSTALLED.

ANIMATION
ANIMATED COMPONENTS ARE COMMON WITHIN BOTH WEB AND DESKTOP MULTIMEDIA APPLICATIONS. ANIMATIONS CAN
ALSO INCLUDE INTERACTIVE EFFECTS, ALLOWING USERS TO ENGAGE WITH THE ANIMATION ACTION USING THEIR MOUSE AND
KEYBOARD. THE MOST COMMON TOOL FOR CREATING ANIMATIONS ON THE WEB IS ADOBE FLASH, WHICH ALSO FACILITATES
DESKTOP APPLICATIONS. USING FLASH, DEVELOPERS CAN AUTHOR FLV FILES, EXPORTING THEM AS SWF MOVIES FOR
DEPLOYMENT TO USERS. FLASH ALSO USES ACTIONSCRIPT CODE TO ACHIEVE ANIMATED AND INTERACTIVE EFFECTS.





4. DIFFERENT APPLICATIONS OF MULTIMEDIA
WE OFTEN SEE DIFFERENT PICTURES, SONGS AND MOVIES IN OUR COMPUTER. SOMETIMES WE ALSO HEAR THAT SOME
ACTIONS IN FILMS ARE NOT PERFORMED REAL BUT ARE MADE BY COMPUTER ANIMATIONS. WE SEE TV ADVERTISEMENTS,
DIFFERENT ATTRACTIVE ADVERTISEMENTS IN NEWSPAPERS, AND MANY OTHER DESIGNS IN WALLS, PAMPHLETS AND OTHER
PLACES. HOW THESE HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE AFTER ALL? ALL OF THESE THINGS ARE MADE BY USING MULTIMEDIA TOOLS.
THESE DAYS, MULTIMEDIA COMPUTERS ARE USED AS THE MOST PROMINENT MULTIMEDIA TOOL TO DEVELOP SUCH
GRAPHICS DESIGNS, ANIMATIONS, VIDEOS, IMAGE EDITING, ETC. MULTIMEDIA COMPUTERS ARE NOTHING BUT SIMPLY THE
COMPUTERS LIKE WE USE IN OUR HOME WHICH ARE ENHANCED WITH MANY OTHER MULTIMEDIA HARDWARE AND
SOFTWARE. MULTIMEDIA COMPUTERS ARE CAPABLE OF GENERATING, STORING AND DISPLAYING MULTIMEDIA CONTENTS.

5. ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF MULTIMEDIA
ADVANTAGES OF MULTIMEDIA

1. IT CAN BE USED TO HELP STUDENTS AND TEACHER TO TEACH AS WELL AS LEARN THE GIVEN TOPICS EASILY.
2. IT CAN BE USED TO SPREAD THE KNOWLEDGE EASILY ALL OVER THE WORLD WIDE IN THE CHEAP COST.
3. IT IS EASY TO TAKE THE MULTIMEDIA FILES FROM ONE TO OTHER PLACES AS IT CAN BE STORED IN THE CHEAP AND LIGHT
STORAGE DEVICES LIKE CD-ROM.
4. IT CAN BE USED FOR ANY SUBJECT AND FOR ANYONE.
5. IT CAN BE USED IN TELEVISION, FILMS INDUSTRIES AND FOR PERSONAL ENTERTAINMENTS.
6. IT IS HIGHLY USED TO REALIZE THE CONCEPT OF OPEN UNIVERSITY, DISTANCE EDUCATION SYSTEM, AND VIDEO
CONFERENCING.
7. IT IS ALSO USED IN INTERNET TO MAKE UP THE INTERACTIVE WEB-PAGE CONTENTS.
8. WE CAN GIVE THE EVERLASTING IMPRESSION TO THE INTENDED AUDIENCES ON A SPECIFIC TOPIC BY THE USE
OF MULTIMEDIA.
9. COLORED PICTURES, MOTION PICTURES AND OTHER GRAPHICS COULD BE SHOWN IN MONITORS AND OTHER BIG SCREENS
SO THAT MANY PEOPLE COULD VIEW IT AND MAKE OUT THE IMPRESSION ABOUT IT.
10. MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS ARE GENERALLY VERY INTERACTIVE SO IT IS INTERESTING TO USE.

DISADVANTAGES OF MULTIMEDIA

1. IT IS EXPENSIVE TO PRODUCE MULTIMEDIA CONTENTS.
2. IT IS EXPENSIVE TO SET UP THE MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS.
3. IT NEEDS WELL TRAINED MANPOWER TO CREATE AND USE IT.
4. MULTIMEDIA FILES ARE TOO LARGE SO, IT IS TIME CONSUMING TO TRANSFER ACROSS THE INTERNET AND INTRANET.