What is Multimedia

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What is Multimedia?

• Dr H Batatia
• School of Science and Technology
• h.batatia_at_tees.ac.uk

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Introduction

• Computers
• Capture, generate, store, retrieve, process,
  transmit, and present various digital media
• They can also control processes e.g.,
• analog audio and video playback systems
• other processes...

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What types of media?

• Media refers to type of information
• alphanumeric data, images, audio, video
• Media may have time dimension
• Two classes (based on time dimension)
• static media
• continuous media

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Static media

• No time dimension
• contents and meaning independent of presentation
  time
• e.g., alphanumeric data, graphics, still images

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Continuous media

• Have time dimension
• meaning and correctness depend on rate of
  presentation
• Include
• animation, audio, video
• Have intrinsic rate
• 25 frames/s for video
• audio (e.g., music)

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Continuous media (contd.)

• Changing the rate changes the meaning
• The playback must be continuous at a fixed rate
• Hence, the name CONTINUOUS MEDIA
• Also called, ISOCHRONOUS MEDIA
• time dependent

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History

• -gt 1894 Newspapers used graphics text
• 1894 - First wireless by Gugliemo Marconi
• 1945 - Memex by Bush
• 1969 - Nelson Van Dam hypertext editor at Brown
• 1976 - DARPA proposal Multiple Media
• 1985 - Negroponte, Wiesner opened MIT Media Lab

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Contd.

• 1989 - World Wide Web at CERN by Tim Berners-Lee
• 1990 - K. Hooper Woolsey, Apple Multimedia Lab,
  100 people
• 1991 - Apple Multimedia Lab Visual Almanac,
  Classroom MM Kiosk
• 1992 - First M-bone audio multicast on the Net

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Contd.

• 1993 - U. Illinois National Centre for
  Supercomputing Applications NCSA Mosaic
• 1994 - Jim Clark and Marc Andreesen Netscape
• 1995 - JAVA for platform-independent application
  development.

http//www.supelec.fr/docs/guide_61/guide.14.html
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What is multimedia?

• Linguistic
• Any system handling more than one medium is
  called multimedia system
• Accurately
• Any system handling at least one continuous
  medium in digital form along with static media
• Dont confuse multimedia and hypermedia

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Hypertext vs. Hypermedia

• Hypertext
• text containing links to other texts. Invented by
  Ted Nelson around 1965.
• Non-linear
• Hypermedia
• hypertext including also graphics, images, sound,
  video. Ted Nelson was also the first to use this
  term.
• WWW is a hypermedia application

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Hypermedia vs. Multimedia

• Originally Multimedia designated documents that
  contain various media
• Multimedia as industry meant CD-ROM
• Today Multimedia include various applications
  that can be static or networked
• Result of convergence between
• computing, telecom, graphics, audio, video ,
  broadcast

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Find out more about Hypertext and Hypermedia
http//www.supelec.fr/docs/guide_61/
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Functions of a multimedia system

• Capture, generate, store, retrieve, process,
  transmit, and present multimedia information
• Two aspects
• computing (processing, searching)
• communications (capturing, transmission,
  presentation)
• Earlier MM systems focused on communication.
  Current systems use more computing (recognition,
  restoration)

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What is an Application?

• MM application use of a system offering
  functions
• Equivalent to service according to ITU
• Application Program Software
• Field of application Area where an application
  is used (medical diagnosis, education,
  marketing)
• Equivalent to application according to ITU

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ITU classification(centered on the service
providers)
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Examining Media

• Philosophy/Sociology of the medium
• Psychology of the medium
• Science of the medium
• Technology of the medium
• Engineering of medium
• Art of the medium

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Philosophy/Sociology of the medium

• Why does it exists?
• Where should it go?
• What are its effects?

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Psychology of the medium

• What do you use it for?
• What human behaviours are involved?
• How do we exploit them these behaviours?
• What are the limitations of these behaviours?
• What techniques for its communication exist?

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Science of the medium

• How does it work?
• How is it processed by human brains?
• How can we improve it?

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Technology of the medium

• How do we capture/generate it?
• How do we represent it?
• How do we edit it?
• How do we deliver?
• How do we use it?

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Engineering of medium

• What is it physically?
• What devices are required
• To capture it?
• To process it?
• To store it?
• To deliver it?

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Art of the medium

• how do we create effective design?
• how does it impact the experience?
• how does it impact the functionality?
• how do we keep a balance between form and
  function?
• how do we artistically exploit the medium?

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Multimedia Development Roles

• Management
• Executive Producer
• Producer
• Project Manager
• Design
• Creative Director
• Information Designer
• Interface Designer

• Tools/Content Production
• Programmer
• Artist

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Development Process
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Some Multimedia Applications

• Advertising
• Presentations
• Marketing Tools
• Education
• Courseware
• Kiosks
• Simulations

• Edutainment
• Consumer titles
• Kids' books
• Broadcast
• TV programs
• Others
• Custom productions

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Our focus point

• Creating multimedia documents
• Stored on CR-ROM
• Distributed via WWW
• Augmented to be distributed via Interactive TV

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Approach

• Project planning
• Software development
• Analysis
• Design
• Implementation
• Validation

• Project plan
• Documents
• Requirement specifications
• Design description
• Actual software
• Test method and results
• User Manuals

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Multimedia Software Tools

• Tools
• Audio
• Cakewalk
• Cubase
• Image and Video
• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Premiere
• Integration
• Authorware
• Director

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Cakewalk

• Supports General MIDI
• Provides several editing views (staff, piano
  roll, event list) and Virtual Piano
• Can insert WAV files and Windows MCI commands
  (animation and video) into tracks

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Cubase

• A better software than Cakewalk Express
• Allows printing of notation sheets

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Adobe Photoshop

• Allows layers of images, graphics and text
• Includes many graphics drawing and painting tools
  
• Sophisticate lighting effects filter
• A good graphics, image processing and
  manipulation tool

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Adobe Premiere

• Provides large number (up to 99) of video and
  audio tracks, super-impositions and virtual clips
  
• Supports various transitions, filters and motions
  for clips
• A reasonable desktop video editing tool

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Authorware

• Professional multimedia authoring tool
• Supports interactive applications with
  hyperlinks, drag-and-drop controls, and
  integrated animation
• Compatibility between files produced from PC
  version and MAC version

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Macromedia Director

• Movie metaphor
• Can accept almost any bitmapped file formats
• Lingo script language with own debugger allows
  more control including external devices, e.g.,
  VCRs and video disk players
• Ready for building more interactivities
  (buttons, etc.)