“Multimedia is an eerie wail as two cat’s eyes appear on a dark screen.
It’s a small window of video laid onto a map of India, showing an old man recalling his dusty journey to meet a rajah there…”
Tay Vaughan, 1998, Multimedia: Making it Work
Multimedia is understood to mean a product that is digitally constructed utilising and seamlessly integrating various media: text, graphics, images, video, animation and sound.
Multimedia enriches the user through medias and technologies with the intention of engaging people’s minds!
Initially the delivery of multimedia products was via CD-ROM, but the internet provided a global distribution system that changed the structure and style of the multimedia products.
High levels of interactivity are now achievable using a range of software that runs on almost any current desktop computer.
The future of multimedia will be even more challenging as a plethora of delivery systems and displays are marketed. Enhanced program material provided on digital television and internet information displayed on mobile phones are just two examples of new multimedia systems.
Our notion of multimedia needs to encompass all new forms.
Review the following websites:
Examples of Multimedia in e-Learning
From the map, click on Australia, then Test your Skills in the left-hand column, choose a scenario
http://www.listeningadventures.org
Carnegie Hall – learn about a Dvorak Symphony
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/lj/victorian_britainlj/sour_entry.shtml?site=history_victorianlj_sour
The BBC have a huge variety of e-Learning short course – try this one and see if you can improve Victorian Britain’s living conditions!
http://www.howstuffworks.com/toilet.htm
An amazing site full of all sorts of resources – this is a particular favourite!
Cadre Design are a Sydney based multimedia design company – from the home page, click on the Education link, this will take you to the Showcase. Click on the first example – the Astronomy site. Examine the possibilities (maybe learn something too)!
How do you define multimedia in today’s e-Learning context?
Compare this to the experiences with the Web 2.0 technologies and the issues raised in the Seely-Brown article.
“Multimedia is”
