Understanding

Multimedia
Franco T. Abequibel
We become what we behold.
We shape our tools and then our tools
shape us.
—Marshall McLuhan, Communication Theorist
The digital revolution is far more
significant than the invention of
writing or even of printing.

—Douglas Engelbart, Inventor of the Computer Mouse

Chapter Highlights
This chapter examines:

 Multimedia as an extension of traditional media

industries and practices
 The five elements of a multimedia experience
 Three characteristics of old media
 The new media paradigm shift
 Five principles of new media in a digital age
WHAT IT IS … IS MULTIMEDIA!

At one time or another, all of us have been caught by surprise by a new experience or
trend that sneaks up on us at lightning speed, challenging old ways and habits and leaving
us scratching our heads in bewilderment. Engaging in a formal study of multimedia, The
landscape will appear strange and foreign to you at first, as you struggle for meaning in a
sea of unfamiliar objects and ideas—even though you’ve probably spent plenty of time
online. In time, a sense of comfort and familiarity will set in as you catch a glimpse of the
big picture and develop a grasp of some fundamental concepts and rules. To begin, let’s
take a peek at something that you are probably very familiar with that may serve as a
common reference point for understanding multimedia.
Social Media
Social media is a broad term used to
describe a growing host of tools and
services that enable computer-
mediated interpersonal, group, and
mass communication (See. Figure1.1)

Social media can be broken down into

many different categories of services
as related to their general purpose and
focus.

Figure 1.1 The rapid proliferation of social media sites like these has led to a phenomenon called
hyperconnectivity; whereby people and machines stay perpetually connected via an ever-expanding network
of diverse communication channels.
few of the most popular social media channels

• Social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc.,

connect people with common interests, backgrounds, and associations.
Such services provide numerous opportunities for synchronous and
asynchronous communication through features such as live chatting,
email, message board posting, event announcements, image galleries,
embedded video, etc.

• Blogging engines such as Blogger and WordPress provide users with an

online publishing tool for the regular posting of written stories or narrative
commentaries. The term blog is a blended form of the phrase “web log.”
Blogs often focus on a particular subject or offer news and insight from a
specific point of view. They also can serve as a public space for personal
reflections, such as you might find in a diary or travel journal.
 Celebrities, media practitioners, and organizations (journalists, critics,
actors, singers, authors, public relations firms, etc.) use blogs for
interacting with fans, consumers, or the general public. Video blogging
or vlogging (pronounced V-logging) is a hybrid form of blogging that
uses video in place of a written narrative.

• Vlogs typically feature a headshot of the individual as he or she

communicates directly to the audience through a webcam attached to a
personal computer. Microblogging is a variation of the blogging concept
that limits communication to short strings of text or video. Microblogging
services such as Tumblr and Twitter integrate the text-messaging
capabilities of mobile technologies such as the cell phone with the
enhanced distribution channels of the Web and mobile apps.
• A wiki is a tool that allows users to collaboratively create and edit
documents and web pages online. Wikipedia, an online encyclopedic
resource founded in 2001, is one of the most popular wikis. Entries in the
Wikipedia database are posted and compiled interactively by a
community of volunteers from around the world. Wikipedia is based on
the MediaWiki platform. Like many of the wiki platforms, MediaWiki is free.
• Content sharing sites enable the exchange of various forms of multimedia
content. Commercial photo sharing services such as Flickr and Shutterfly
allow users to order photographic prints, albums, cards, and other
products from content uploaded by family members and friends. Video
sharing tools such as YouTube and Vimeo allow users to upload video
content for potential distribution to a mass audience. Other services
enable users to share music, audio resources, music playlists, and
channels (as with the integration of Pandora Radio’s online music service
into Facebook and Twitter).
Social bookmarking services (such as Delicious) and news aggregators
(such as Digg) allow users to rate and share the most popular sites and news
articles on the Web.
DEFINING MULTIMEDIA
The word media means “ways of transmission” and encompasses all of the
various technologies we use to record information and transmit it to others.
For example, videotape is a recording medium (singular) used for storing
moving images and sound onto the physical surface of a magnetic strip.
Television broadcasting and DVD (digital versatile disc) are transmission
media (plural) used to deliver a video recording or live event to an
audience. Likewise, printing is a medium whereby ideas are encoded as
letterforms in ink onto the surface of a page, while books, newspapers, and
magazines are the distribution channels or media through which intellectual
content is delivered to a reader.
DEFINING MULTIMEDIA
A medium can be thought of as a pathway or channel through which ideas,
information, and meaning flow as they travel from one place or person to
another. Every medium has a native form and structure through which it
delivers content. A sound recording produces pressure waves that can be
understood aurally through the organs of hearing. A book transmits ideas
with text and still pictures. Video and film convey stories through moving
images and sound. Traditional media products such as these have a
physical structure that is rigid and fixed and cannot be easily modified or
adapted by the user or content producer. For more than twenty years, the
Web has been the centerpiece of multimedia culture. And for many people
today, it still is. However, the Web’s longstanding monopoly status as the
dominant distribution platform for multimedia content is being challenged
by newer technologies.
DEFINING MULTIMEDIA
While the web browser remains a popular
gateway to the multimedia experience,
more and more, users are producing and
consuming multimedia content through a
growing cadre of “smart” devices and
mobile media apps. Smart phones, smart
TVs, tablet computers, gaming consoles,
and similar devices are being touted as
“multimedia-enabled” by virtue of their
ability to rapidly access nearly any form
of media content from within the Cloud or
on the Web, through wireless or 3G/4G
cellular connections (see Figure 1.4).
Figure 1.4
UNDERSTANDING MULTIMEDIA

Today, much of the media content we consume is available in a variety of

formats, intended to serve multiple purposes and audiences. For example,
a book usually starts out as a print-only product. However, if the market
demand is large enough, it may also be published in a spoken-word format
and delivered via compact disc or MP3. With the right equipment, you can
avoid paper altogether by downloading the e-book, a digital version of the
text designed for reading on a computer screen or a handheld device such
as the Kindle or iPad. The website for a bestseller may offer bonus material or
value-added content to online users through a gamut of multimedia
channels—featuring audio excerpts, video interviews, background stories,
pictures, and more (see Figure 1.5).
With such a vast sea of information and
social networking potential, you can
easily imagine many of the other
possibilities that exist. The opportunities
for shaping content to meet the diverse
needs and habits of different user groups
are numerous, and they are changing
rapidly, as the culture of multimedia
continues to grow and permeate nearly
every aspect of our personal and
professional lives. 1.5 Visitors to J. K. Rowling’s official website
(jkrowling. com) are treated to a
interactive virtual desktop. Clicking any
object on screen reveals information
about the author and her bestselling Harry
Potter books. Source: jkrowling.com
UNDERSTANDING MULTIMEDIA

Multimedia is the grand culmination of many ideas rooted in the centuries

old traditions of human communication and content production. In one
sense, the meaning of all that we have ever known about the
communication process, mass media, and social interaction reaches its
apex in multimedia, encompassing anything and everything having to do
with the multisensory exchange of information and stories within a culture.
Yet, in another way, the constant influx of bleeding-edge technologies
means that there is always something new to discover or learn. Old habits,
processes, and workflows need to be reexamined and modified from time
to time as the tools of media production, distribution, and presentation
change.
UNDERSTANDING MULTIMEDIA

That said, many of the established rules and conventions used in the design
process rarely lose their relevance. Good design is still good design
regardless of changes made to multimedia software and delivery platforms.
Understanding multimedia requires bridging the past with the present while
maintaining an ever-present eye on the horizon. The second you think you
have it all figured out, something is sure to change.
Evolving Media Industries

Traditional media are often defined as a set of monolithic industries with

discrete practices and workflows that are proprietary to specific segments of
the creative workforce. Journalists work with paper, ink, and words;
photographers are the masters of communicating through the still image;
graphic designers create visual illustrations and page layouts; and video
producers, sound engineers, and filmmakers are the primary producers of
time-based media content. This is no longer “exclusively” the case. Today, a
growing number of photographers routinely shoot and edit their own video
stories; graphic designers are busy retraining as web designers in order to
retain a job or advance in a career; video and film have become nearly
synonymous terms, having been unified (at least in part) through significant
Evolving Media Industries

advancements in digital imaging and editing technologies; and journalists

are fighting for survival as traditional products of the information age, such
as the newspaper, are growing less viable in a digital marketplace driven
by instant access, free content, and mobile delivery. More than ever before,
media professionals are crossing historic lines that have previously defined
who they are and how they produce and deliver content to consumers.
What lies on the other side can be exciting or scary, depending on your
point of view and ability to adapt rapidly to change.
Evolving Media Industries
In the same way that the mass media functioned as the primary shapers of
culture in the 20th century, multimedia serves as one of the most prevalent
forces of human communication in the 21st century. Multimedia is the
melting pot that has brought all storytellers and content producers into the
same creative crucible. The previously autonomous silos of producing and
publishing are being replaced by new, dynamic, and converging
infrastructures, which favor collaboration and content fluidity over rigid
specialization and fixed distribution models. The term melting pot is an
appropriate metaphor for describing the blending together of
heterogeneous people into a homogenous team of professional designers
and producers. The multimedia melting pot represents the corporate
synthesis of creative people and workflows into a collaborative multimedia
culture that is shaped more by what people have in common than by the
divergent forms of creative expression they prefer or are most familiar with.
next..

FROM OLD MEDIA TO NEW MEDIA