Part OneUnderstanding Multimedia CHAPTER 1 People retain only 20% of what they see and 30% of what they hear. But they Definitions remember 50% of what they see and hear, and as much as 80% of what they see, hear, and do simultaneously. CHAPTER 2 Taxonomy of —Computer Technology Research Corporation Multimedia Objects Multimedia is the buzzword of the decade. Like most buzzwords, it has been used in many contexts. You find it on the covers of books, magazines, CD-ROMs, video games, and movies. It is used in advertising shoes, hairstyles, drugs, cars, computers, soft drinks, beer, kitchen floors, vacations, airplanes, televisions, telephones, houses, museums, newspapers, arcades, theme parks, Olympic Games, and shopping malls. Sometimes the term is used to add hype to products that have nothing to do with multimedia. The many uses and abuses of the word multimedia have led to confusion over just what multimedia is. For this reason, a book on multimedia literacy must begin by defining it. 2 1 Part One: Understanding Multimedia Definitions After completing this chapter, you will be able to: ˾ Define multimedia, describe why it is effective, and explain how it will be important to life in the twenty-first century ˾ Demonstrate how multimedia is changing the world through telecommuting, home shopping, electronic publishing, and computer-based education ˾ Show how fast multimedia is growing in business, industry, homes, online services, and education ˾ Identify and define the components of a multimedia PC ˾ Define the Internet and the World Wide Web and understand how they provide access to multimedia resources on a worldwide basis © To define multimedia properly, one must go beyond stating what it is and put the term in context. In this chapter you will not only get a standard “textbook” definition of multimedia, but also learn why it is important, how fast it is growing, how it is changing the world, and who needs to know about it. The term multimedia PC will be defined, along with the nomenclature needed to understand the specifications of a multimedia computer. Then you will learn how the Internet and the World Wide Web are being used to distribute multimedia applications on a worldwide basis. What Is Multimedia? Multimedia is the use of a computer to present and combine text, graphics, audio, and video with links and tools that let the user navigate, interact, create, and communicate. As depicted in Figure 1-1, this definition contains four components essential to multimedia. First, there must be a computer to coordinate what you see and hear, and interact with you. Second, there must be links that connect the information. Third, there must be navigational tools that let you traverse the web of connected information. Finally, because multimedia is not a spectator sport, there must be ways for you to gather, process, and communicate your own information and ideas. If one of these components is missing, you do not have multimedia. For example, if you have no computer to provide interactivity, you have mixed media, not multimedia. If there are no links to provide a sense of structure and dimension, you have a bookshelf, not multimedia. If there are no navigational tools to let you decide the course of action, you have a movie, not multimedia. If you cannot create and contribute your own ideas, you have a television, not multimedia. Chapter 1: Definitions 3 Linked information Creation/communication Text Graphics Multimedia computer Audio Video BackQuit Home Menu Next Navigation buttons Figure 1-1 Multimedia is the use of a computer to present and combine text, graphics, audio, and video with links and tools that let the user navigate, interact, create, and communicate. Why Is Multimedia Important? Multimedia is fast emerging as a basic skill that will be as important to life in the twenty-first century as reading is now. In fact, multimedia is changing the nature of reading itself. Instead of limiting you to the linear presentation of text as printed in books, multimedia makes reading dynamic by giving words an important new dimension. In addition to conveying meaning, words in multimedia serve as triggers that readers can use to expand the text in order to learn more about a topic. This is accomplished not only by providing more text but by bringing it to life with sound, pictures, music, and video. The more you learn about multimedia, the more books pale by comparison. For example, suppose you read a lengthy document and want to refer back to the page on which a certain idea was mentioned. You check the index, but the topic you want is not listed. Try as you might while paging through the book, you just cannot find what you read earlier. A multimedia document solves this problem by letting you search the full text for key words to find any topic or combination of topics. In fact, a multimedia document can refer not only to information within itself, but also to all the other documents to which it has been linked, and to all the documents to which they have been linked. Multimedia uses links to let you navigate the universe of connected information at the speed of light. Comparing this global network of multimedia to our highway system that lets motorists travel almost anywhere, the U.S. government has named the network the Information Superhighway. 4 Part One: Understanding Multimedia Multimedia is highly effective. As research and publishing company Computer Technology Research (CTR) Corporation reports, people retain only 20% of what they see and 30% of what they hear. But they remember 50% of what they see and hear, and as much as 80% of what they see, hear, and do simultaneously. That is why multimedia provides such a powerful tool for teaching and learning. Multimedia will help spread the Information Age to millions of people who have not yet used a computer. A Roper survey sponsored by IBM found that more than half of the respondents did not want a computer that required a manual to use it (Washington Post 12/27/93, Business: 13). Multimedia provides the computer industry with the key to reaching this untouched market, which will cause computer use to skyrocket. How Fast Is Multimedia Growing? As Figures 1-2 through 1-6 illustrate, multimedia is one of the fastest-growing markets in the world today. As the installed base of CD-ROM drives approaches the 200-million mark, DVD (digital video disc) drives have become one of the hottest consumer items. DVD drives can play CDs and also provide access to thousands of broadcast-quality movies with surround sound and up to 26 times more data storage. Figure 1-2 shows that online subscriptions to the Internet passed the 50-million mark in significantly less time than more traditional forms of mass media reached their audiences. By the end of the twentieth century, nearly two-thirds of U.S. households already had home computers. Although the growth occurs in all market segments, the analyst agency Dataquest reports that first-time buyers are now coming from households in the lower socioeconomic levels, which may indicate that the digital divide between the haves and the have-nots may gradually be narrowing (San Jose Mercury News 2/8/99, Multilit Web site). By the time you read this, nearly half of American households will be connected to the Internet, as illustrated in Figure 1-3. Looking at worldwide growth, the online business research firm eMarketer forecasts that the total Internet population will increase to 350 million users by 2003. As Figure 1-4 illustrates, this is a 267% increase from the 95 million people using the Internet at the end of 1998. Fueling this growth are advances in technology (see Figure 1-6 on page 11) and price wars that have dramatically lowered the cost of multimedia computers. The growing number of consumers has created a larger market for multimedia titles, and new tools Years to Reach 50 million Americans Radio 38 Television 13 Cable TV 10 Internet 5 Source: Morgan Stanley eStats, 1999 Figure 1-2 How many years it took for different forms of mass media to reach the 50-million mark. Source: Morgan Stanley eStats 12/2/99, Multilit Web site. Chapter 1: Definitions 5 U.S. Net User Household Growth trends Year Millions of Households % of Total U.S. Households 1996 6.5 6.6% 1997 14.5 14.5% 1998 24.4 24.2% 1999 28.0 27.6% 2000 32.0 31.4% 2001 35.3 34.4% 2002 44.0 42.7% Source: Morgan Stanley eStats, 1999 Figure 1-3 The growth of American households with home computers connected to the Internet. Source: Morgan Stanley eStats 12/2/99, Multilit Web site. Worldwide Internet Users, 1998 - 2003 350.0 350 Million 282.0 250 223.0 172.0 150 130.6 95.43 50 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Source: Morgan Stanley eStats, 1999 Figure 1-4 Forecasted growth of the Internet population. Source: Reuters, CNET News.com 7/7/99, Multilit Web site. are enabling more people to become developers. The second half of this book, for example, is a hands-on tutorial that will enable you to begin creating multimedia applications. Online multimedia services are booming. By the end of the twentieth century, Cisco Systems estimated that the online infrastructure was generating $115 billion in revenue annually and accounted for 372,462 high-tech jobs (The Industry Standard 6/20/99, Multilit Web site). Because only 27.6% of computer owners currently belong to an Internet service, there is plenty of room for growth. And grow it will! AT&T Broadband & Internet Services already provides cable television entertainment and information 6 Part One: Understanding Multimedia programming services to more than 10 million customers across the country and is actively developing competitive local cable telephone services (AT&T news release 9/2/99, Multilit Web site).