Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU
Honors Theses Lee Honors College
1993
The Extent of Multimedia Computer Applications in the Business World
Mei Yee Lim Western Michigan University, [email protected]
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Recommended Citation Lim, Mei Yee, "The Extent of Multimedia Computer Applications in the Business World" (1993). Honors Theses. 1528. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/honors_theses/1528
This Honors Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Lee Honors College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE CARL AND WINIFRED LEE HONORS COLLEGE
CERTIFICATE OF ORAL EXAMINATION
Mei Yee Lim, having been admitted to the Carl and Winifred Lee
Honors College in 1993, has satisfactorily completed the senior oral examination for the Lee Honors College on August 31, 1993.
The title of the paper is:
"Multimedia Computer Applications in the Business World: Fad or Future Freeway?"
^T^Tiri' Dr. Judy Yaeger Business Information Systems
I
Mr. Paul Bertoldi Vice-President, Systems Development, I-NET MULTIMEDIA COMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN THE
BUSINESS WORLD: FAD OR FUTURE FREEWAY? ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I have set a goal for myself to complete the Lee Honors College curriculum with the Honors Capstone thesis. This enormous project seemed an insurmountable task which was alittle aggravated by the narrow time constraints that I had to accomplish it. What, how, when, where and why would I have any idea? The first task I did correctly, that is the part which I am most happy about, was to select and discuss with two particular individuals about the possibility of imposing upon them toutilize their nurturing instincts for the initial duration of 6 months on another individual who had her thoughts flailing in every direction that may ormay notlead to her final destination.
Who shedme light when therewas despair? Who gave me countless opportunities to interview? Who listened to theexcuseswhen a particular part is notcompleted? Who encouraged me after every milestone? Who set aside time and place for brainstorming sessions and constructive evaluations? Who waited patiently for my temperamental bursts of divine inspirations? Who had thetimeto read my rough drafts, two, three, four times in a week? Who gently nudged me to my senses when I tried to follow Sleeping Beauty's 100-year example? In my deepest thoughts, from the very bottom of my heart, I pray that God shower His blessings upon the two individuals whom I admire. I have the honor of working with the twomembers of my thesis committee. Judy and Paul, please accept my thanks and deep appreciation for your utmost patience and perseverance with me.
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to: Dr. Lowell Crow Mr. Dave Witt Mrs. Jean Wyer Mr. Reza Rashidi The staff at the Dean's Office at the Haworth College ofBusiness My friends and colleagues at the University and the Haworth College Computer Laboratories Everybody who have at one time or another, been subjected tomy rants and raves about the project and who have supported meinindeterminate ways and times Miss Wai Guan Loo,my beloved si-fu and roommate through and through.
11 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Certificate of Oral Examination i Acknowledgements \\m List of Figures iii List of Tables iv
INTRODUCTION 1 Why multimedia? 1 Purpose of thesis 1 CHAPTER ONE - THE BACKGROUND "1
DEFINITION Multimedia is 3 ROOTS The origins 7 PLATFORMS What supports multimedia technology? 10 The set-up of a multimedia system 10 Hardware H The Multimedia PC Standard 11 Software 13 Peripherals 14
| CHAPTER TWO - THE SURVEY Survey Protocol 16 Survey Results 19 Arun-through of the results 19 Question 1- Self-rating offamiliarity level with multimedia 19 Question 2 - Level ofdirect personal experience with multimedia 19 Question 3 - Which areaswouldrespondents like to apply multimedia 20 Question 4 - Current multimedia tools inorganization 21 Question 5 - Implementation plans and thetime frame forthem 21 Question 7 - Prevalence of operating systems 22 Question 8 - Target audience 23 Question 9-Type of businesses that were surveyed 23 Question 10 - Size of company 23
Survey discussion 24 Currentmultimedia vs Currenttoolsin company 24 Size ofcompany vs Audience . 25 Appropriate Areas ofApplications inBusiness vsType ofBusiness 26 Familiarity vs Personal Experience 27 Size ofcompany vsImplementation plans time-frame 27 Audience vsType of Business 28 Operating systems vsCurrent tools incompany 29 Personal experience vs Implementation plans time-frame 30
Chapter three - siiiN of the times
Current trends 32 The USENET 35 Current business implementations ofmultimedia 36 Case I- Training - Fred Meyer Inc 36 Case II - Production/Manufacturing - IBM Poughkeepsie Manufacturing 37 Priceconsiderations 38
Future trends .40 Recommended future strategy 40 Education 40 Platforms and operating systems..... 40 Appropriate areas to implement multimedia 40 Developers 41 Target audience 41
CONCLUSION 42
BIBLIOGRAPHY 43
APPENDICES 45 Appendix A Survey Questionnaire 46 Appendix B Survey Cover Letter 47 Appendix C Survey Results Spreadsheet Listing 48 Appendix D OralDefense 54 General . Outline 55 Points of Discussion 56 LIST OF FIGURES
Figure I-l The Evolution of Multimedia 7 Figure 1-2 A multimedia workstation 11 Figure 1-3 Types of multimedia software 14 Figure II-1: Percentage responses to the appropriate areas for multimedia 20
in LIST OF TABLES
Table I-l: MPC Level 1 specifications as compared to retail specifications 12 Table II-l: Self-rating of familiarity level with multimedia 19 Table II-2: Percentage responses tospecific time periods for multimedia implementation 21 Table II-3: Percentage responses to methods of development 22 Table II-4: Percentage responses to type of businesses 23 Table II-5: Percentage responses ofthose had tools but denied they had multimedia 24 Table II-6: Percentage responses to the relationship between size and audience 25 Table II-7: Percentage responses to the relationship between appropriate areas and type of business 26 Table II-8: Percentage responses tothe relationships between familiarity and personal experience 27 Table 11-9: Percentage responses to therelationship between size and implementation time-frame 28 Table 11-10: Percentage responses tothe relationship between audience and type of business 28 Table 11-11: Percentage responses to therelationship between operating systems and current tools in company 29 Table 11-12: Percentage responses to the relationship between personal experience and implementation time-frame 30 Table III-l: Multimedia SIGS and their total postings 35 Table III-2: Cost-trend analysis of computers from 1981 to 1991 38
IV INTRODUCTION
Why multimedia? The world, or at least I, was all agog when touch screens arrived. My initial contact with touch screens was at a science exhibition in Menara MPPJ, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia in July 1987. That particular exhibit, which encouraged visitors toparticipate and to experiment with, was a graphic program. Visitors could use their fingers toselect the drawing tool or the color they want (which is something like the tools on a MacDraw screen on a Macintosh) and use their fingers to move around the screen to draw anything they want. That added tomy fascination with the world of computers and I filed that experiment inmy mind's eye for future reference, which in essence was a phenomenon that I would like to get to the bottom of. This memory was triggered when I was visiting I-Net, a company in Kalamazoo company which specialized inimage processing and developing multimedia applications in partnership with International Business Machines, Inc. (IBM). It got me thinking what the future has in store for this particularly recent technological development and how it can apply to business ventures. Ismultimedia the way tothe future orisit a fad? That was in November 1992 and I brought this curiosity over to the research for my Honors Thesis, a capstone project for theCarlandWinifred LeeHonors College.
Purpose of thesis "Multimedia ~ thesynthesis of interactive computers with full-motion video and compact-disk-quality sound ~ may transform the way you use computers. Then again, it may be just a fad, like Pong. Some call multimedia the "next revolution in microcomputers"; others describe its market potential as "dazzling" and "explosive"... Yet, Steve Jobs, the computer pioneer and founder of NeXT, warns that multimedia may becomethe "artificial intelligence" of the 1990s~ that is, a new technology without a commercial home."1
^ob Lippincott, "Beyond Hype", Byte, (February 1990), p. 215. Intriguing, isit not? This thesis is written with the purpose to find out where multimedia computer applications currently stand in the business community. Itserves to provide the answers as to whether multimedia isjusta fad of expensive playthings tofiddle with on the computer or if it can enhance real-world computer applications starting from now to the future. The author would like to search for the true essence of multimedia, how to recognize it, how to apply some ofits software toconjure up real-world solutions and most importantly, how the business world is linked to it and itcan become a part ofthe business world. The word is multimedia. Are we catching the buzz?
Research methodology This project started out on background readings to determine the course ofthe thesis. The next step was to formulate a series of questions based on the readings. These questions formed the questionnaire for a survey taken from a cross-section of the business community. The first chapter required a preliminary investigation todiscover what multimedia is about. Readings were used to demonstrate instances in the footnotes. This included feedback from a delve into the USENET network under "comp.multimedia" (where the author posted a note asking for information on the beginnings of multimedia on computers). The responses to the questionnaire were tabulated and scanned todetermine if there are any clear patterns orrelationships that canbederived from it. These relationships served as the bases for understanding the present status of multimedia in the business worldand were used to projectfuture trends in multimedia and generate several recommendations to support those trends. Chapter one - the background
DEFINITION; Multimedia is... If one were posed the question, "What is multimedia?" what would one say? The second person one asks always seems todefine it differently than the first, but inthis case, nobody seems to havea clearideaof the subject, let alone having a shared definition of it. Letus synthesize the literal meaning of the word "multimedia". Media comes from the singular noun medium. Medium describes a mode forcommunication, the base upon which a message is carried in the basic communication model that is composed of the sender, themessage, themedium andthereceiver. Theprefix "multi" is another word for many ormultiple. Therefore, wehave media as modes of communication and we may cap multimediain the broadest sense to mean many modes of communication. On the other hand, multimedia on computers brings us to another context. Thegeneral computing audience agrees thatmultimedia includes color, audio, text, graphics, animation and video-clips. In fact, many, when faced with a new tool or application that combines any one ofthe above-mentioned multimedia components dojump on to the "that's multimedia!" bandwagon. It may be a trifle extreme to say that a WordPerfect document with text, graphics, color and audio has been mistaken as a multimedia application. Furthermore, how would onedefine sound ~ as a singular beep when mistakes are madeor a configuration of notes that makeup a tune? If one talks about "newness", consider image-processing hardware. Computerized text scanners are relatively newon the scene. Are they considered multimedia?
Which of these is multimedia? a. A computer that shows a graph, formats a page, plays a tune or even shades a
three-dimensional model. b. A computer that shows a graph in one window and rotates a three-dimensional
model in another, while all the time accompanied by a tune. c. A computer that plays music from a compact disc (CD) while it animates a graph and superimposes the result on a prerecorded video.
You may be surprised. Here are the answers: a. No, that is not multimedia. b. You are almost there. c. Yes, that is multimedia. When standard data-processing is combined with graphics, animation, speech synthesis, audio and video, it is part of a phenomenon in computing. Multimedia uses the computer to integrate and control diverse electronic media such as computer screens, videodisk players, CD-ROM disks and speech and audio synthesizers.2 . Bart Dahmer from Federal Express Corporation presents an informal definition as follows: "Multimedia is just a fancy name for something that combines the capabilities of technologies that used to be separate. Your computer usedto be a separate thing from your TV, stereo, camera and CD player ~ and your camcorder or whatever. Multimedia just mixes together the functions of these and a bunch of other kinds of gadgets."3 It sounds simpler to visualize, doesn't it? Yet, the definitionis not complete. It is well and fine thatmultimediacombinesthe features of media tools into the computer but what about the interactive aspect? For communication, the sender must be able to reach the receiver; sometimes continuous feedback is required. An example of immediate feedback between userand systemis in multimedia training which showsa user thecorrect way to do something whenamistake is
2Phillip Robinson, "The Four Multimedia Gospels (According to Commodore, Apple, IBM/Intel andSony/Philips)", Byje., (February 1990), Volume 15,Number 2, pp. 203-210.
3Bart Dahmer, "When Technologies Connect", Training & Development. (January 1993), pp.46- 55. made. Thisinteractive facet leads to video-conferencing, a majorform of multimedia right now, that transcends the boundaries of nations toenable two parties ateach end tointeract freely witheach other through television. Another component to consider is the capability to make logical connections between all the other tangible elements of text, sound, video and so on. HyperCard, a Macintosh software, is considered hypermedia (meaning, beyond media). Hypermedia connects documents together, much like semantic object modeling in database management systems, which has repeating objects in some entities that refer to adifferent set ofobjects altogether. Ifa user ispresently in one document and he orshe uses a mouse to click on any part of the document, he or she is transferred to another document orvideo motion (called automated nonlinear branching). Another click on an appropriate button will bring the user back to where he or she was or elsewhere.
In review, the components of multimedia are: a. Data formats
i. Text
ii. Audio iii. Graphics (blackand whiteor colored)
iv. Video (still or motion)
v. Animation b. Interactive user feedback (delayed or instant) c. Automated nonlinear navigation The components that makes multimedia identifiable are the data formats ofaudio and video. The other components are other aspects which are multimedia only when they are coupled with either audio or video. In a multimedia system, thecomponents are linedup as thus: a. Input~ dataformats, interactive userfeedback b. Process - interactive user feedback, automated nonlinear navigation c. Output - data formats The question of whether computerized text scanners were considered multimedia can be answered here. It is a confident no because it does not fulfill the condition of interactive user feedback in the process function. It canstill beconsidered asanaspect ofit which is used as a digitizer. In short, multimedia is a system that maneuvers data formats and interactive user feedback, processing and presenting them during or after interactive user feedback or automated nonlinear navigation, resulting in thepresentation of results in the various data formats. ROOTS: The origins There seemsto be no clear-cut, eureka-type brainstorming effort that heralded the advent of multimedia. Evolution is more of a word to describe the progression of multimedia technology. Multimedia without computers have been around since the beginning of mankind. The building of theword "multimedia" takes us to thebasic communication model, back to the beginnings of man. Stone Age people lived then and they communicated their ideas and thoughts with each other through various mediums. A typical night at that time would look like this: cave people sitting around a fire, grunting about the day's happenings. The senders were the cave people, the message was the day's news, the media would be grunts, hand gestures, nods, scrawls in the dirt, body language, and each of these media would beperceived by the receivers who were other cave people.4 Through theyears, multimedia has evolved according to theincreasing development ofmedia or the modes of communication. This evolution can be illustrated as thus:
STONE AGE INDUSTRIAL INFORMATION AGE AGE • vocal grunts • hand gestures • printing press • computer • drawings • photograph • satellite • body language • telegraph • teleconferencing % • telephone 4 • video • wireless • radio • television ancient civilizations
• words • writing
Figure I-l: The Evolution of Multimedia
4Bart Dahmer, "When Technologies Connect", Training & Development(January 1993), pp. 46- 55. Inventions paved the way for the emergence ofmultimedia. We have now reached the information age, where the arrival of multimedia on computers is acelebration of the triumph in reaching thecommunication zenith. A somewhat basic form ofmultimedia on computers can be traced back to Vannevar Bush who had described a "memex" device for automated nonlinear text that stores information, be it from books, records or letters so that they can be rapidly retrieved.5 He recorded his findings inhis 1945 seminal paper "As We May Think" that was published in the Adantic Monthly. In the early 1960s, Theodor Nelson coined the term "hypertext" todescribe the idea ofnonsequential reading and writing. It is executed on acomputer system that allow links toother documents, create paths through related materials, create notes that readers can use topoint to bibliographic data or reference tocertain parts of documents. Douglas Engelbart, the creator of the mouse and multiple-window screens went on todemonstrate an augmentation system based onthe idea of hypertext. "Augment" is the transitive verb that is defined by Webster's dictionary as "to make greater, as in size, quantity, strength, etc.; to enlarge" which is comparable to the method of semantic modeling in setting up database management systems. At the Fall Joint Computer Conference in 1968 in San Francisco, Engelbart made a demonstration of his analysis. In that presentation, Engelbart showed how amouse and a special keypad might be used to directly manipulate and display structured documents. He also showed how multiple individuals -- connected through both audio and video links, could work collaboratively on a single document.6 Augmentation is the basis of HyperCard, Apple Computer, Inc.'s
5Sueann Ambron, "New Visions of Reality: Multimedia andEducation", Interactive Multimedia: Visions of Multimedia for Developers. Educators & Information Providers (Washington: MicrosoftPress, 1988), p. 5. software tool that allows users to create a stack of cards on the computer that contains information, either in text, graphics or video. The user of the system opens up the first card, points toa specific item on it that he orshe wants more information about, clicks on a mouse button and thesystem will transfer theuser to the card with therelevant information which can consist of text,graphics, audiorepresentations or motion videos. These breakthroughs, especially Engelbart's innovations, served tocreate the basis for multimedia systems today.
6Doug Engelbart and Kristina Hooper, "The Augmentation System Framework", Interactive Multimedia: Visions of Multimedia for Developers. Educators & Information Providers (Washington: Microsoft Press, 1988), p. 19-31. PLATFORMS: What supports multimedia technology? The computers to develop and deliver multimedia -- its platforms, have mushroomed over the years. In the third quarter of 1985, Commodore Business Machines Inc. was toutedas the first company to launchmultimedia on computers, through the Commodore Amiga 1000 that used custom processors for graphics, multichannel audio and fast input/output tocreate a video-compatible architecture. JohnJ. Anderson in Creative Computing describedthe Amigaas: "Besides having a multitude ofvideo outputs, the computer also has a video output jack. This unique feature, known as the Gen-lock interface allows the user to send an ordinary television signal (from a VCR, a videocamera, or even another computer) intothe Amiga, and to display that picture on the screen with Amiga graphics superimposed."7 In August ofthe same year, Williams, Edwards and Robinson reviewed the Amiga in Bytemagazine and theyhadthisto say: "We are also very excited about the inclusion of the text-to-speech library in the Amiga. This means that any Amiga program can potentially create voice output, something that has never been common in personal computers because it was never until now, a standard feature."8 Since then, many companies have followed suit and have developed hardware and software that can support multimedia applications.
The set-up of a multimedia system The setting up of a multimedia environment requires hardware, software and peripherals to support it. The hardware isthe platform that multimedia can run on, that is, the type of central processing unit (CPU) that is used. The software is
7John J. Anderson, "Amiga: The Message is the Medium", Creative Computing. Volume 11, No. 9, pp.32 - 41. 8Gregg Williams, John Edwards and Philip Robinson, "Product Review: The Amiga Personal Computer", Bvte.August 1985, pp. 83 - 100.
10 composed ofseveral types of systems that can run on the hardware. Here is how a multimedia workstation would look like:
AUDIO OUTPUT AUDIO/VIDEO MPUT SPEAKERS TOUCH-SCREEN MONITOR HEADPHONES VIDEO CAMERA
SEAL-TIME BROADCAST
VIDEO DISK VCR CD-ROM
MICROPHONE
KEYBOARD
ADAPTER CARDS
VIDEO AUDIO GRAPHICS COMPRESSION COMMUNICATIONS
Figure 1-2: A multimedia workstation (adapted from Jack Shandler's Multimedia Work Station: Plenty of Choices, Desktop Circus, Electronics, February 1990, p. 50.)
Hardware There are computer hardware vendors in the market, the big names being Commodore, IBM, Microsoft and Apple Computers. This constitutes to the different multimedia hardware lines in the world.
The Multimedia PC Standard
Dateline: November 1990 Event: The announcement of the recommended minimum hardware specifications for a multimedia systems on personal computers, otherwise known as theMultimedia PC Standard Joint-Announcers: Microsoft, Tandy, AT&T, Fujitsu, Zenith Data Systems and NEC Technologies
11 The multimedia PC standard is reviewed and upgraded as found fit by the Multimedia PC Marketing Council. The Marketing Council licenses the MPC logo to computer manufacturers when theymeetthe standards. These current standards are referredto as MPC Level 1. While awaiting the announcement of MPC Level 2, the Level 1minimum specifications have been upgraded. Belowis adescription of therequirements and the specifications that a typical multimedia vendor would provide: HARDWARE TYPE | SPECIFICATION I COMMODORE RETAIL COMPUTER 386SX 486SX RAM 2MB 2MB or 4MB Drive 3.5-inch high-density floppy disk 350ms or 600ms CD-ROM drive,standard CD-ROM drive Hard Disk 30MB 30MB or 80MB MONITOR VGA capable with VGA graphics VGA at 640 x 040 or S-VGA adapter card 256 colors SOUND Digital audio card that produces 8-bitaudio or 16-bit audio card waveform audio, MIDI audio and CD audio INPUT/OUTPUT keyboard, mouse,joy-stick speaker andheadphones (speaker recommended) ^^^^^ Table I-l: MPC Level 1 specifications as compared to retail specifications (The vendor information from Commodore is a result of a telephone conversation with a sales representative from Commodore Multimedia at 1-800-66-AMIGA)
The recommended software is Windows 3.0 at MPC Level 1. Windows 3.1 has built-in multimedia extensions which is the uniform operating system now. It is always advisable to havemorethan the minimum, because it will allow expansion if there is aneed. That is why vendors give buyers achoice between the minimum and a little bit more than that. An example of a software that allows extensions to be added as the need arises is Microsoft's Word version 5.1. The word-processing software can support voice annotations and video-clips if the extensions are utilized. There is stilla struggle to get to the top ofthe multimedia heap. Besidesthe
MPC standard, IBM has introduced its own line ofmultimedia computers known as Ultimedia. It is based on IBM's latest operating system OS/2 version 2.X. IBM is
12 developing itsmultimedia line through partnership agreements with selected small- scalesystem development firms in the UnitedStates. Apple Computers have marketed QuickTime, a software that allows the display of digital video. Apple is naming its multimedia computers as the New
Media/New Markets genre.
Software The software levels comprise the operating system, the system interface, the authoring system and the courseware. Aparallel can bedrawn with all the above- mentioned software levelswitha training situation using multimedia. The operating system is what all other types of software are dependent upon to run on. This is where the interaction between the hardware and the software takes place. The main operating systems in the market include Microsoft's MS DOS and Windows, Macintosh's System7, IBM's OS/2 and UNIX. All hardware systemscan support at least one operating system. Some, though, can support two or more. The operating system is where memory is allocated. Trainees may not geta chance to peek at the operating system. Thesystem interface provides thelinkfor trainees to access themultimedia system. It notes how much progress a trainee has accomplished after each training session by taking into account log on and log off information. It keeps track of how much training has been completed, when andfor how long together with the operating system. Some system interfaces may bebuilt into anoperating system. Authoring systems arewhat multimedia programmers develop applications on. These are the tools that provide predesigned functions, serving as templates that were oncestep-by-step programming command lines simplified intofunctions thatcan be incorporated sequentially, function by function, instead of line by line when programmers aredesigning multimedia training modules.
13 Courseware is what trainees see and interact with. It is produced after the completion of programming with the authoring systems. A trainee's progress is monitored when courseware passes information back to the system interface that in turn interactswith the operatingsystemto store the trainee's progress. Below is a visual summary of the layers of software in a multimedia system.
Figure 1-3: Types of multimedia software
Peripherals Peripherals are devices that are connected toa computer that enable users tocontrol input and output, for example, a basic workstation would include a disk drive, keyboard, joystick and mouse. Ina multimedia system, additional input peripherals such as an audio card, video card, microphone and touch-screen monitor may be attached. Output peripherals include speakers and headphones. Compact Disk- Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) and video disks act as both input and output peripherals. They act as output peripherals when they are mastered. Here is a
14 classification of multimedia peripherals with theirsub-categories according to the April 1993 edition ofthe Multimedia Source Guide 93-949:
1. Players a. " Video Cassette Recorders (VCRs) b. CD-ROM Drives c. Videodisc Players d. Multi-Function Disc Players
2. Presentation Devices: a. Video/Data Projectors b. LCD Panels
3. Video and Graphics Devices a. Still Video Cameras b. Camcorders c. Scanners d. Add-in Cards
Audio Products a. Speakers b. Add-in Cards c. Audio-Editing Programs d. Audio Input Devices e. MIDI
5. Output Devices a. Color Printers b. Video Printers
6. Mass Storage Devices a. Removable Media Systems b. Rewritable and Multi-Function Drives
9"Introduction", Multimedia Source Guide 93-94. April 1993,pp. 4-8.
15 Chapter two - the survey
THE SURVEY Inorder toexplore the extent ofmultimedia computer applications in the business world, a survey was conducted to collect the responses that will represent the actual applications that are currently in use in businesses.
Survey Protocol A questionnaire was developed with the goal of finding out the general opinion of professionals involved in information systems in the business world towards multimedia (See Appendix A for questionnaire listing). In order to encourage participation in the survey, prospective participants were not required to state their name or the name of their company. It was developed to be as simple as possible to fill out with formats such as rating scales that were circled, check boxes for specific subject categories and four-word answers that were the maximum. Furthermore, the overall bordered layout was designed to attract attention. On a closer perspective, the questionnaire was designed to identify how companies tied in their use or non-useof multimedia computerapplications with the following areas: a. how informed they were of multimedia b. what level ofpersonal experience were they at that point with multimedia c. which business unittheywould like to seemultimedia implemented d. what instruments or tools that their company currently possesses e. whatfuture plans do they have for multimedia in theirorganization f. what options would they pursue if they wanted to or had already developed
multimedia applications g. what operating systems would they already have in the company that can serve as
the base for multimedia
16 h. who they would like the applications developed for The questionnaire was sentout to a cross-section of the business community, with names and addresses selected from these sources: the Million Dollar Directory - America's Leading Public and Private Companies Series Cross-Reference by Geography 1993; the Michigan Business Directory, 1992 - 1993; the National Directory of Addresses and Telephone Numbers; the McFadden American Financial Directory, Best's Insurance Reports Property - Casualty, 1992 Edition and Ward's Business Directory of U.S. Private and Public Companies 1993. A total of 106 companies were identified for the survey's mailing-list, the number being derived from the needto obtain a large enough sample of the population to generate some solidconclusions. The mailing list was generated on dBase
IV.
The selection was based on the number ofemployees which gave an indication as to the size of the organizations. The criteria for the number of employees was set at 500 people and abovewhich indicates a medium-sized company which wouldmost likely have a Department of Information Systems in some form andhavethe resources, both financial and human, to support the development ofmultimedia. The general area was defined ascities in Michigan and Indiana, with a final list that consisted of a 98.11% concentration ofcompanies in Michigan. The identified companies were selected from a wide representation of industries, namely manufacturing, banking, insurance, advertising, accounting, legal services, entertainment andbusinessconsulting.
A cover letter was attached to the survey, either directed to the Manager of the Department of Information Systems or to a specific individual who was identified as the upper-level decision-maker for information systems from the directories (See AppendixB for cover letter). The letter explained the purpose of the survey and gave a general description of multimedia on computers. A more detailed definition was not provided because respondents were encouraged to complete the survey based on what their company, their department or theirown perception of multimedia.
17 The mailed package comprised of a cover letter, a questionnaire and a self- addressed stamped envelope in the care of Dr. Judy Yaeger, Department of Business
Information Systems, Western Michigan University.
18 Survey Results A three-week period after the initial mailing was set for responses to be collected. Responses received amounted to 44 with 5 packages returned because of incomplete addresses. Therefore, theactual population was 101 (106 - 5) and thesample was 44. The response rate was determined as follows: Response rate Actual sample x 100% Actual population = 44 x 100% 101 = 43.56%
A run-through of the results The results were fed into the spreadsheet program, Microsoft-Excel version 3.0. Each received setof responses were allocated a column number for reference, from 1 through 44. The detailed responses for each category made up the rows. The survey results can be located in Appendix C.
Question 1- Self-rating offamiliarity level with multimedia Respondents were asked how they rated their familiarity with multimedia with 1being least familiar or they have never heard of it and 5 being very familiar. The ratings were interpreted as:
Rating Interpretation Response rate
1 Never heard ofit 2% 2 Heard ofit sometimes 14% 3 Moderately familiar 36% 4 More familiar than many people 34% 5 Very familiar with it 11%
Table D-l: Self-rating of familiarity level with multimedia
Question 2 - Levelof directpersonal experience withmultimedia Respondents were asked to check all that applied but after a close examination of the results, it was found thatthey would choose allthe levels they have been through andthat they were actually at a particular level which was the level they had reached with their
19 experience. For example, if arespondent had direct experience with multimedia, he or she would most likely have investigated hardware or software, seen demonstrations and read about it. Therefore, only the final level was selected as a gauge of the respondents' experience with multimedia. It was found that:
9% had read about it 39% had seen demonstrations 30% hadinvestigated hardware or software 18% haddirect experience with multimedia development nobody had so far successfully developed multimedia applications The majority was found to have seen demonstrations and 30% of everybody went on to investigate possible multimedia applications for their organization.
Question 3 - Which areas wouldrespondents like to applymultimedia Here is a "check-all-that-apply" question that encourages respondents to specify which areas of the company they would like to see utilizing multimedia. The responses are as thus:
Arjnronriate areas for multimedia
Other! |6
S Finance 1 05 I3 O. E Marketing 1 JJHHHi^HIHHi27 o o Accounting 1 • 7 Management 1 03 1 n u 35 < Training 1 r» 1 ** / ^^^ rrocluclion / Manufacturing _ff S-H 1 1 1 1 1 10 15 20 25 30 35
Number of responses
Figure EM: Percentage responses tothe appropriate areas for multimedia Many felt that training deserves alot of attention for multimedia applications with marketing as the next important function. The other individual areas that some respondents indicated were customer service, claims processing, media, human resources and purchasing.
20 Question 4 - Current multimedia tools in organization The purpose of this question was to find out if respondents knew what was considered to be multimedia. The first question acted to see if respondents had current multimedia applications. 20% responded inthe affirmative while the rest responded in the negative. It was found that some respondents were not very sure as to what constituted multimedia. The most prevalent multimedia accessory that companies currently possess are CD- ROM drives, followed by sound editors and 2-dimensional animation and presentation software (a tie), video-editing software and video-capture and compression boards.
Question 5 - Implementation plans and the time frame for them Twenty percent of the responses were ayes while 18% said nays. The 50% majority gave "maybe" answers while 12% did notrespond. The response to the time frame they were going toimplement multimedia varied and the messages they entailed are as follows:
Time period Interpretation Response within 1/2 year most likely to implement 5% within 1 year 75% chance of implementation 9% within 11/2 years fifty-fifty chance of implementation 25% within 2 years sull need to investigate options 14% more than 21/2 years least likely to implement 14%
TableII-2: Percentage responses to specific time periods for multimedia implementation
Thenumber of companies that have implementation levels from verylikely to most likely accounted for 14% ofthe responses. 33% did not respond.
Question 6 - Method ofdevelopment When company decision-makers were quizzed on how they would implement multimedia into their organizations, their replies encompassed three major modes. The first check box, which was for fully internal development received 15% of thevotes while the second check box which asked for those companies that opt for a combination of internal and
21 external personnel to develop multimedia applications received 40% of the votes. Respondents who checked the external development box had 43% ofthe total while those who checked the box marked other had 2% of the total which may indicatean out-of-range consideration since they did not specify what other ways there were of development. The summarized responses are in Table III - 3- (a). When we take alook at the ratio ofinternal development versus external development in Table III - 3 - (b), we find that 50% of the respondents who marked this category as an option prefer to have equal percentages ofthe two types of personnel to work on amultimedia application system. As for the type of externally-developed application, 31% opted to purchase while 12% preferred custom- made application systems (Table HI - 3 - (c)).
Internal External Response rate
10 90 10%
20 80 15% 25 75 5% 30 70 5% 50 50 40% 60 40 5% Development method Response rate 75 25 15%
Internal 15% 80 20 5% Ratio of Internal:Extemal 40% Table III- 3-(b) External 43%
Other 2% External type Response rate Tablen-3-(a) Purchase 31% Custom-made 12% Table m-3-(c)
Table U.-3: Percentage responses to methods of development
Question 7 - Prevalence ofoperating systems The most widely-favored operating system for multimedia applications, according to the survey is Microsoft Windows (37%), followed bythe Macintosh operating system (19%), Microsoft DOS (17%), UNIX (14%) and IBM's OS/2 (7%). 4% used other operating systems, mostly for the IBM AS/400 machines.
22 Question 8 - Target audience Most respondents felt that if they implement multimedia, it will be targeted at either customers or employees or both parties. The number of respondents for employees is slightly more than the number forcustomers, though. The number of audienceto be reached ranged from 100to 3000 people,depending on the number of targeted customers, employees or bothtogether.
Question 9 - Type of businesses that were surveyed The responses came from a cross-section of industries in Michigan and Indiana with the ranges as follows: Finance/Banking/Accounting 7% Computer-related/Data Processing 2% Manufacturing (Design/Production) 18% Insurance/Real Estate/Legal Services 7% Entertainment/Recreation 0%
Wholesaler/Distributor/Retailer 3%
Table II-4: Percentage responses to type of businesses This means that themajority of the respondents were from themanufacturing sector while none were from the entertainment or recreation sector.
Question 10 - Size ofcompany The size ofthe company is measured by the number ofemployees. Most ofthe companies employ 1000 to4999 people, a reflection of themoderately large company category.
23 Survey discussion The results of the survey was taken into account and variables from questions were matched against each other tomeasure the industrial perspective onmultimedia.
Current multimedia vs Current tools in company The responses to the two parts ofquestion 4 were pitted against each other to observe what organizations perceive multimedia as and if the existing tools intheir company proved that they had multimedia. The tools in the survey are actual multimedia categories as ascertained in the January editionof Communications of the ACM. Of the 80% of the respondents who said that they did not possess any multimedia tools, here are the percentages of the total boxes that were checked for the below categories:
Tools Percentage without multimedia
Sound editors 18% 2-D Animation and Presentation 18% Software CD-ROM drives 42% 3-D Modeling and Animation 6% Software Video-editing Software 6% Video-capture and Compression 3% Boards Other 3% Total responses = 33 Table II-5: Percentage responses of those had tools butdenied they had multimedia Forty-two percent believed that the CD-ROM drive is not amultimedia tool, 18% did not recognize sound editors and another 18% did not recognize two-dimensional animation and presentation softwareasmultimedia. The organizations that proclaimed theydidnotcurrently have multimedia may have apoint although they specified that they had some of the tools inthe listed categories. They may be correct in assuming that they do not possess any multimedia tools because these tools may only be used individually in the organizations, as in being located in different
24 departments. These tools may not have been combined to convince them that they do not currendy have multimedia although itisobvious that video-editing software isacategory of multimedia. On the otherhand, some of the organizations which responded affirmatively to the the first inquiry of whether they had any multimedia did specify only one tool. Three respondents specified CD-ROM drives as their only claim tomultimedia. CD-ROM drives may beable tohold much more memory than regular hard drives but ontheir own they are notcalled multimedia ifwe go by the definition derived for thisresearch paper which is "a system that maneuvers data formats and interactive user feedback, processing and presenting them during or after interactive user feedback orautomated nonlinear navigation, resulting inthe presentation of results inthe various data formats." There is no mention of stand-alone storage devices being considered as multimedia. A work-station can behooked up with a CD-ROM drive and this will result in larger memory and faster access to information on disk but it does not constitute a multimedia system by itself although one can say it is a tool.
Size of company vs Audience
Audience Customers Employees No answer Size
<500 11% 8% - 501 - 999 3% 5% 3% 1000-4999 16% 22% 3%
5000 - 9999 5% 6% - > 10000 8% 8% 2% Total responses = 63
Table II-6: Percentage responses to the relationship between size andaudience Companies that are less than 500-strong prefer to create multimedia for their customers. Perhaps they would liketo create a pool of customers first before giving attention to their employees. As we move into larger-sized companies, it is observed that the larger the company becomes, the more they would like to focus on employees until it comes to a
25 point where the responses level off. This happens where companies have 10000 or more employees.
Appropriate Areas of Applications in Business vs Type of Business The goal of thisinvestigation is to find out howthese twovariables linked. Is there a clear relationship between what business they are in and what they want to use it for, as in claims processingin let us say, an Insurancefirm?
Type of Business F/B/A C/DPS M I/R/L E/R W/D/R Healthcare Publishing Appropriate Areas
- - - Production/Manufacturing - 1% 6% - 1%
Training 7% 2% 15% 6% - 3% 2% -
• - Management 1% 1% 7% 1% - - 1%
Accounting 2% 1% 2% 1% - - 1% -
Marketing 6% 1% 11% 4% - 2% 2% 1%
- Finance - 1% 1% - - - 1%
- Customer Service 1% ------
- Claims processing ------1%
Media ------1%
H.R. & Purchasing - - 1% - - - - -
- - - - Did not specify areas - 1% 1% - Total responses = 97
Table n-7: Percentage responses to therelationship between appropriate areasand typeof business In each of these type of businesscategories, we see that the highest percentageof respondents feelthattraining should be the main concern for multimedia systems. There is an exception in publishing though since it did not include training at all. The reasons may lie in the fact that publishing was not specified as a category of appropriate areas in the questionnaire or thattoofew publishing companies weresurveyed. A close second is the marketingfunction. Many multimedia applications have been developed to help market products, such as touch-screens in shopping malls or in selling tickets for football games. The beliefthat most of the demonstrations seen by the public so far depicts both the training and marketing functions cannotbe too far wrong. Magazine articles often portray these two functions as successful implementations in many organizations.
26 Multimedia applications in management is what most manufacturing companies would like to see in the future. This is followed by the production function. Aninteresting proposition camefrom healthcare companies. They would like to see multimedia applications in the area of claims processing. Another fact is that Finance/Banking/Accounting companies are giving the sounding-board for customer service.
Familiarity vs Personal Experience
Familiarity 1 2 3 4 5 Personal Experience
- Read - 5% 5% -
- Seen Demonstrations - 5% 24% 10%
Investigated - - 10% 20% 2%
Direct experience - 2% - 7% 10%
- - Developed - - - Total responses = 41 Table II-8: Percentage responses to the relationships between familiarity andpersonal experience In an attempt to gauge how respondents rated their familiarity in comparison to their personal experience, the information was tabulated. Results show that the majority had seendemonstrations of multimediaand they rated themselves as moderately familiarwithit. Those who rated their familiarity as 4 had more or less investigated some multimedia software options. This may bring us to the conclusion that the business world is moderately familiar with multimedia applications and that they had either mostiy seen demonstrations or thoughtit worth their while to conduct somepreliminary investigations into what it had to offer. In fact, these respondents may even progress to checking into direct experience with multimedia as 18% of therespondents, thethird most-subscribed to category, fall into the personalexperience involvement question.
Size of company vs Implementation plans time-frame
Time frame YEARS
Size <0.5 1 1.5 2 >2
27 <500 - 3% 10% - 3%
501 - 999 - - 3% 3% 3% 1000 - 4999 7% 7% 10% 10% 7%
5000 - 9999 - 3% 7% - 3%
> 10000 - - 7% 7% 3% Total responses = 29
Table II-9: Percentage responses to the relationship between sizeand implementation time-frame How didthesize of a company impact thetime it is going to take to implement multimedia? As gleaned from the table above, most of the companies with less than 500 employees would implement multimedia within 1.5 years; companies with between 501 to 999 employees tend to implement multimedia between 1.5 to more than 2 years; companies withbetween 1000 to 4999 employees havea tendency to implement multimedia at rather spread-out times, with theconcentration between 1.5 to 2 years; 5000 to 9999-employee companies prefer the 1.5 year time-line and the largest companies with more than 10000 employeesopt for the time-line between 1.5 to 2 years. We can observe thatcompanies withthe 1000to 4999employees are theoneswho arethenearest to implementing multimedia, most probably because they areexpanding and they would like toincorporate a new technology that may benefit them into the expansion.
Audience vs Type of Business
Audience Customers Employees No answer Business type
F/B/A 6% 9% -
C/DPS - 3% - M 17% 22% 3% I/R/L 8% 6% 3%
E/R - - -
W/D/R 5% 5% - Healthcare 3% 5% 2%
Publishing 3% 2% - Total responses = 65
Table 11-10: Percentage responses to the relationship betweenaudience and type of business In order to find out what type of business selects who to be the audience for their multimedia system, the results for responses for audience given the incidence that the
28 respondents were from certain businesses were tabulated. It is found that the Finance/Banking/Accounting, Computer/Data Processing and Manufacturing businesses preferred to implement multimedia for their employees. Healthcare companies are going for employees too but the statistics may say eitherway if the non-response percentage was added to the customers' category or deducted from the employees' category. Publishing companies have a slight preference for their customers. Although the Insurance/Real Estate/ Legal Services companies show a preference forcustomers, this difference may turn in the favorof employees if the non-response percentage is taken into account. Businesses that may go either way are the Wholesaler/Distributor/Retailer group. Other business categories that may proceed like that are Healthcare and Insurance/Real
Estate/ Legal Services as mentioned before.
Operating systems vs Current tools in company
Operating System DOS Windows OS/2 Macintosh UNTX Other/AS400 Current Tools
- Sound editors 1% 6% - 4% 1%
2-D Animation and 3% 5% 3% 4% 1% Presentation Software
CD-ROM drives 5% 11% 2% 9% 4% -
3-D Modeling and 1% 1% 2% 1% Animation Software
- Video-editing 2% 1% - 2% - Software Video-capture and 1% 1% Compression Boards Total with tools 11% 25% 6% 22% 7% 0%
No Tools 4% 12% 1% 4% 6% 2%
Number of Responses =100; Total without tools = 29% Table 11-11: Percentage responses to the relationship between operating systems and currenttoolsin
company
29 All the respondents have CD-ROMs as their largest percentage inmultimedia tools except for the respondents who have OS/2 in their companies. The OS/2 respondents show a slight tendency to owning two-dimensional animation and presentation software. That software is thesecond most prevalent multimedia tool on theDOS and Macintosh operating systems but inthe case ofWindows, this is applicable to sound editors. Video-editing and video-capture and compression boards are found onDOS, Windows and Macintosh-based systems. Current multimedia tools are rather evenly stretched out on both Windows and the Macintosh operating systems. UNIX seem not to be widely used in multimedia. The AS/400 platform does not have any multimedia tools whatsoever from this survey. From the overall survey, we have seen that the majority of the respondents subscribe to Windows as their graphical userinterface form of an operating system. It is natural that 25% of them have currently installed multimedia tools and 12% have not. In fact, the statistics show that in those companies with DOS, Windows, OS/2 and the Macintosh operating systems there is a significant percentage that have established some multimedia tools as compared to those companies that have similar operating systems but do notcurrently have multimedia. Companies with UNIX show a one percent difference between those with multimedia tools and those without.
Personal experience vs Implementation plans time-frame
Personal 1 2 3 4 5 Experience Timeframe
<0.5 - - - 5% -
1 - 2% 5% 2% -
1.5 2% 7% 14% 2% -
2 2% 7% 5% - -
>2 2% 5% 7% - -
No time frame 5% 16% 2% 9% - Total responses = 43 Table 11-12: Percentage responses to therelationship between personal experience andimplementation
time-frame
30 How much personal experience should one have before he or she decides to plan for multimedia in his or her company? The trend follows that 14% of the responses from companies have investigated multimedia and are allowing one anda halfyears to implement the applications. Those who are closest to implementation have direct experience withit already. That means they are half a year closer to the reality of implementation. On the other hand, half of those who have direct experience with multimedia did not indicate a time frame for implementation. Perhaps they are not sure about the exact time or their company do not have immediate plans but the respondents had investigated on their own. On the overall, it can be said that as personal experience increases, the projected implementation time frame decreases, that is, the more knowledge respondents had, the closer they are to implementation.
31 Chapter three - SitiN of the times i
Current trends The survey has been instrumental in determining the status of multimedia in the business industry. In essence, the results have been discussed earlier under survey discussion and thesewill projectthe strategy for the future. Besides from the survey, magazine articles have provided some depth to enlighten the business community on the subject. The marketing function which is ranked second in appropriate areas that survey respondents would like to see multimedia applications in have been boosted with an article in Sales & MarketingManagement by Voss which elaborated that the three most popular sales presentations are:
1. Intelligent electronic catalogs
2. Disk-based advertising 3. Desktop presentation systems10 Electronic catalogs are created by transferring printed information onto a disk. When customers use the program, they are led through a series of questions and the program ends by diagnosing a problem orrecommending a product. An example would be the electronic catalogs created by EPIC Software Group. Disk-based advertising usually requires some interaction on the part of the viewer, for instance, In Focus Systems will create a disk that can be mailed to customers bound intoa magazine withan accompanying printadvertisement.
10Bristol Voss, "A Presentation Update", Sales & Marketing Management. (November 1992), Volume 144, No. 14, pp. 96 - 97.
32 Desktop presentation systems consist of a series of text and graphic images shown in sequence. Examples of these involve software such as Microsoft-PowerPoint, Harvard
Graphics, Freelance and Aldus Persuasion. Onanother angle, Schroeder states in PC Week in March 1992 that arecent market survey indicates that although 68% of respondents plan toestablish multimedia technology into their business applications, users are not planning to adopt multimedia in the near future.11 The results of the survey from this paper indicate a 12% "Yes", 18% "No", 50% "Maybe" and 12% no response. If those who responded "Maybe" were thinking about saying yes, the total percentage of interested respondents in implementing multimedia would shoot to 68% exactly. Why the hesitancy? Schroeder found out that it is due to: 1. Adoption of video and animation is likely to take longer since users perceive these technologies as part of high-end, expensive applications 2. Lack of standards on both IBM and its compatible microcomputers and
Macintoshes
3. High learning curve 4. Thecostof producing apresentation and the strong business case needed tojustify
the high cost When the first multimedia computer appeared on the scene in 1985, many people were pleasantly surprised, not to mention, overawed. End-users can naturally feel overwhelmed if they were toldto maneuver such applications. End-users, in manycases are often business administrators who are the ones to make decisions on managing their company's financial resources and multimedia then seemed like an expensive investment
nErica Schroeder, "Multimedia applications slowly enter mainstream", PCWeek. (March 1992), Volume 9, No. 11, p. 20.
33 that may not generate the desired returns, taking into account the costs of acquiring the equipment and training the human resources needed to man them. Jeanette Borzo presents a measure to the second point. Kaleida Inc., the Apple Computer and IBM joint venture is developing the Script X multimedia technology to provide a single standard for multimedia transfer and publishing across multiple computer platforms. The software is intended to run on Apple Macintoshes, IBM PCs and compatibles running Windows or OS/2, distributed environments and personal digital assistants. The Script X technology will facilitate porting of applications across multiple computing environments, simplify corporate selection of host systems and ease software development. The software will include the QuickTime video, animation and audio playback software. The high learning curve may tie inwith the expenses needed totrain not only users butsoftware and hardware programmers too. The fourth point backs this upby elaborating that the production of apresentation requires a strong business case tojustify the costs that will have to be incurred. Discussions of multimedia in computers in magazines are becoming increasingly common. Initially, from the years 1985 to 1987, multimedia was introduced as a new technology and elaborated on how it can be adapted to an organization's culture. In the developmental stages, multimedia faced the "what-if' and "but" scenarios where itmet with critical analyses of its functions in any environment. Articles described the maladies of multimedia, speculated its launch into the mainstream of computer applications and argued in favor of it (1987 to 1990). So far, we are perhaps in its third stage where multimedia applications have proven itsvitality in many areas and across interdisciplinary components ofthe business world. IBM has launched its Ultimedia magazine while Apple Computers started New Media/New Markets. PC World is the latest that has jumped into the fray of focusing on multimedia trends in a single magazine, by introducing the PC World Multimedia Edition that provides readers with an 80-megabyte CD-ROM of clip art upon
34 subscription. Among the topics that will be discussed inthis monthly publication are fast- breaking multimedia news, reviews, buyers' guide, edutainment, entertainment, creative tools and multimedia presentations.
The USENET The USENET presents a bulletin-board type of directory of news groups and news items which are posted by members of the USENET community around the globe, such as educators, employers, employees, students and personal representatives on a vast variety oftopics. It acts as a stethoscope that detects and collects useful information about almost any field in the world. Currently, there are 1310 registered Special Interest Groups(SIGs) that have been set up and in some particular topics, there may be two or more SIGs. Multimedia has graduated into those ranks and the multimedia SIGs are as follows, with the number of postings alongside them: Number News group Total articles 49 bit.listserv.cdromlan 60 381 comp.ivideodisc 426 comp.mail.multi-media 431 comp.multimedia 159 484 comp.os.os2.multimedia 71 520 comp.publish.cdrom.multimedia 586 comp.sys.amiga.multimedia 27^ Total news items = 333 (selectionsfrom USENET on August 16, 1993) Table III-l: Multimedia SIGS and their total postings It may be the case that some of the news items arerelevant to several of the news groups. If that happens, the person who posted the news item may post it to all the relevant news groups. Given the assumption that all of the items can becross-posted, we are still left with at least 159 different multimedia news items. If we look at the number of news items in the 464 computer-related news groups, it is observed that the news groups that have more than 159news items posted are the ones that relate to operating systems or miscellaneous questions orcomments about a computer platform. Multimedia undoubtedly is one of the highly discussed computer topics in the USENET. The USENET can be
35 considered asan important indicator of market trends, one ofwhich is the jobmarket. By observing the postings under the news group, misc.jobs.offered on August 16,1993, ithas been found that jobs that are related to multimedia number to 1.2% ofthe postings. These jobs are more focused on getting people with experience in graphical and multimedia applications design.
Current business implementations of multimedia Multimedia has been slowly absorbed into many organizations in business, from the time it was conceived anddemonstrated by Englebart until now, spreading its wings to various business units. Among the most significant business functions it performs are in the areas of training and sales. Training has been a mainstay of multimedia. That is a valid statement because multimedia, from the start has been adopted by educators to render more effective and efficient instruction in schools as a supplement to teachers. Many companies have incorporated multimedia into their training curriculum and one organization that has checked out multimedia, invested in it and seen it bear fruit is Fred Meyer Inc., a company headquartered in Portland, Oregon.
Case I - Training - Fred Meyer Inc. "Imagine a store the size offive football fields with 225,000 different items instock. Then imagine walking up to a salesperson and inquiring about the specific features and benefits about a particular product."12 Fred Meyer, a $2.7 billion retailer with 123 one-stop, warehouse-style retail stores located in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, decided that multimedia applications are the best way to train its employees on product operation. Carter Knox, the assistant vice-
12"Fred Meyer Retail Training", Multimedia Solutions. (Nov/Dec 1992), Volume 2,No. 5,pp. 4 7.
36 president of product education, championed the cause to train a distributed workforce. According to him, although the start-up costs aresignificant, multimedia provides the best way to communicate information, particularly for repetitious training in many remote locations. Once a multimedia training program is created, it does not add cost to deliver training over time to the next new employee in all the different locations, unlike standup training. Besides costconsideration, consistency in information delivery is maintained in multimedia training as comparedto person to person training. The Fred Meyer Retail Training program is a result of the strong partnerships among Fred Meyer, IBM and Graphic Media, the IBM Business Partner that is developing the courseware. The system is based on IBM's Ultimedia model M57 SLC, which provides XGA graphics, audio and a CD-ROM drive. The PS/2s are equipped with IBM's ActionMedia II card which uses Digital VideoInteractive technology. TheDVI full-motion video is used to demonstrate how the various products work. The systems use an IBM 8516 Touch Display for theuserinterface, eliminating both a keyboard anda mouse. They run on OS/2 2.0, and the courses are created with IBM's Audio Visual Connection (AVC) authoring system. Knox observes that employees retained on average of 70% to 95% of the key information three months after the course.
Case II - Production/Manufacturing - IBM Poughkeepsie Manufacturing IBM Poughkeepsie is the manufacturing site for IBM's mainframes, the 3090, ES/9000 and 3081. The goalis to implement DVI multimedia in the plantand to store all video or DVI clips on a central server that can be assessed in real-time. Internal employees will be able to look through a variety of documentation witha system based on a combination of hypertext links andDVIfull-motion video. A testnode setupon 16workstations serves as documentation that operators use to perform theirdailyjobs, as well as acting as manuals for tool operators.
37 Besides documentation reference, shopfloorprofessionals can find out whereparts are located, where a defect is and how to insert a Thermal Conduction Module board, which is repairing the defect. Employees can learn about inventory tracking through a combination of full-motion video, DVI clips and audio without pictures. Bob Peters, a manufacturing multimedia support programmer sees DVI technology as a perfect fitfor trouble-shooting information and the documentation required by day-to day manufacturing process control procedures and standard operating procedures. They are looking into the possibilities of combining DVI technology with other technologies, such as artificial intelligence, experts systems and virtual reality. When DVI is combined with expert system technology, Peters says "This could give operator information on system failure, meter readings and power supply and walk them through logical steps to find a solution without having to dig through a book." Multimedia, when incorporated in any business unitof a company, impacts other departments as well. Training is a universal function for all departments, be they management, accounting or sales.
Price considerations Prices for multimedia equipment are dipping through the years. According to Intemational Data Corporation, over the past ten years, PCs have become both more powerful and more affordable, bringing the power of personal computing to more than 100 million worldwide.13 Here is a cost-trend analysis from InfoCorp.
Year Processor MHz RAM Storage Capacity Average Cost
1981 8088 4.77 64K 160K $3,000
1986 80286 8 640K 40000K $5,250 1991 80486DX 33 4000K 100000K $2,800
13"Digital Appliances: Laying The Foundation", Multimedia At Your Fingertips. (1992), Microsoft Corporation, p.l.
38 Table III-2: Cost-trend analysis of computers from 1981 to 1991 Tom Greaves, manager of K-12 Educational Technology and Multimedia at IBM Educational Systems in Atlanta, Georgia says that "the cost of multimedia hardware will continue to decrease, functionality will increase, and applications will become continually easier to use."14 The cost of computer hardware is going down; therefore, it paves the way for companies to acquire cost-feasible hardware.
14Tom Greaves, "Multimedia: What Is It? Where Is It Going? How Do You Begin?", IMmMa Digest. (1991 -1992), v.l, pp. 32 - 33.
39 Future trends The survey has given us a calculated idea of where multimedia is in the business world. Based on that, we can project some strategies for the future to further promote multimedia.
Recommended future strategy Multimedia in the business community is onitsway to bigger and better things. Inorder to envision a full-range ofsupport for multimedia applications in business, there are several guidelines toobserve when developing further applications.
Education Perhaps the most basic course ofaction to take is to educate those who are interested in multimedia in terms of what is multimedia, what business need that they want tofulfill and how multimedia can make it happen for them. There are many packages out there which do try to educate people but there is no strong package that universally define multimedia because thereis no universal definition for multimedia currendy. Perhaps we need to come upwith a universal definition formultimedia first.
Platforms and operating systems The preferred operating systems and existing platforms that are currently utilized to support multimedia applications are Windows on the PCs, the Macintosh operating system and Microsoft DOS. Windows is nota true operating system; in allsystems, it runs onDOS. Perhaps applications can be developed for other platforms as well. IBM is targetting OS/2 to be their multimedia operating system ofthe future. UNIX does not seem to have beeninvolved much in multimedia although it has been the operating system that has been developed over the years. SUN Microsystems have turned the computers that they produced into workstations. UNIX, the operating system for the SUN workstations, canbemoulded to become anoperating system thatsupports mulimedia.
Appropriate areas to implement multimedia
40 So far the training and marketing functions have been the main focus of application development. What about developing applications for the management and production functions? Forexample, a scheduler for staff on an hourly basis ~ a multimedia Decision Support System falls under themanagement function banner.
Developers The trend now is to engage a mixture of internal organizational and external consultant development. Companies may not have full confidence in starting up a new system on their own. That is where training comes in. Goals to shoot for in this area are more internal development andmore competitive rates for training programs.
Target audience The people whom companies plan to target multimedia applications for are nearly balanced between customers and employees. In order to encourage usage in business, the applications very likely should be developed for employees which can then deliver them to customers, either directly or indirecdy.
41 CONCLUSION Where is multimedia? Where are we heading? John McQuillan in 1992 expressed that multimedia will be used by the mid 1990s for education and training, desktop videoconferencing, network-wide conferencing, electronic mail, audiovisual presentations, databases, groupware, desktop video production, electronic newsletters and information services. Most of them have become reality while the others are in their development or testing stages. The Information Age is moving towards the year 2000. Although multimedia now is a variety of solitary, dual or triple applications, industry watchers predict that multimedia is going to be adopted and absorbed into future business units, becoming an essential and vital part that will become a pattern of daily computing life. When writing about the future of multimedia, Tom Greaves puts it this way, "These trends (cost, functionality and simplicity of usage) will help to open multimedia to newer, larger groups ofless sophisticated users who are more interested in getting the job done than in learning how to use technology. Furthermore, new applications will be developed that today can only be imagined."15 The productivity gains form these applications can then be channelled back to the organizations for them to participate more effectively in the information revolution. Multimedia computer applications in the Business Worlddefinitely has a place in the future. In5 to 10 years, the business world will beshifting gears onthe future freeway of multimedia.
15Ibid. p. 33.
42 Bibliography
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43 Greaves, Tom, "Multimedia: What Is It? Where Is It Going? How Do You Begin?", Ultimedia Digest. 1991 -1992, v.l, 32 - 33. Johnston, S., "Assymetrix's Allen sees the future on a screen", InfoWorld. July 27, 1992, v. 14, n. 30, 106. Keyes, Jessica, "Multimedia offers managers multiple business solutions", Computerworld. September 24, 1990, v. 24 n. 39, 112. Layland, R., Don't celebrate multimedia's arrival just yet, Data Communications. September 21, 1992, v. 21, n. 13, 23. Lippincott, Rob, "Beyond Hype", Bvte. February 1990, 215 - 218. Marshak, D., "The Multimedia Malaise", Canadian Datasvstems. July 1992, Vol. 24n.7, 24. Maupin, Pat, "Avoiding the pitfalls", Bvte. February 1990, v. 15 n. 2,216 - 217. Palmer, Scott D., "This call's from your spreadsheet", Datamation. July 15, 1992, v. 38, n. 15, 65-66. Robinson, Philip, "The Four Multimedia Gospels According to Commodore, Apple, IBM/Intel and Sony/Philips", Bvte. February 1990,203 - 207. Ryan, Bob, "Commodore sets course for multimedia", Byte. May 1990, v. 15 n. 5,122 - 126. Schroeder, Erica, "Multimedia applications slowly enter mainstream", PC Week. March 16, 1992, v. 9 n. 11,20. Schwartz, Evan T., "The kiosks are coming, the kiosks are coming", Business WeekQndustrial/Technologv Edition). June 1992, n. 3271,122. Schwier, Richard A. and Misanchuk, Earl R., Interactive Multimedia Instruction. New Jersey: Educational Technology Publications, Inc., 1993. Shandle, Jack, "Desktop Circus", Electronics. February 1990, v. 63 n. 2,53 - 56. Thuston, Francine, "Video teleconferencing: the state of the art", Telecommunications. January 1992, v. 26 n. 1, 63 - 66. Titch, Steven, "Pac Bellreadies ISDNmultimedia", Telephony. March 30,1992,v. 222 n. 13, 13 - 15. Voss, Bristol, "A Presentation Update", Sales & Marketing Management. November 1992, v. 144 n. 14, 96 - 97. Willett, Shawn, "Media Vision Thing: Multimedia Will Flourish Like Color", Infoworld. December 14, 1992, v. 14 n. 50, 114.
44 APPENDICES
45 Appendix A: Survev Ouestionnaire
46 MULTIMEDIA COMPUTER APPLICATIONS Please answer all questions:
1. Howfamiliar are you withthe concept of multimedia? 1 2 3 \ 1 1— Never heard of it Very familiar Have you had any direct personal experience with multimedia? (Please check all that apply) •I have read about it •I have seen demonstrations • I had investigated hardware / software • I have had direct experience with multimedia development • I have successfully developedmultimedia applications
3. In which areas ofyour company do you think multimedia is most appropriate? (Please check all that apply) • Production / Manufacturing LI Accounting • Training • Marketing • Management • Finance • Other: (please specify)
4. Does your company currendy have multimedia applications? • Yes Q No Which of these tools does your company have to support multimedia? (Please check allthat apply) • Sound editors • 2-D Animation and Presentation software • CD-ROM drives • 3-D Modeling and Animation software • Video-editing software • Video-capture and compression boards • Other: _ (please specify)
5. Doyou have any plans to implement multimedia in your company? • Yes • Maybe • No
If you do, in what time frame will you be doing that? 1 2 3 I ! ! < 6 months 1 year 1 1/2 years 2 years > 2 years
6. How would you develop the multimedia applications? (Please check all that apply) • Internally •A combination of internal and external development Ratio of Internal: External = : • Externally O Purchase pre-written application O Have it custom-developed by consulting companies O Other: (please specify)
SURVEY MAY '93 MULTIMEDIA COMPUTER APPLICATIONS
What operating systems do you plan torun the multimedia applications on? (Please check all that apply) • DOS • Windows • OS/2 • Macintosh • UNIX • Other: (please specify)
8. Who is or will be your audience for the multimedia application? (Please check all that apply) LI Customers LJ Employees LJ Other: (please specify)
Please estimate the number of audience per year: people
The primary business activity performed at this location is: (Please check one) U Finance / Banking /Accounting LI Computer / Data Processing Services LJ Manufacturing (Design / Production) Ll Insurance / Real Estate / Legal Q Entertainment / Recreation Q Wholesaler / Distributor / Retailer
• Other: (please specify)
10. How many employees are there in your entire organization? 1 2 3
<500 501 - 999 1000 - 4999 5000 - 9999 > 10000
Your efforts are very much appreciated. Thank you for your time and cooperation. ^
SURVEY MAY '93 Appendix B: Survev Cover Letter
47 Haworth College of Business Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008-3821 Department of Business Information Systems 616 387-5410
Western Michigan University
May 21, 1993
The Manager Department of Management Information Systems Company- Street-, City-, State- Zip-.
Dear Sir/Madam: I am Mei Lim, a senior year Computer Information Systems major at Western Michigan University. I am writing a research paper on "Multimedia Computer Applications In The Business World" as my capstone project of the curriculum of the Carl and Winifred Lee Honors College, Western Michigan University. You may be familiar with the term "multimedia". It is the current catchword that IBM defines as the combination of many data forms: text, graphics, image, sound, animation and video. Please take a few minutes ofyour time tocomplete the enclosed survey and return it in the self-addressed envelope. If someone other than yourself is more involved in this application, please feel free to encourage their participation in this survey. Your representation of your organization's input in this field will be aggregated to form some conclusions as to the status ofmultimedia in the business community. Thank you for yourkind assistance.
Yours faithfully,
Mei Y. lim
Accredited bytheAmerican Assembly ofCollegiate Schools ofBusiness at the Undergraduate andGraduate Levels AppendixC: Survev Results: SpreadsheetListing
48 Multimedia Survey Results at a Qiance 1
Question # Category 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ii 1 Familiarity 1 i 2 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 4 1 5 2 Personal experience Read 1 Seen demos 1 1 1 1 1 1 Investigated 1 1 Direct experience 1 Developed Production/ 3 Appropriate areas Manufacturing 1 1 1 Training 1 1 1 1 1 1 Management 1 1 Accounting 1 Marketing 1 1 1 1 1 1 Finance 1 Other Sales Ad Sales
Current 4 multimedia? Y 1 1
N 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i Current tools in Sound editors company 1 2-D Animation and Presentation Software 1 1 1 1 1 CD-ROM drives 1 1 1 1 3-D Modeling and Animation Software 1 Video-editing Software 1 1 Video-capture and Compression Boards 1 Other Word Perfect Presentati on 2.0 Implementation 5 plans? Y 1 1
M 1 1 1 i N 1 1 1 1 Tune frame for it 1 1 2
3 1 1 4
5 i 6 Development Internally 1 1 i Intemal:Extemal 50:50 75:25 External Purchase 1 1 1 1 1 1 Custom-made Other 7 Operating systems DOS 1 1 1 i Windows 1 1 1 1 i OS/2 1 Macintosh 1 1 1 UNIX 1 1 Other 8 Intended audience Customers 1 1 1 1 1 1 Employees 1 1 1 1 i Other
# of audience 150 200 1000 100 9 Type ofbusiness F/B/A
C/DPS 1 M 1 1 1 1 I/R/L 1 1 1 E/R W/D/R
Other Healthcare Publishing 10 Ifofemployees 1 1 i 2 1 3 1 1 1 1 4 1 1 5 1 1
49 Multimedia Survey Results at a Qiance 2
Question It Category 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 1 Familiarity 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 4 1 1 1 1 5 1 2 Personal experience Read Seen demos 1 1 1 1 1 Investigated 1 1 1 1 Direct experience 1 Developed Production / 3 Appropriate areas Manufacturing 1 1 1 Training 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Management 1 1 1 1 1 Accounting 1 1 Marketing 1 1 1 1 Finance 1 Other Customer Claims Media n.R. & service processing Purchasin Current 4 multimedia? Y 1 1 N 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Current tools in Sound editors company 1 1 2-D Animation and Presentation Software CD-ROM drives 1 1 1 3-D Modeling and Animation Software Video-editing Software 1 1 Video-capture and Compression Boards Other
Implementation 5 plans? Y 1 1 1 M 1 1 1 1 N 1 1 1 Time frame for it 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 1 4 5 1 1 6 Development Internally 1 InternahExtemal 20:80 50:50 1 1 75:25 20:80 30:70 1 External Purchase 1 Custom-made 1 1 Other 7 Operating systems DOS 1 Windows 1 1 1 1 1 1 OS/2 Macintosh 1 1 UNIX 1 1 1 1 Other 1 AS/400 AS/400
8 Intended audience Customers 1 1 1 1 1 1 Employees 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Other # of audience 100 50-100 500 3000 50 9 Type of business F/B/A 1 C/DPS M 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I/R/L E/R W/D/R Other Healthcare Publishing Healthcare 10 # ofemployees 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 4 5
50 Multimedia Survey Results at a Qiance 3
Question # Category 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 1 Familiarity 1 2 1 3 1 1 1 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 S 1 2 Personal experience Read 1 1 Seen demos 1 1 Investigated 1 1 1 1 1 Direct experience 1 1 Developed Production/ 3 Appropriate areas Manufacturing 1 Training 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Management 1 1 Accounting 1 Marketing 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Finance Other Sales
Current 4 multimedia? Y 1 1 N 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Current tools in Sound editors company 1 1 2-D Animation and Presentation Software 1 1 CD-ROM drives 1 1 1 1 1 3-D Modeling and Animation Software 1 Video-editing Software 1 Video-capture and Compression Boards Other Audio for Video
Implementation 5 plans? Y 1 M 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 N Time frame for it 1 2 3 1 1 1 1 4 1 1 1 5 1 1 6 Development Internally 1 1 lntemal:Extemal 1:10 50:50 50:50 1 25:75 External Purchase 1 1 1 1 Custom-made 1 1 1 Other Not decided 7 Operating systems DOS 1 1 Windows 1 1 1 1 1 1 OS/2 1 1 1 Macintosh 1 1 1 1 1 UNIX 1 1 Other 8 Intended audience Customers 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Employees 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Other # of audienoe 500 500-3000 200 500 1000000 500 9 Type ofbusiness F/B/A 1 1 1 C/DPS M 1 1 1 I/R/L 1 1 E/R W/D/R 1 1 1 Other 10 § ofemployees 1 1 1 1 2 3 1 1 4 1 1 1 5 1 1 1
51 Multimedia Survey Results at a Glance 4
Question # Category 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 1 Familiarity 1 2 3 1 1 1 1 4 1 1 1 1 5 1 1 1 2 Personal experience Read 1 Seen demos 1 1 1 1 Investigated 1 1 Direct experience 1 1 1 1 Developed Production/ 3 Appropriate areas Manufacturing 1 Training 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Management 1 1 Accounting 1 1 1 Marketing 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Finance 1 Other Sales Windows
Current 4 multimedia? Y 1 1 1 N 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Current tools in Sound editors company 1 1 1 1 2-1) Animation and Presentation Software 1 1 CD-ROM drives 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3-D Modeling and Animation Software Video-editing Software 1 Video-capture and Compression Boards 1 Other
Implementation 5 plans? Y 1 1 1 M 1 1 1 1 1 1 N 1 Time frame for it 1 1
, 2 1 1 3 1 1 4 1 1 1 5 1 6 Development Internally 1 1 IntemakExternal 60:40 50:50 50:50 50:50 10:90 80:20 External Purchase 1 1 1 1 1 Custom-made 1 Other 7 Operating systems DOS 1 1 1 1 1 Windows 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 OS/2 1 Macintosh 1 1 1 UNIX 1 1 Other 8 Intended audience Customers 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Employees 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Other # of audience 200-600 100 150 100 1000 9 Type of business F/B/A 1 1 1 C/DPS 1 M 1 1 1 1 I/R/L 1 1 E/R W/D/R Other Healthcare 10 tt ofemployees 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 1 4 1 5 1 1
52 Multimedia Survey Results at a Qiance 5
Question § Category Results Percentage 1 Familiarity 1 1 2 2 6 14 3 16 36 4 15 34 5 5 11 2 Personal experience Read 4 9 Seen demos 17 39 Investigated 13 30 Direct experience 8 18 Developed 0 0 Production/ 3 Appropriate areas Manufacturing 8 8 Training 35 36 Management 11 11 Accounting 7 7 Marketing 27 28 Finance 3 3 Other 6 6
Current 4 multimedia? Y 9 20 N 35 80 Current tools in Sound editors company 9 18 2-D Animation and Presentation Software 9 18 CD-ROM drives 20 40 3-D Modeling and Animation Software 2 4 Video-editing Software 6 12 Video-capture and Compression Boards 2 4 Other 2
4 Implementation 5 plans? Y 9 20 M 22 50 N 8 18 Time frame for it 1 2 5 2 4 9 3 11 25 4 6 14 5 6 14 6 Development Internally 8 15 Intemal:Extemal 21 40 External Purchase 16 31 Custom-made 6 12 Other 1 2 7 Operating systems DOS 12 17 Windows 26 38 OS/2 5 7 Macintosh 13 19 UNTX 10 14 Other 3 4 8 Intended audience Customers 29 47 Employees 33 53 Other 0 0 # of audience 9 Type ofbusiness F/B/A 7 16 C/DPS 2 5 M 18 41 I/R/L 7 16 e/r 0 0 W/D/R 3 7 Other 10 # ofemployees 1 8 18 2 5 11 3 18 41 4 6 14 5 7 16
53 Appendix D: Oral Defense
54 General Outline
Oral Defense
Thesis: Multimedia Computer Applications in the Business World: Fad or Future Freeway? Date: August 31,1993 Time: 5:00 p.m. Venue: Room 2030, Haworth College of Business
I. INTRODUCTION A. Topic B. Purpose
II. BACKGROUND A. Origins (video from Encyclopedia ofMultimedia, Apple Computers, Inc.) B. Definition C. Platforms
III. SURVEY A. Survey questions B. Survey results C. Survey conclusions
IV. THE FUTURE A. Current projections B. Future strategies
V. CRITIQUE AND RECOMMENDATIONS
55 Points of Discussion
I. Time projection Question: In how many years do you think multimedia will be more fully understood and utilized in business? Argument: In the next 5 to 10years. Mr. Bertoldi is more in favor of the next 3 to 5 years. II. Why use audio and video in management? Question: Howcanaudio andvideo beincorporated in management? What are the benefits? Argument: You may agree that being there is better than saying one will be there. Let us take an example of a situation for management, a decision-making scenario. A manager of a computer laboratory would like to schedule his staffto man the laboratory at certain times. He would needthe timesthat his staffwould like to work, can work and cannot work. It is true that these items can be communicated through a sheet of paper or anelectronic mailmessage. Ontheother hand, visualize this: with multimedia, a staff member can convey these items, through a pre-recorded video. This is especially useful when emergencies arise and staffmembers cannotpossibly workat a certaintimebut cannot be there to inform the manager. A real-time video can convey the message to the manager, who can verify the authenticity of the situation by not only listening to the staffmember's reasons butconfirming themwiththeirnon-verbal communication, essentially, their body language. In this way, the accuracy of the decisions made by the manager will be enhanced and the communication with his staff improved because staff members have the opportunity to reason with their manager and evaluate if the manager is making a fair decision.
III. Cost of skills Question: The development of on-line applications such as training through video require skills. These skills at best should encompass the knowledge of graphics design andprogramming authoring systems to develop training modules. Professionals most of the time specializein one area or the other, that is, some may know a lot about graphics design but little about programming while others are moreimaginative when it comes to programming but not in visual design. Where do these lead us? Will the cost of obtaining these skills, be they through experience or through training, betoohigh foranorganization to consider before implementing multimedia into their organization's operations? Argument: This is anarea anorganization should consider before implementing multimedia. True, the cost of skills right now is high, especially if external contractors are brought in because they are morespecialized in those areas than the personnel in a typical organization. As technology progresses, so does skill-level. In the nextfew years, moreand moreprofessionals may venture into learning these skills. If thereare moreprofessionals venturing into this field, then supply of skills may increase more than the demand for them, thus lowering the costof obtaining theseskills. Another wayto see it maylie in the personnel in organizations keeping up-to-date with the needed skills. They may have to be trained initially by contractors, perhaps but in the long-run, as their skill-level rises, theycan, in turn, train the next generation, therefore, saving some of the costs as compared to obtaining theseskillsfromexternal contractors. I believe an organization maymost
56 likely consider long-range returns from an exercise to adopt a relatively new technology like multimedia. It needs a champion with a vision.
IV. The need for definition Question: In your conclusion forfuture strategies, you seem concerned that a universaldefinition should be constructedbefore the potential of multimediacan be fully realized. Why is that? Argument: I amconcerned that there may bemany people or users do not seem to feel that they know enough about multimedia or feel confident they have aclear perception ofit at all, therefore, they may have either underestimated its potential advantages in business applications oravoiding it altogether because it seems like a infeasible project to take up. I feel that a universal definition should exist so that potential users and application developers may have a certain set of guidelines to abide by when they are next undertaking a project in this area. This would perhaps enable them to havea clearenough ideaor goalas to whether theobjector project they are working onis considered as multimedia, therefore, sort of helping them to feel that they are on the right track.
57